Obama doesn't regret 'acted stupidly' remark about Henry Gates Jr. arrest

[Harry 1,076]

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. It could even set back the progress in race relations that helped Obama become the nation's first African-American president, they said.

 

"What we don't need is public safety officials across the country second-guessing themselves," said David Holway, president of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, which represents 15,000 public safety officials around the country. "The president's alienated public safety officers across the country with his comments."

 

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama stood by his assertion that police did not need to arrest Gates after he had proved it was his own home.

 

Obama said in an interview with ABC television that he has "extraordinary respect" for the challenges and hardships that law enforcement officers face every day in their line of work. But at the same time he said he didn't think the arrest was necessary.

 

Obama said "cooler heads should have prevailed" in the incident. But he did not retract his initial statement that he thought police had "acted stupidly" and said such incidents "get elevated in ways that probably don't make much sense."

 

Gates was arrested July 16 by Sgt. James Crowley, who was first to respond to the home the renowned black scholar rents from Harvard, after a woman reported seeing two black men trying to force open the front door. Gates said he had to shove the door open because it was jammed.

 

Full story: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/07/23/2009-07-23_obama_doesnt_regret_acted_stupidly_remark_compliments_sgt_james_crowley.html#ixzz0MBXdnaRK

[Shortline Bus 1,121]

Harry i was going to bring up this topic but Julio and Metsfan told me to can it.

 

Oh well.

 

I wont comment it too much as i dont know what really happened. However IMO Obama could have done a better job in not getting too involved in this situation.

It also involves a 'friend/mentor' of the President's former Law School.

 

IMO Obama could avoided the cambridge police acted 'stupid' comment and just stated the justice department will invegstate the Professor Gates situation if needed. He could have also said that some people have right to be concerned since 'people of color' have higher number of police questioning than the rest of the American population.

Other than that comment i think Obama should have stayed out of this until he got the full story.

 

Also i think based on reading articles and watching local Boston TV News, i think both Officer Crowley and Prof Gates were wrong. The national media IMO blew this story out of portion. Sadly racism still exists and will probably never will end as long as this planet exists.

 

I am not a fan of 'politically correctness' but in this situation Obama and his people should have used it.

Edited July 24, 2009 by Hudson River

[jfkdepot09 0]

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. It could even set back the progress in race relations that helped Obama become the nation's first African-American president, they said.

 

"What we don't need is public safety officials across the country second-guessing themselves," said David Holway, president of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, which represents 15,000 public safety officials around the country. "The president's alienated public safety officers across the country with his comments."

 

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama stood by his assertion that police did not need to arrest Gates after he had proved it was his own home.

 

Obama said in an interview with ABC television that he has "extraordinary respect" for the challenges and hardships that law enforcement officers face every day in their line of work. But at the same time he said he didn't think the arrest was necessary.

 

Obama said "cooler heads should have prevailed" in the incident. But he did not retract his initial statement that he thought police had "acted stupidly" and said such incidents "get elevated in ways that probably don't make much sense."

 

Gates was arrested July 16 by Sgt. James Crowley, who was first to respond to the home the renowned black scholar rents from Harvard, after a woman reported seeing two black men trying to force open the front door. Gates said he had to shove the door open because it was jammed.

 

Full story: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/07/23/2009-07-23_obama_doesnt_regret_acted_stupidly_remark_compliments_sgt_james_crowley.html#ixzz0MBXdnaRK

See harry my thing. Is that the cops did the right thing.............theyy ask for id and he did not or want give his I.d up.....the cops did the right thing and followed the rules ......they reponded to a brake in and cops ask for I.d and gates went on this meaning less raid........as a black man I'm just tired of everone use race a as an issue

[INDman 412]

Obama should not have said anything about it. The officer in question did everything correctly, he was on a radio run to a brake-in in progress and the suspect was said to be a black male. Gates was in his house and how is the responding officer supposed to know he lives there. If the officer had driven up on Gates trying to open his door and the officer stopped him them, then yea there might be something wrong. If Gates had just handed over his ID, non of this would have happened. Also, this just goes to show you that you should know your neighbors a little bit so when you lock your self out they don't call the cops on you. I don't know how many times I have had to brake into my own house because I locked myself out.

[Shortline Bus 1,121]

Obama should not have said anything about it. The officer in question did everything correctly, he was on a radio run to a brake-in in progress and the suspect was said to be a black male. Gates was in his house and how is the responding officer supposed to know he lives there. If the officer had driven up on Gates trying to open his door and the officer stopped him them, then yea there might be something wrong. If Gates had just handed over his ID, non of this would have happened. Also, this just goes to show you that you should know your neighbors a little bit so when you lock your self out they don't call the cops on you. I don't know how many times I have had to brake into my own house because I locked myself out.

 

Again i think both Prof Gates and Sgt Crowley were wrong. Based on the articles i read Crowley is not racist imo. With that said based only on reading the news articles and Watching Boston TV News, the officer could have been more calm in situation and been more 'respectful' for Gates.

 

I also agree Gates should not have gone into a temper tandrum after he should the id. If he felt upset about how Crowley treated him, he could have waited until the next business day to compalin about the Officer.

 

 

The issue of racial profile by a small number of bad cops and racism as a whole still exists sadly in this country. Yet i think the media overblew this story. IMO why does real issues of racial profiling/bruality like the Sean Bell case in Queens a few years ago and last year a Black Man in Oakland getting killed by police, got very little national coverage.

This case does get coverage because this involves an Internationally known African-American scholar.

 

This Gates/Crowley case only got major news attention because it been a 'slow news cycle' in last few days.

[INDman 412]

I'm sorry, but the officer could not have been more calm. How is he to know that that Gates was braking into his own home, it could have been anyone and they could have had a weapon. For an officer going to any call, they never know what they are going to face, every call is different and the officer was correct.

[jfkdepot09 0]

I feel this cop did everthing by the book....and now we have rev (do nothing) sharpton maling a sence......and now obama......he needs to change ortake back what he said.....or this may come back to hunt him....

[Shortline Bus 1,121]

I feel this cop did everthing by the book....and now we have rev (do nothing) sharpton maling a sence......and now obama......he needs to change ortake back what he said.....or this may come back to hunt him....

 

Other than maybe offer help into an federal invgestation if needed, Obama should have stayed out of this Gates mess, i agree.

 

As a biracial Man myself(My Dad is Black) i do have mixed feelings on this issue. I have myself been stopped a couple of times in my life while driving and I felt it was unneccesary and i suspect it was was racial profiling. The 2-3 officers who pulled me over stated i was not speeding or had any other moving violations and was not clear in the reasons for pulling me over. However another time i did got and deserve to get a speeding ticket as a young and then new 20 year old driver.

 

So imo Latino and Afro-American communities have a right to be concerned on this issue. So JFK and Matted trust me, racial profiling by a few bad cops still exists. I also have friends/relatives who are police officers as well and have respect for them. However i think the media and Prof. Gates have overblown this case and we should move on.

 

The Cambridge, Mass Police Department has already apologized and so has the city's Mayor who is Black herself.

[jfkdepot09 0]

Other than maybe offer help into an federal invgestation if needed, Obama should have stayed out of this Gates mess, i agree.

 

As a biracial Man myself(My Dad is Black) i do have mixed feelings on this issue. I have myself been stopped a couple of times in my life while driving and I felt it was unneccesary and i suspect it was was racial profiling. The 2-3 officers who pulled me over stated i was not speeding or had any other moving violations and was not clear in the reasons for pulling me over. However another time i did got and deserve to get a speeding ticket as a young and then new 20 year old driver.

 

So imo Latino and Afro-American communities have a right to be concerned on this issue. So JFK and Matted trust me, racial profiling by a few bad cops still exists. I also have friends/relatives who are police officers as well and have respect for them. However i think the media and Prof. Gates have overblown this case and we should move on.

 

The Cambridge, Mass Police Department has already apologized and so has the city's Mayor who is Black herself.

I 100% agree that the media and gate overblown and made this a whole chapter of there life....and I do know that there are a few bad cops stilll here .....its sad but true.....I can hear foxs news now.....killing obama about what he said

[Urbanfortitude 123]

Our media is why I'm perfectly content with being off radar and just your common day citizen. I don't know how I'd be able to handle having to watch everything I say because it could end up in a newspaper or sensationalized/over analyzed on CNN/FOX news. Obama gave his opinion on the issue. I don't see anything so wrong with how he said it that he needs to take it back or reword it. People just need to grow some sort of tolerance for criticism and feedback.

[rmcconnell 1]

Since I don't know all of the details of this story, I'm neither agreeing with the comment (that the cops "acted stupidly") nor disagreeing with it.

 

But I think the President acted a bit unwisely (even "stupidly", perhaps?) by making this comment publicly; he should have kept quiet on this issue.

[Shortline Bus 1,121]

I 100% agree that the media and gate overblown and made this a whole chapter of there life....and I do know that there are a few bad cops stilll here .....its sad but true.....I can hear foxs news now.....killing obama about what he said

 

Unless someone say something controversial here, my last comments on this issue is. Instead of still being upset, IMO Prof Gates and the Cambridge police department should work together with all Boston area Police forces, to address the issue of racial profiling/community relations in the Black/Hispanic communties. That way, they can work together avoid this type of controversy in the future. It happened here in NY with the NYPD after the Diallo and Bell cases.

 

Again based only on Boston area TV/Newspaper reports i read and seen, i still think Sgt. Crowley could handled this situation better against Gates especially after the Professor showed his "ids.' Also I am well aware this buglary call could turn into a 'life and death' situation against Crowley. In other words it Basically the word of either Gates or Crowley.

Also Obama other than saying a federal invegestation would be done only if Prof Gates wanted it, should have stayed out of this mess imo.

 

Unfair or not, Boston and all of New England other than the deep south has a long reputition for many years as being one of most racist regions in America despite fact the Boston area now has a high Black/Hispanic population in recent years. Thus the Gates mess does not help matters.B)

[jfkdepot09 0]

 

Our media is why I'm perfectly content with being off radar and just your common day citizen. I don't know how I'd be able to handle having to watch everything I say because it could end up in a newspaper or sensationalized/over analyzed on CNN/FOX news. Obama gave his opinion on the issue. I don't see anything so wrong with how he said it that he needs to take it back or reword it. People just need to grow some sort of tolerance for criticism and feedback.

so u don't see anything wrong with him bashing a police depot..........hmmmmmmm

[Urbanfortitude 123]

Like nobody else has ever said anything bad about a police department before...he basically said their actions in this case weren't right. Not like he said the entire department was a joke.

[jfkdepot09 0]

Like nobody else has ever said anything bad about a police department before...he basically said their actions in this case weren't right. Not like he said the entire department was a joke.

Yea but comming from obama is shocking .....he not aa sentor he the prez...everone hear what ur sayinghejust needs to pick his words....now I have bash cops and have praise cops but I'm a 21 year old nobody and he the prez....iif I say this itb really doesn't matter...from him its a BIG deal but I 100% repect ur what u wrote....

[Urbanfortitude 123]

It's just that end of the day President Obama is a person just like anyone else. The notion that he should have stayed out of it..like he went in there tried to handle the issue doesn't make sense. He just gave his opinion. And doesn't matter what opinion he gives, someone will be sensationalizing it to be more than it should be.

[Shortline Bus 1,121]

It's just that end of the day President Obama is a person just like anyone else. The notion that he should have stayed out of it..like he went in there tried to handle the issue doesn't make sense. He just gave his opinion. And doesn't matter what opinion he gives, someone will be sensationalizing it to be more than it should be.

 

I agree urban. If Obama said 'nothing' ppl like Al Sharpton would call him 'sell out' or even worse. That why as i stated above in my previous thread that imo Obama and his staff should have stated something like this.

 

"While those in the African-American and Latino communities have a long problem with racial profiling and police abuse, i will look into this situation and will have a justice department offical look at the Gates case. Then i will offer my takes on it.'

[NASCAR 2]

 

It's just that end of the day President Obama is a person just like anyone else. The notion that he should have stayed out of it..like he went in there tried to handle the issue doesn't make sense. He just gave his opinion. And doesn't matter what opinion he gives, someone will be sensationalizing it to be more than it should be.

Well said...

[R68 Subway Car 254]

I say that Obama should have stayed out of it. Police officers have a tough job. Yes, they make mistakes, but they are humans, not robots. If Professor Gates had maintained composure, he would not have been in trouble. You need to maintain composure when you see police officers.

[Shortline Bus 1,121]

I say that Obama should have stayed out of it. Police officers have a tough job. Yes, they make mistakes, but they are humans, not robots. If Professor Gates had maintained composure, he would not have been in trouble. You need to maintain composure when you see police officers.

 

R68 did you read my previous comments.

 

Unless someone say something controversial here, my last comments on this issue is. Instead of still being upset, IMO Prof Gates and the Cambridge police department should work together with all Boston area Police forces, to address the issue of racial profiling/community relations in the Black/Hispanic communties. That way, they can work together avoid this type of controversy in the future. It happened here in NY with the NYPD after the Diallo and Bell cases.

 

Again based only on Boston area TV/Newspaper reports i read and seen, i still think Sgt. Crowley could handled this situation better against Gates especially after the Professor showed his "ids.' Also I am well aware this buglary call could turn into a 'life and death' situation against Crowley. In other words it Basically the word of either Gates or Crowley.

Also Obama other than saying a federal invegestation would be done only if Prof Gates wanted it, should have stayed out of this mess imo.

 

Unfair or not, Boston and all of New England other than the deep south has a long reputition for many years as being one of most racist regions in America despite fact the Boston area now has a high Black/Hispanic population in recent years. Thus the Gates mess does not help matters