UPDATE: Some stunning background on Dr. Gates from
myjoyonline, written by Dr. Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D, now living in the Bronx, a former co-chairman of the African-American History Month Committee at Harvard and author of the book "“
The New Scapegoats: Colored-on-Black Racism,” claims Dr. Gates is not only racist toward whites but anti-Native African as well. The premise being, Native Africans didn't go through slavery like American blacks did. Plus there's the native slave seller/slavery guilt thing. Sound familiar? Stumbled across it doing research for this piece. A bit long and tough of a read, but if true, it contains dynamite. Sent it to Drudge. The shockas just keep on coming with this one.
CORRECTION: A follow-up review revealed that Dr. Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr. is an English and Creative Writing professor, and was not a former Harvard colleague of Dr. Gates but an Associate Professor at Nassau Community College with firsthand unsavory knowledge of Dr. Gates. A lot of official terminology and designations packed tight in the piece made it difficult to sort on first read. This correction makes the stated revelations no less shocking or relevant.
UPDATE: From the
Boston Herald, via Drudge: Cambridge city officials are now reviewing, and mulling the release of, the original 911 call and radio transmissions from Officer Crowley during the incident, in which Sgt. Crowley requested the presence of Harvard University Police, allegedly because of Dr. Gates' disorderly conduct and refusal to cooperate with himself and Officer James Figueroa, the two Cambridge police officers who responded to the original 911 call to Dr. Gates' house.
It is unknown if Dr. Gates can be heard in the background during Sgt. Crowley's radio for assistance, but these tapes may go a long way in either validating or impugning Dr. Gates' charges of racism and racial profiling. And now the original startling news, as if all the updates weren't enough. One of many stunning developments from Michelle Malkin's
Hot Air blog: Sgt. Crowley is a racial profiling expert who taught the course for five years at the Lowell Police Academy in Lowell, Massachusetts:
Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley has taught a class about racial profiling for five years at the Lowell Police Academy after being hand-picked for the job by former police Commissioner Ronny Watson, who is black, said Academy Director Thomas Fleming.
“I have nothing but the highest respect for him as a police officer. He is very professional and he is a good role model for the young recruits in the police academy,” Fleming told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The course, called “Racial Profiling,” teaches about different cultures that officers could encounter in their community “and how you don’t want to single people out because of their ethnic background or the culture they come from,” Fleming said.
The July 16th arrest of Harvard Professor Henry 'Skip' Gates at his Cambridge home by Sgt. James Crowley, who was responding to a 911 call by a neighbor of Dr. Gates who suspected burglars were breaking and entering into his house (a
not uncommon crime in urban Cambridge, by the way), has graduated from an incident that should have been resolved as nothing more than a case of mistaken identity into a major divisive racial issue that is accelerating in scope and ferocity by the minute. Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh has gone so far as to
tie the lineage of the President's reaction in this case directly back to the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his
Trinity UCC Church in Chicago, where Barack and Michelle Obama were married and attended services for over twenty years.
The Republican Party has also
weighed in unfavorably on the President's remarks, and will soon be posting a video on the subject at Drudge asking Americans if Obama acted 'presidential' in this matter, and directing people to the
NRSC website to post their own comments and opinions. As with all news and blog posts on this subject, that news report from the CNN Political Ticker is attracting fierce and not very harmonious commentary. Political Ticker comments on that post are already up to 300. The first two comments perhaps sum up the rampant and heated divisiveness of this case in microcosm:
ron: And the GOP continue with their Southern Strategy.
drc: The professor clearly looks for race issues. I'm sure if his house was broken into and the police did nothing, the police would be racist for not responding, and then would go on to say that if it were a white home the police would have been there in 30 seconds.
Please, enough with the race card. Like the boy who cried wolf, WE are getting tired of hearing the same old lies.
This issue has headlined Drudge all day long, with posts constantly updated as major news reports and analyses fly fast and furious throughout the media and the blogosphere. Given my own background of being born and raised in Cambridge, and having been arrested for disorderly conduct myself within eyeshot of Prof. Gates house, CNN's AC360 show, anchored by Anderson Cooper, requested that I come into the studio for a live interview on
my DJ opinion piece on the case, which I had to respectfully decline.
Startling developments all around, even for myself. Perhaps most startling of all is how President Obama now finds himself
in the eye of the Gates hurricane after siding with Prof. Gates, an admitted friend, at a White House press conference, further stating that the Cambridge Police "acted stupidly" before going into a minutes-long discussion of racial profiling. The White House has
since qualified the President's remarks.
UPDATE: 7/24 @ 4:28AM EST - Despite White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' qualifying statement earlier today of the President's remarks Wednesday night, the President
stood by his words late Thursday, after Gibbs' qualifying statement was made to the press. Given the circumstances, these words from the President's reaffirmation of his position, implying Cambridge Police misconduct, stand out from the rest:
The president said he understands the sergeant who arrested Gates is an "outstanding police officer." But he added that with all that's going on in the country with health care and the economy and the wars abroad, "it doesn't make sense to arrest a guy in his own home if he's not causing a serious disturbance."
According to the official police report filed by Officer James Figueroa, that is exactly what happened. Interestingly, despite the fact that all parties have absolved each other of wrongdoing and agree that it was an "unfortunate incident" in which no one was to blame, Dr. Gates is demanding an apology from Sgt. Crowley, is threatening to sue, and has even said on Sirius XM Radio that he is contemplating a documentary on racial profiling based on the incident.
Yet of all that has happened regarding this incident to date, and continues to on a light-speed pace, few developments could possibly be as startling as the fact that Sgt. Crowley is not only an expert on racial profiling, but taught the subject at the Lowell Police Academy for five years. Obviously, this development places the incident in a whole new light, and on its face stands in stark contrast to Prof. Gates' reported heated charges of racism on the scene prior to his arrest, as officially
witnessed and reported by Sgt. Crowley's fellow responding officer on the scene, Officer James Figueroa.
The real tragedy here, based on events as reported by both Dr. Gates and the responding officers, is that what should have been nothing more than a case of mistaken identity, that could and should have been resolved through peaceful civil discourse by both parties, has now developed into a major polarizing racial conflagration that has enveloped even President Obama himself, who promised and
even pleaded for a new age of racial harmony throughout his campaign. Ironically, his first major act of healing involves the color blue, as the Fraternal Order of Police were highly offended by the President's accusation that Cambridge police "acted stupidly" and have
come out strongly in favor of Sgt. Crowley. The Cambridge Superior Police Officers' Association, Officer Crowley's union, has taken the same positions on this matter as the F.O.P.
How the President responds to and addresses this issue from now on may yet steer the direction of race relations in America, even relations between law enforcement officers and their communities, for better or worse. Yet another startling development is the division appearing within the black community itself over this issue.
Dr. Boyce Watkins, a pre-eminent Black Scholar himself like Dr. Gates,
has no sympathy for his Harvard colleague in this matter, and famed comedian Bill Cosby
has blasted the President for
jumping into the fray without knowing all the facts.
Many more startling developments to come, no doubt. Updating constantly. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: 7/24@10:00AM EST -
Speculation is brewing that Dr. Gates may have intentionally appeared to be breaking into his own house in order to create the circumstances under which the incident took place. It is only rumor at this time, and I ordinarily wouldn't give it the credence of inclusion in a news report. But Dr. Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., whom I linked up top, also speculated in convincing fashion in his linked post that this may well be the case, based on his own personal knowledge of Dr. Gates.
UPDATE: 7/24@10:40AM EST, from
ABC News Online, via Drudge - As I recommended in my first DJ opinion piece on this subject, which attracted Anderson Cooper's interest in interviewing me in-studio (linked above), should the evidence and the facts of the case indicate Dr. Gates cried Wolf, that he should be sued in civil court for defamation by the City of Cambridge, or by Officer Crowley as an individual. That may just happen. From the ABC report, "Cop Who Arrested Gates Not Ruling Out Defamation Lawsuit":
The police sergeant who arrested Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. last week in his own home may be considering a defamation lawsuit against Dr. Gates, who has implied his arrest was racially motivated.
The hits just keep on coming. From the President in D.C. to a professorial rival of Gates' in the Bronx, this is the most phenomenal rash of stunning developments of any news story I can remember in recent memory, never mind just reporting on. Amazing. What a time to be a Citizen Journalist!
Here's another!
UPDATE: 7/24@11:04 EST - From
FOX News, via Drudge: Extreme law enforcement discontent with President Obama's slamming of the responding officers as "acting stupidly" is spreading across the nation like wildfire, and that is not overstating the case. Here is an excerpt from the new FOX report to prove it:
Many police officers across the country have a message for President Barack Obama Get all the facts before criticizing one of our own. Obama's public criticism that Cambridge officers "acted stupidly" when they arrested black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. could make it harder for police to work with people of color, some officers said Thursday.
UPDATE: 7/24@11:38AM EST - Fun Facts from the
Wall Street Journal, via the
Chicago Boyz and
Instapundit: Dr. Gates lives in a city with a black mayor, a state with a black governor, and a country with a black President. FYI.
TWO UPDATES: 7/24@1:20PM - As now headlines Drudge (via
FOX News Politics), the Cambridge Police Union of which Officer Crowley is a member, as well as other local Boston area police unions, are demanding an apology from President Obama for his "acted stupidly" remarks.
Meanwhile, via
Yahoo News and AP, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is blaming the media's "obsessions" for keeping alive the firestorm over the President's derogatory remarks toward the Cambridge police officers who responded to the 911 call at Dr. Gates' house. More on that story, including an "obsessed" media reporter's follow-up question, and Gibbs' response:
Asked whether Obama regretted commenting on the matter, spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that the president probably would regret distracting the media with "obsessions." Gibbs says Obama has "great respect" for police officers and understands what a hard job they have. He also says Obama has said most of what he's going to say on the matter.
This story just keeps getting deeper and deeper.
People, I have lived through a number of presidencies. I was born during Eisenhower, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan in 1980. Yet in all those years, and I pose to you all the same question: despite all the impeachments and scandals, do any of you remember any story involving the President that started from such minor beginnings to swell to such scandalous magnitude? The only one I can remember was another break-in, that one at the
Watergate Hotel in D.C during Nixon's presidency. Only that one was real. What a hell of a story! And it's still far from over.
Absolutely unbelievable. And that is not opinion. That's a fact.
TWO UPDATES: Yet another Drudge bombshell, via
Real Clear Politics - CNN's Tony Harris called the above police conference condemning the President's remarks as "incendiary," telling the police unions to "take down the temperature on this thing" to prevent opening old racial wounds regarding the police.
If I may opine for a moment, I don't see that happening. Besides, it's the media that's "obsessing" according to the White House and Robert Gibbs, right? Why doesn't Tony Harris, a member of the media himself, condemn his colleagues for "obsessing" and to stop covering the police union's press statements to cool things down? Again, I don't see that happening, either.
Too big a story. The biggest of the young Obama Administration to date, that's for sure. Meanwhile, again from Drudge, this time via
Politico: White House Press Robert Gibbs is getting into it with the press as to which police unions supported Obama or McCain:
Earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed a suggestion that the backlash from police groups could be distressing to the White House, given that Obama has enjoyed a positive relationship with the law enforcement community.
"I think the Fraternal Order of Police endorsed McCain," Gibbs fired back, referring to Obama's Republican opponent in the 2008 election. "If I'm not mistaken." When a reporter pointed out that Obama had won the support of the Policemen's Benevolent Association, Gibbs conceded: "We got some."
Does covering a major hot developing news story get any better than this? But wait! There's more!
UPDATE: Again from Drudge, this time via
Reuters and
Breitbart: President Obama called Officer Crowley and has spoken to him on the phone. He told Officer Crowley that he should have chosen his words more carefully, then discussed inviting Officer Crowley and Dr. Gates to the White House for a beer:
"Because this has been ratcheting up and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, I wanted to make clear in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sgt. Crowley specifically," Obama said. "And I could have calibrated those words differently."
Gateway Pundit has a five-minute video of the White House press conference where President Obama imself addressed the media on the issue and discussed the phone call. Although the President did say he regretted his choice of words, he hasn't issued a formal apology to Officer Crowley.
