07-22-2009, 07:47 AM | #41 (permalink) | |
Tone.
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Paid a whole lot less than a Harvard professor. . . I don't think I'd automatically assume the cop was being an asshole, even if I had just been on a really long trip. Especially if I knew that I had just been breaking in to my own house in full view of the entire neighborhood. Why wouldn't someone get concerned about that? In fact, I'd pretty much expect a police response, and be somewhat disappointed if there was none, because that would indicate that a real burglar could probably break in without a police response. Whether the cop is racist or not, the good Professor appears to be a reactionary asshole. |
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07-22-2009, 11:57 AM | #42 (permalink) | |
Ambling Toward the Light
Location: The Early 16th Century
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Don't get me wrong, I am not saying the cop is right. What I am saying is that if you want to start something with a cop, you need to be prepared for the hassle that can follow. Much better to cooperate if you have nothing to hide and be done with it. Consider for a moment the chance to set a great example for thousands of young black this educated man just passed up. Granted, if he had handled like an adult university professor and not like a teenage punk I doubt anyone would have heard of it. But this way he has set a very bad example and everyone has heard of it. And this is without even touching on the firestorm that would have descended if the B&E were real and cops had not responded. Feels a bit like a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation for the cops to me.
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SQL query SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue > 0 Zero rows returned.... |
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07-22-2009, 11:58 AM | #43 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: France
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I don't know, I might be at odds with many here, but I feel for the professor. To spend your life pursuing academia, knowledge, and to dedicate yourself to teaching, and for this to happen to him when he comes home. I think understand his reaction, even though I don't have the experience of being black, I've been discriminated against in different situations. The first reaction must be "well, I spend my life doing this, but I'm still a walking stereotype to them, just another nigger in their eyes."
To be accused of breaking into your own house must be infuriating. I personally think the cop should have realized this, given him a chance, and tried to defuse the situation. Maybe it would have been the right thing to do, but even if it wasn't, it's better than exposing your department to a race-based lawsuit. Also I'm having a hard time understanding why he(Gates) was an asshole. How do you think you guys would react? Realistically, not just a level-headed reaction, that would seem the smartest from a distant observer. In his place, with his ethnicity, with the history, and the same situation, how do you think you'd react? I think I'd be super-pissed, and it'd be very hard to control myself.
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07-22-2009, 01:45 PM | #44 (permalink) | |
Pickles
Location: Shirt and Pants (NJ)
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We Must Dissent. |
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07-22-2009, 02:00 PM | #45 (permalink) |
Junkie
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That's the problem with cops. Being a dick isn't cause for arrest. Breaking the law is cause for arrest. You shouldn't arrest someone just because they are yelling at you and being a dick.
Once the cop established that the man was the resident the cop needed to GTFO. Gates should have been within his rights to forcibly remove the cop from his residence once the cop no longer had business to do there. |
07-22-2009, 02:40 PM | #47 (permalink) | |
Junkie
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Here is the way this conversation should have went
Officer: "Sir I'm going to need you to step outside." Professor: "I'm sorry officer is there a problem?" Officer: "We have received a call about someone breaking into this property and are here to investigate. Please step outside." Professor: "Ah, I can explain officer. I live here and just returned from a long trip. The door was swollen shut and I had to forcible enter." Officer: "Can you please show me a photo ID with your address." Professor: "Here you go officer, I appreciate you putting your life on the line to protect my property." Officer inspects the ID and sees the address. Calls into control and verifies the ID and homeowner of the property. Officer: "Thank you sir, i'm sorry to bother you." Professor: "No problem officer, again thank you for putting your life on the line to protect my property." Let's face it this is not a case of racism but instead a case of assholism. So many things in this world go much smoother if you are nice. Quote:
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07-22-2009, 02:53 PM | #48 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: NYC
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Rekna, that was positively sane. You're 100% right.
There just isn't any way to know definitively from the competing versions of the facts whether the asshole was the cop or the professor or both. From the speed of escalation in the situation, it might have been both. |
07-22-2009, 02:56 PM | #50 (permalink) |
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
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timalkin, once the police saw the man's identification, they no longer had any evidence of a crime and were on this man's property without permission. The chip that may or may not exist on this professor's shoulder is nothing compared to the "victimized white culture" chip on yours. You seem to have some unfounded sense of Caucasian victimization. Are you one of those white people that are mad you've been in charge for so long? It must be nice to be black, you think, that you have a race card to play. I wish I were the white Jesse Jackson so I could wail and moan about the sad state of white America, the numerous abuses against the underprivileged whites that are just trying to live honest, hard working lives. But you're not really understanding what it's like to be in that situation. In your lifetime, your culture has been in charge of things. Add to that your (presumably conservative) mistrust of people that are educated, and here we are.
You've invented a race for yourself along with racist (or reverse racist) oppressors. The poor, honest, white man has to live under the thumb of the multiracial, liberal, academic ruling class. The reality of the situation—the neighbor never even familiarized herself with the appearance of this professor enough to recognize him, resulting in her calling the police; the police arrived with good intentions, but became angry when the black man assumed correctly that racism might have been involved in their presence and then they refused to leave—disappears into the haze of your projected reality. You should visit roachboy's thread about "the backfire effect". |
07-22-2009, 03:13 PM | #51 (permalink) |
Confused Adult
Location: Spokane, WA
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The professor was in the wrong, end of story. I've had the same shit happen to me, I've had the cops called on me for getting water from the backyard faucet of the house we were moving out of because the landlord died and the house was willed to family, and they wanted to sell it.
It was right around midnight and we still had a "right" to be there until the end of the month. But all of our stuff was packed up in the car and we weren't ready to leave until dark because it was in TX, and it was hot, so we thought we'd do night travel instead. Basically the cops were dicks, we cooperated to the best of our ability but they still treated us like scum. and hey, guess what, i'm white! *shrug* |
07-22-2009, 03:34 PM | #53 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Location: bedford, tx
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"no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him." |
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07-22-2009, 04:04 PM | #54 (permalink) | ||
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
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It always fascinates me that people that hate college seem to think they know everything about it's people. |
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07-22-2009, 04:40 PM | #55 (permalink) | |||
Crazy, indeed
Location: the ether
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Now, Im not saying that Gates wasn't an asshole. But here's your account of what happened: Quote:
And you want to talk about "double standards..." ---------- Post added at 04:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:38 PM ---------- Quote:
Last edited by dippin; 07-23-2009 at 01:20 AM.. |
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07-22-2009, 04:43 PM | #56 (permalink) | |
Pickles
Location: Shirt and Pants (NJ)
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The officer had a reason to be in the house in the case of this professor. Staying? That's something else, but it may have had something to do with the way the professor was acting toward the officer that provoked a longer visit. Who knows.. maybe the officer thought that there may really be an actual burglar still inside the house that the newly returned homeowner had not yet discovered? That's the way a lot of cops are trained and/or think.
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We Must Dissent. Last edited by ObieX; 07-22-2009 at 04:48 PM.. |
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07-22-2009, 05:00 PM | #58 (permalink) | |
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
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It's deduction taken only from the information in your posts in this thread. The fact that several other individuals here seem to have come to the same or similar conclusions suggests my observations and conclusions are not so far fetched.
Accusing someone of racial bias is not, in and of itself, racist. Professor Gates came to the conclusion—which may or may not ultimately be correct, we can't know for sure—that the police officer's presence was racially motivated in some way. When you take into account that there may also be a pattern of racial profiling around Cambridge, as the article mentions, his accusations may have been founded in reason instead of racism. The fact you're willing to overlook this tells us that, as Dippin correctly pointed out above, you "immediately assume the black man is at fault, filling in the blanks with whatever suits [you]." Look at what you posted: Quote:
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07-22-2009, 06:04 PM | #59 (permalink) |
Living in a Warmer Insanity
Super Moderator
Location: Yucatan, Mexico
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Cops getting pretty pennies, HA! No they're the same level of attractiveness as other pennies, just fewer of them. And you only earn them for going out each day with a big target on your back. And you get to put up with all kinds of great stuff like people screaming at you, physically assaulting you, sometimes even shooting at you.
As for the Op I think loquitur has it right, I have nothing I could add to his statements.
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I used to drink to drown my sorrows, but the damned things have learned how to swim- Frida Kahlo Vice President Starkizzer Fan Club |
07-22-2009, 07:47 PM | #62 (permalink) | |||
Junkie
Location: bedford, tx
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__________________
"no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him." |
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07-22-2009, 07:57 PM | #64 (permalink) |
Who You Crappin?
Location: Everywhere and Nowhere
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I've noticed (both on TFP and in my own life) that there are two types of people when it comes to cops. I'll provide a brief example:
After being pulled over for speeding, a police officer asks if he can look in your trunk. You know there is nothing in the trunk besides the spare tire, jack, and a change of clothes for the gym. Person A allows the officer to take a look, knowing that they've done nothing wrong and that the officer won't find anything. Person B raises a huge stink, yells at the officer about not having a warrant and that his rights are being broken, etc. Now, is Person B in the right or in the wrong? Technically, they're probably right, but I'm of the opinion that you have to choose your battles. Then again, I don't have a chip on my shoulder about authority figures and have never had a bad run-in with the police.... |
07-22-2009, 08:03 PM | #66 (permalink) |
Getting it.
Super Moderator
Location: Lion City
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As the cop has no right to be poking around in your trunk (not a euphemism) I wouldn't let him look. If he can give me a reasonable explanation as to why it's important that he look in my trunk, then I might consider opening it for him.
I have met great cops and I have dealt with asshole cops. I approach both with caution.
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"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars." - Old Man Luedecke |
07-22-2009, 08:04 PM | #68 (permalink) | |
Who You Crappin?
Location: Everywhere and Nowhere
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If there's nothing in my trunk for them to find, why make a scene about it? Is it worth getting arrested for? |
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07-22-2009, 08:08 PM | #69 (permalink) |
I Confess a Shiver
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You're missing the "big picture" "erosion of the system" point that I'm not nearly eloquent enough to detail at midnight.
Cops love to push their power. If we don't push back there will be a lot of issues as practice becomes procedure. I'm all for cops doing their job aggressively. I'm also for citizens pushing against them. The two forces create balance. |
07-22-2009, 08:23 PM | #70 (permalink) | |||
Junkie
Location: bedford, tx
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---------- Post added at 11:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:21 PM ---------- Quote:
---------- Post added at 11:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:22 PM ---------- Quote:
2) if the cop has to ask, he has no probably cause. If you refuse, he cannot legally arrest you for the refusal.
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"no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him." |
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07-22-2009, 08:41 PM | #71 (permalink) | |
Crazy, indeed
Location: the ether
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Except sometimes there is no speeding to even speak of, and you are just being pulled over so they go on a fishing expedition. And sometimes it's not your trunk, but your house, your wallet, etc. And sometimes people in positions of power get so brash as to simply abuse the "Im not going to raise a stink" crowd: Nation & World | Texas town stops black motorists, seizes assets | Seattle Times Newspaper |
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07-22-2009, 09:21 PM | #72 (permalink) | ||
Tone.
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07-22-2009, 10:56 PM | #73 (permalink) |
Winter is Coming
Location: The North
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The courts have done a lot to shit on the Fourth through Sixth amendments. There are quite a few cases out there where cops have been cleared of all charges on unconstitutional arrests and evidence from unconstitutional seizures has not been suppressed. It's surprisingly difficult to get the 4th amendment to work the way that you'd think it ought to, archaic grammar notwithstanding.
I have little interest in criminal law, but the crim pro class I took in law school was one of the most eye-opening and terrifying. Responding to the OP, I think we have a bad mix of poor reporting and bad choices all around. I'm sure race played a part in the final outcome, but I don't think it played so disproportionate a role as to make this some sort of issue that we should care about more than we would otherwise. For better or worse, the human brain works and learns by grouping things and we base our responses on our previous experiences. Race is a taboo grouping, but that doesn't stop the brain from doing it anyway. Not that I'm sure white people don't break into houses in Boston... |
07-23-2009, 04:24 AM | #74 (permalink) | |
Extreme moderation
Location: Kansas City, yo.
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And fuck Al Sharpton. Seriously. Him and Nancy Grace.
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"The question isn't who is going to let me, it's who is going to stop me." (Ayn Rand) "The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers." (M. Scott Peck) |
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07-23-2009, 05:42 AM | #75 (permalink) |
Who You Crappin?
Location: Everywhere and Nowhere
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I'm aware of my right to privacy, and I'm aware of my right to refuse a search. I also value my time, and as a law abiding citizen, I know I have nothing to hide. I don't need to make a demonstration out of it.
But hey, I'm a 30-something white guy, so the chances of being harassed by the cops is pretty low ---------- Post added at 09:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:40 AM ---------- I'm not going to throw every cop into the same boat in terms of ego or whatever....many are assholes, many are not. But the ones that like pushing their authority WANT you to push back at them. Why give them them the pleasure? |
07-23-2009, 07:38 AM | #76 (permalink) |
Lover - Protector - Teacher
Location: Seattle, WA
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It takes less time to say "No. Am I free to go?" Than it does to say "Yes." and let them paw through your trunk.
Bad excuse for being unwilling (or unable) to stand up for your and my fundamental rights to privacy. It's not about pleasure it's about standing up for our rights and not letting police erode and erode and erode them because people are either ignorant of their rights or unwilling to stand up for them. The "if you have nothing to hide" defense is a perfect example. The very fact that this HAPPENED means there are officers who think they can do whatever they want on a man's private property. This HAPPENS because they're not trained by their departments and citizens saying "No" to keep their power in check.
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"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel Last edited by Jinn; 07-23-2009 at 07:44 AM.. |
07-23-2009, 07:44 AM | #77 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: bedford, tx
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because that pleasure gets turned in to a smackdown by the city council when they have to hand over a 5 digit settlement check.
__________________
"no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him." |
07-23-2009, 08:37 AM | #79 (permalink) | |
Tone.
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Were I the cop, I'd ask him to step out on the porch, to make sure there wasn't some jackass behind the door pointing a gun at his head to get him to convince me to go away. This professor has a chip on his shoulder about either white people or the police. . .Or both. The cop's request that he join the cop on the front porch was not unreasonable. Nor was it unreasonable for the cop to be there. If there actually HAD been someone breaking into the house, our professor would have been the first one howling that the goddamn cops don't do their jobs. And I wouldn't be shocked if he claimed the cops wouldn't protect him 'cause he's black. |
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07-23-2009, 08:44 AM | #80 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: bedford, tx
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me personally? no, i've not had the ordeal of dealing with cops overstepping their lawful authority, however, because I follow the gun laws and boards so closely, i've had numerous occasions of reading the end results of these 'incidents', more often than not ending up with a settlement to the citizen.
__________________
"no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him." |
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card, hand, race, shit |
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