I blame the woman who called the police. Didn't she know Gates lived there?

Crowley was just doing his job. Obama jumped the gun, as it were, and said Crowley had behaved stupidly. That's what caused the uproar and that's why Obama then had to rethink it.

I blame Gates, he clearly has a chip on his shoulder. Also, there were recent robberies in the neighborhood and the neighbor (who couldn't make out who the men breaking into the house were) called the police. I hope my neighbors are as good as she is. The officer was just doing his job. The problem is, Gates is just another "Typical" old-school black-man who thinks the world is still against him when the reality is, the he is against the world, everyone else has moved on. Gates is stuck in another time with a chip on his shoulder. The sad part about this is what this says about our higher education, he is employed by Harvard and teaching kids his hateful rhetoric, its time for Harvard to remove him for him to retire. I'm calling for Gates resignation do to the fact he is out of touch with America's current reality!

I don't hear white people getting arrested in their home even if they scream at cops. The cops are usually, "Sorry to disturb you sir. You have a nice night." With minorities, its a different story. Rob and Windy have never been accosted by the coppers before so they don't even know how it feels. It doesn't matter how educated you are or your reputation or your record with the law or how you dress or how much money you have, as long as you're not white, you're going to be harassed and possibly arrested.

It's homophobia!

Disorderly Conduct is the law's way of giving law enforcement officers carte blanche. I obviusly was not there but the arrect ocurred in Gates' home and not in public. This is the key to this issue and probably why the charges were dropped. I think this exemplifies the power hunger of law enforcement officers. Crowley may be a great law enforcer but he should have tempered his authority.

Ah, The Great American Racial Conflict in a Nutshell!

The operative word being "nut," which describes both the distinguished professor and Friend of Bill (Cosby) and the much admired, decorated, etc. cop.

If both had kept a little cooler and behaved the way they have undoubtedly told others to behave in such a situation, none of this would have happened.

By all means have a beer with Obama and a nice photo op. But they both might be better off having a box of wine with Kathy Griffin and her Mom. Make a great show, too.

I am a minority and I do not think the police did anything wrong. Come on people use your head, does a Harvard "professional" really try to break into his own house or does he do the more responsible thing like you or I and place a call for assistance. (Remember were talking about a Harvard Professor)
I'm thinkging; I cannot wait to see what he (Professor Gates) does next to profit on the situation. I smell a setup for a book and the police will be used as a "Pawn" in his game of "race profit".
In addition, the other one who acted just as stupid as Professor Gates was President Obama, come on man, think before you speak or do you need a tele prompt to do that as well...

This whole incident could have been avoided if Mr. Gates would have just clearly stated, "Officer, this is my home, here is my identification, and here's what happened." Where's the gratitude in the fact that Officer Crowley was just trying to protect Mr. Gates's home? Maybe it's actually Mr. Gates who is the prejudiced one. Would he have treated a black officer who showed up to his door the same way? I am so outraged that this incident has been so blown out of proportion and it's being blamed on racism. I believe it's people like Mr. Gates who continue to fuel such fires in this country. I am so disgusted by this!

It was Gates' attitude and apparent worldview that led to this incident. He automatically assumed the cop was racist and things fell apart from there. Had the cop been black, how might Gates have responded. Not the way he did, that is for certain. So who's racist here again? The fact that this guy is "teaching" black students is appalling. Hope he is not molding them into a bunch of junior Gateses; that would do nothing for racial harmony. Its ironic how a man who seems spring-loaded to believe all white cops are racist could be married to two white women in succession. Maybe that's how, in his own mind, he "gets back" at the "White Oppressor." To me its just sad that this man's life seems so consumed by the issue of race. He needs to get over it and enjoy the life he has left.

Let's face it, NYers know that when police arrive on a burglary call, it's a life or death situation -- when the cop tried to get Gates out of the house (procedure which assumes burglars who may be armed are still on premises) Gates, no doubt jet-lagged from his cocktails from the flight from China, started shireking at him "I'll go outside to talk to yo Mama." What is worse than millionaire black guys with tenure at Harvard who try to talk ghetto? Maybe if Musto did? Gates is such a phony, such a fake, and so unpleasant that he hardly deserves the support, not merely from Obama and Sharpton, but also from the all-too-well-meaning black community -- he is a snob and a climber and frankly, he deserves that all Cambridge burglars get carte blanche on his home -- the sad fact is, if he had to call the cops, he would expect them to risk their own lives for him as a matter of course since that is their job -- no matter how pissy and bitchy he is. Shame on Gates, who is even worse than those hideous orange Gates which Christo was allowed to deface Central Park with, sicne greedy billionaire Bloomberg collects his work!

I could not have said it better myself... "Racial Pimping"

http://patriotroom.com/article/video-blacks-step-up-to-support-cops-racial-pimping

I think you had to be there. I would guess that even though the cop probably could have, and should have, avoided arresting Professor Gates, Professor Gates, that if everyone could view a videotape of the incident, Professor Gates would be the more embarassed party because I doubt that he acted in a way befitting a professor.

Well, let's all jump on the Harvard educated guy for being accused of breaking into his own house. The phone call came from someone driving by, not his neighbor, and the disorderly conduct charge is the old "can't get them on anything else, but they're disrespecting a police officer, so I'll work to get them on this" scheme. It's been used to corral people into jail for a long time. Can't do it when the person's in the house, though, so we need to get that person on the porch, where there's the remote possibility that someone could possibly hear us. Old trick. Same crap. Gates over-reacted, that seems to be true, but the officer, who's trained to deal with this stuff, did what you're not supposed to do and confronted him at times and did that old trick to get a disorderly conduct charge. Pretend that you've heard this sort of charge from many people, say, if you were a community activist and dealt with people who'd been harassed like this before. What would your knee-jerk reaction be? Mine, too. The officer over-reacted, and so did Gates. But you should remember that this trick has been used over and over to suppress minority voices and get people in jail where they can be shut up by law. Obama's apologizing and willing to talk to both sides, and admits to making a mistake. That's a hell of a lot more than the idiot before him did.

marlon, I agree with you on Gates, I disagree with you on Christo, I liked the orange gates. You have a strange way of associating Professor Gates with Christo's gates.

Rob, you obviously do not understand what it means to be black, or rather, any other color than white in America. Even now, white people somehow have found a way to dominate minorities here in the US. The main point was, that after Gates identified himself as a homeowner, they still arrested him. Sure, he was being an idiot for "Disorderly Conduct" though, it's still depressing to see a black man arrested for robbing his own home. Sure, he was probably acting up however, if it's true that Gates identified himself as the homeowner, Crowley should've just walked away.

Crowley WAS doing his job though, if you see somebody struggling to get into their own house, you'd think they'd him seeing how Gates isn't exactly as young as he use to be. And let's be real, had it been a white man instead of a black man, this entire issue wouldn't have been such an epidemic. Then again, had he been a white man instead of a black man, Gates wouldn't have been arrested.

Team GATES! I'd cop all the attitude I wanted to in my own home.

Honey, I have had my run ins with the police over the years and I am as white as a ghost rolled in powdered sugar. I got bitchy and defiant with cops in my own house once (they were there for something that had nothing to do with me) and was promptly taken away to juvenile detention.

But I wasn't rich, famous and powerful enough to cry wolf on national tv, so it kind of resolved itself quietly and I moved on...oh, and I took responsibility for my own actions...you know, coz' teenagers are more mature and responsible than your average Harvard dickweed and all, of course.

Of course I side with the police. That's an easy one. Gates was indignant because he wasn't recognized immediately. Too bad. Not everyone has seen your appearance on that fat cow Oprah's show.

I'm a white male professional. I've broken into my own house. It's not a crazy thing to do and most people with half a brain know the foibles of their own homes (like, in the Gates case apparently, a sticky front door). I've had the cops called on me, and I was never in any danger of arrest. Sure, it's anecdotal; maybe the cop who didn't arrest me wouldn't have arrested Gates either. But still...

Having spent his life studing the injustices done to blacks, Dr. Gates has chosen to dwell only on the problem. Suppose he now did a documentary about people who have struggled to rise out of race-based fear and mistrust to build bridges of multi-racial diversity? More on this at nubispertusus.wordpresss.com

Who really knows what happened? Having said that - from listening to the police report and the actual phone call (which has been aired), it appears that Mr. Gates was belligerent.

I have had the police appear when my silent alarm went off. They did NOT assume I was the homeowner automatically. They had a serious and businesslike attitude - which some people might be offended by. BUT - if you're a cop, you need to be prepared. I do not have the "black man in America," slogan to fall back on - as I am white.

Best advice - let the cops do their job. And if they are genuinely rude, contact their superiors afterward. But remember - they can't treat all incidents as though they're hosts at a party. They are cast in the role of "bouncers" at a party.

I once interviewed at the Harvard Club for a job. After the interview, I stood on the steps outside during a downpour and waited for the rain to let up. I stood there with a number of Harvard alums who must have assumed because of my appearance-business attire - that I was also a Harvard Alum. My stomach turned as I heard one smarmy asshole remark about passersby after another. I thought, what a pack of arrogant assholes.
I know a lot of cops. A LOT of cops. Every time I walk away from an encounter with them I think, what a pack of arrogant assholes.

AFTER we hear the tapes/CD, we should be able to formulate a more objective opinion.

Just one additional comment. Everyone seems to be piling onto Gates because the police report that he misbehaved. I have a hard time seeing exactly how that matters much. It was that officer who had the duty (and supposedly the training) to keep things from escalating to the point where an arrest was made in as situation where no crime was committed, no one was in danger, and no uproar was necessary. Isn't that a pretty big screw-up? If we're paying people to keep things under control and they allow such an easily controlled situation to blow-up should you blame the public, or should you blame the person who had the responsibility to prevent the problem.

Gates is a race-baiting bum, and fulminating dinosaur who has exactly one excuse for all that befalls him. Forget that the cops were doing it by the book, forget that the Blackest Guy Harvard's Got reduced himself to shouting 'yo' mama', and ignore that nobody even thought about race until Gates started shouting his excuses about why he should be treated different than everybody else.
What's most important to Gates is his status as both victim and sage. Nothing in him is able to see himself as an ordinary American citizen, just another guy paying his taxes, doing his job, and getting along with and like the rest of us. Nope, The Blackest Guy Harvard's Got sees himself, still, as above the daily flow, in a category where he alone makes the rules up on the spot. In short, he's angry not because he was singled out for being a criminal because he's Black- an astonishing accusation in view of the available facts- but because the police failed to perceive him as an individual deserving of special treatment.
I was one of the many white faces in the crowd when Martin Luther King made the 'I Have a Dream' speech in Washington in '63, and I came away with the distinct feeling that his goal was to make the same rules apply to everybody.
Professor Gates, shut up. Get a grip. Your problem here is your frantic desire to be judged by the color of your skin and NOT by the content of your character. Martin would be ashamed of you and the rest of us who've worked so hard in the last fifty years for real equality of opportunity don't need another Sharptonesque wart on the nose of progress

Having not been there, it's hard to say whether or not racism was involved. I think the issue is the abuse of power. I'm a white man and I've been involved in situations in which cops try to use their power to win arguments. For instance, someone gets pulled over for a speeding ticket and they're rude and insulting to the officer. Obviously, they're not happy about getting a ticket. But, instead of de-escalating the situation like they should and saying "Take it up with the judge. Here's the ticket. Have a nice day," they get into an argument and threaten to arrest the person if they don't start nodding and saying "Yes sir, thank you for the ticket, sir." Crowley keeps saying how Gates insulted brought up his mother, accused him of being a racist, etc. Okay...so Gates was being a dick. It's not against the law to be a dick. That's what nobody seems to get. It's not a crime to insult someone's mother, even a cop. Maybe he shouldn't be a dick, but he shouldn't be arrested for it either. If he were causing a serious public disturbance and there were reason to believe he might become violent or continue be a threat after the officers left, they should have just walked away. After they established that Gates was on his own property and there was no burglary, they should have removed themselves from the verbal conflict. "Okay, fine. I'm a racist. I disagree, but you're entitled to your opinion. I'm going to get my racist ass in my cop car and leave now. By the way, you're an asshole. Lucky for you, that's not against the law." Or at least it shouldn't be. It is a police officer's job to de-escalate situations, not escalate them.

Crowley - just doing his job. Totally support him on this one.
Gates just another angry black man - now it's racial. Way to go!

Mr. Long Beach makes a great point though, no one is seeing the picture clearer. The picture is, is this what we want to represent American culture? We're America, the so called land of the free yet, in times such as this, it makes me sick to even BE American. Everyone is seeing this situation as "Oh, that nigger shouldn't have done that" or "Some cracker officer arresting our people again for no reason".

And don't lie, you know that if it weren't for Race this entire issue wouldn't matter. Is this really what America has become? After nearly 300 years, this is all we have to show the world? Is this truly what it means to be American? If so, then forget this place. I'm going to Canada.

I'm not done yet. The fact of the matter is that no one has paid attention to the movie "Crash". This entire situation is nothing more than a misunderstanding. Yes, there are black people who give a bad stereotype and there are also white officers that actually do those things but, for everyone asshole in the universe there is a nice individual with a great heart. In this case, neither Gates nor Officer Crowley were goodhearted people. Gates is just some old school black dude who thinks white people are out to get him, and Crowley is just some white dude who was having a bad day(That or a Racist, take your pick) and the end result in this scenario. In the end, this was all just a misunderstanding and let's try to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Gates and Obama pulled the "race" card and both acted un-professional. Shame on them. Crowly should not go for beer, but if he does he should insist on having "Arrogant Bastard from Stone Brewery"

I read Longbeach Jeff's comments after I posted mine. I agree whole-heartedly. Very well-put.

Thank you Travis and Jamal. The feeling is mutual.

A citizen called the police because she saw a house being broken into (which it was). The purpose of this phone call was to protect the owner of the home from robbery or worse. The police officer was dispatched on the call to investigate a possible burglary. The officer was potentially risking his life to protect the unseen owner of the house from robbery or harm.

Most encounters with cops are intimidating and nerve-rattling, but these are the people who have dedicated themselves to protect and serve when shit goes down.

What would Gates have said if the cop had saved him from a crackhead holding him at gunpoint? He probably would have rewarded him with an autographed copy of his latest coffee table book.

By the way, in my first post, I meant to write "UNLESS he were causing a serious public disturbance and there were reason to believe he might become violent or continue to be a threat after the officers left, they should have just walked away" rather than "IF he were causing a serious public disturbance and there were reason to believe he might become violent or continue to be a threat after the officers left, they should have just walked away."

As a gay man, I know all too well that the police bring their biases to their encounters with the public. This incident never would have happened if Professor Gates had been white. In fact, had he been white, Lucinda Walsh and Sergeant Crowley would have helped him unstick the door.

Maybe Gates was wrong in his thinking, but that's not the real issue. We could have debates all day about whether or not someone is a nice person or if they have a bad attitude or if they're a racist, but those are all just opinions. The greater issue is... What behavior should get someone arrested? I'm not comfortable with the idea that I could be arrested for insulting a cop's mother. It's trivial. They're job was done at that point and they should have gone home, with or without the respect or gratitude of Gates, even if it was deserved. The law shouldn't be about opinion. "I thought that guy was an asshole and he mentioned my mother so I arrested him" isn't good enough in my opinion. Did he break a law? Was he really out of control? Those are the issues here. I think officers should have the freedom to use personal judgment in interpreting the law in a given situation, but they should be trained to never let emotion enter into it. Their job is to maintain public peace. They should be told that if someone is insulting them, they should walk away unless the person is committing a crime. You can't arrest someone for being difficult. Don't be bated into an escalating argument. They should be above that.

very simple here folks.....i tell my boys to always cooperate...and that is not tolerating a police state...we have our chance to straighten things out.....but the officer is in his job mode...cooperate

What is ironic about the Gates incident and most of the comments on it is the fact that with his writings over the last 20 years Gates has become a prominent Public Intellectual because he has promoted the idea that if Blacks(and by extension,Queers,Women...ANYONE who can be marginalised by those with Power)would just Shut Up and Behave Themselves,All Would Be Well...back in the day,he might be called a "Tom"...but of course, people who accuse him of Special Pleading because of his Race assume that there is no difference between Gates,Sharpton,Jesse(or Michael!)Jackson,Farrakhan or Obama...because they are all Black,they must all think the same way...

I am amazed at the number of people who think that a man should be arrested for being rude, stupid, indignant, incorrect, or any of the other things. People have been brainwashed so much by the authoritarians that they have completely surrendered their liberty.

Once the cop determined there was no crime, he should have moved on. According to his own police report he determined that pretty early. Why did he hang around? Once his business was done, he was trespassing.

Gates made a buffoon of himself. That is not a crime. The government should not take away your freedom, even for just a few hours, for exercising first amendment rights no matter how ridiculous you may be.

The police are not our masters.

hmm...

Like President Obama -- I, too am on the proverbial "fence" with this one.

I am a 30-something Black male who has thankfully had the good fortune to be raised (and in adulthood, continue to live) in "diverse" neighborhoods that are labeled by the locals as "upper-middle class".

To add the element of truth -- "Diverse" REALLY means "Cultural breakdown of resident body is 85% Caucasian and 15% random mix of accepted minorities".

Given that lifelong non-variable -- I'm no stranger to random occurrences of cultural or racial tension and "expression"; the least subtle being the reoccuring offense of "driving while black".

HOWEVER, one MAJOR thing that I learned is that, when confronted with the issue, MY attitude about it often determines the outcome.

When confronted with an obvious, blatant incidence of DWB -- my first thought is "This shouldn't be happening". However, my intent to be polite and respectful to the authorities usually TOTALLY diffuses the situation and leaves the offender to rethink his behavior.

When I'm aware that I've actually invited a "situation" (i.e.- rolling stops at stop signs; pulling over and sitting for prolonged periods to either finish a conference call, complete a text message or reset my GPS, etc) -- I accept that I've opened the door to harrassment and attempt to, again, diffuse the situation. And, if not obvious -- I try to remove race as the possible catalyst altogether.

All-in-all, I've not allowed my peace to be disturbed and I've only been given ONE ticket in my entire life (the cops have thankfully found a conscience and either felt stupid or just couldn't find the emotion to continue).

Anyhow -- even with my willingness to apply my own methods of dealing with such a situation and assume that Mr. Gates' overreaction may have blown the issue out of proportion... I have to say that I'd be emotionally "chafed" if someone brought that nonsense into my home.

I don't know that I'd be so patient if a man of authority and supposed integrity was standing in my living room and treating me like a criminal -- even after I had furnished proof that I OWNED (or at least, legally lived in) the residence. I'm not sure that any self-respecting person (Black or White) would weather that offense with grace.

I applaud the neighbor... she was being kind (and probably had no idea that it would escalate to such a level). If my neighbor's home was being broken into -- I wouldn't waste time playing Nancy Drew and trying to get a closer look at the burglar! I'd be discreetly trying to get the police there ASAP.

As far as the police officer's actions -- I hate that he's being labeled as racist (if he truly isn't)... but he HAS to realize that his actions would have been horribly offensive and demeaning to ANYONE -- and subjecting someone to that behavior may drive them rashly find a negative motive for the action.

My only question: Mr. Gates, at least, is a rather noteworthy figure with a minor level of celebrity... and Cambridge, MASS is NOT that large. I'd know Dr. Faust (the President) by sight (and I've not attended Harvard nor have I ever lived in Cambridge). They don't know him well enough to at least identify him as a local faculty member (and give him the associated "benefit of the doubt" to treat him respectfully)? That part of the story strikes me as odd.

The cop is a lying racist scumbag.

Gates is a lying racist scumbag.

This is a DIRECT QUOTE from the lovely and brilliant Professor Gates:

"I mean, Malcolm X was talking about the white man was the devil and standing up in white people's faces and telling them off. It was great. I mean, it's what black people did behind closed doors..."

Now who do you think was the RACIST, shit stirrer in this situation? Gates makes money and gets on tv if racial shit goes down. He benefits from it.

If racial shit stops or steeply declines, Gates's own personal little racism industry collapses. He has to keep it going in order to stay relevant.

He is SCUM.

i am a racist lying scumbag & phobohomic as well!

Sorry "Cha Cha" but slavery's not coming back, no matter how much you want it to.

Now go and jerk off to your DVD of "The Birth of a Nation" like a good little racist.

Sounds like David Ehrenstein enjoys racism as well. He's just not as successful at capitalizing on it as Gates has been. :(

Try harder Davey, maybe you can create some racial turmoil to feed your evil little soul like a good little racist.

Cha Cha (stupid name, even stupider comments)and all the other idiots -- excuse me, racist idiots - defending that peckerwood cop -- Gates is far from a racial provocateur, and if you knew anything about his work, you'd know that. But I doubt any of you has read any of his books or articles. I have. Moreover, he's married to a white woman and has mixed-race children. Some anti-white radical, huh? Moreover, he was in his own home, being treated like a perp by this dipshit pig. He showed his Harvard ID, after this pig patronizingly questioned whether he was indeed a professor at Harvard, even though Gates is one of Harvard's best-known academics and a public intellectual of international reputation. Furthermore, we don't live in a police state -- though obviously some of the dumb white queers posting here would like to -- and there's no law against disagreeing with or even yelling at a cop. Only if you menace or threaten him does he have the right to arrest you. If you've read some of the commentary about this incident from police officials, they all say the cop should've walked away -- the arrest was totally uncalled for. Now every right-wing moron is exploiting this incident, including some dumbass GOP congressman who actually is proposing a resolution demanding that Obama apologize to said peckerwood cop.

So yeah, I'm with Gates on this. And fuck you racist queens.

in a moment of enlightenment, GiorgioNYC wrote:

"that peckerwood cop"..."dumb white queers"..."peckerwood cop" (#2)...blah blah blah..."And fuck you racist queens"

Darling, you and Davey are two of the biggest racists around these parts. Hope you weren't going for an air of credibility with that racist rant of yours, because you failed, sweetie.

Mucho mega props on your good work in keeping racism going as a viable industry, sweetie. Without people like you, there's no money to be made off of it, no tv appearances, no book deals and no White House beer bashes for racism entrepeneurs like Gates. You go Gurls!

False arrest.
Yelling at a cop in your house ain't illegal.

What troubles me is that this is one of the most well educated neighborhoods in America. Harvard elite, old wealth, a premier place to live. Where was the civility on either side of this situation? Once Gates identified himself as the owner of the home, the officer as an employee of the community was obligated to change his tone. The protector of the people was now dealing with the homeowner. The taxpayer citizen who pays his salary. He needs to adjust his attitude at this point. The homeowner should not be treated like the enemy, the officer should now be on the assisting side of the homeowner. Step away, give the old man his space and asses the situation. The homeowner needs to feel the officer is there to protect. Not to harass or antagonize. The officer needs to focus the attention on the true culprit if one exists. He needs to be civil to the homeowner. The Harvard professor needs to be civil to the officer as well. Everyone handles the matter in a civilized manner.
If this breakdown happens in a neighborhood like Cambridge, it just emphasizes how out of control society is. We who are innocent and could possibly use the assistance of the police should not automatically be seen as the enemy. Law enforcement seems to be more of a movement of them against us all the time. That's wrong. We all need to treat each other as people so we're not constantly having to look over our shoulders all the time.

Some of my best friends are dumb white queers but I wouldn't want one to marry my brother.

I think that race is just an incidental issue in this case. Gates was arrested because he didn't bow down and "Yes Sir, No, Sir" the officer. Anyone who lives in New York City knows that feeling of fear....that if you don't treat the police exactly as they think they should be treated, you will definitely have a problem.

Wow. Reading the majority of the comments, it's certainly easy to tell who most of Musto's readers are -- racist white queens more than willing to blame the black man, even despite the facts of the case. (Loved the idiot up above who said now that he's heard the tapes, he's concluded that "Gates was belligerent," even though Gates' voice cannot be heard clearly anywhere on the tapes.) Un-freaking-believable.

Leading up to yesterday, all of Sgt. Crowley's -- excuse me, Saint Crowley's -- psycho supporters were screaming "Release the tapes! Release the tapes!" and now that they have and he didn't exactly coming out smelling like a rose (he's a fucking liar who claimed Ms. Whalen described the men as black and she didn't, who claimed he interviewed her extensively on the scene and he didn't), they've decided to just make up the details out of whole cloth to sell their fantasy that he's not a lying scumbag cop. Nice try.

Obama told the truth when he applied the term "stupid" to describe this situation. Too bad he allowed the right-wing lunatic fringe of this country to force him to take it back.

The headline should read, of course,"Whom do you side with ..."

One thing that hasn't been mentioned much is that Gates had just got off a long flight from China. Not the best time to have to deal with this situation I wouldn't have thought, I'm cranky as all get out when I get home from a long flight.