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The Cambridge, Massachusetts police released the 911 call that prompted the arrest of Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.. It turns out the caller Lucia Whalen said, "I don't know if they live there or they just had a hard time with their key." You can listen to the tape here, and Whalen was apparently upset she was being depicted as a racist in the media; her attorney said, "She has worked in Cambridge for more than 15 years, about 100 yards from where Mr. Gates resides, and was aware of several recent break-ins in the area." The Boston Globe reports that in the recordings, "The dispatcher asked officers to 'respond to a possible B and E in progress,' saying the caller had reported they 'barged' into the house, but also noting, 'They have suitcases.'" Gates was eventually arrested for disorderly conduct, upset that the police arrived. Cambridge Chief of Police Robert Haas said, "July 16 is a painful moment for all of us. We need to move on. If we focus back on July 16, we are not going to make any progress." The incident became more of a flashpoint when President Obama waded into the discussion—now he has invited Gates and the police officer who arrested Gates, Sergeant James Crowley, for a beer at the White House this week.
Gates Arrest 911 Tapes Released, Caller Never Noted Race
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Sgt. Crowley did his job and did it well.
Thanks for apologizing to him personally president Obama.
I could never envision George W Bush ever showing this much class nor grace after an error. And he had so many chances.
The question still remains, how exactly does one get arrested for disorderly conduct within one's own home?
The answer still remains, he was arrested outside his home.
you know he came out of his house at the request of the officer. and a minute after he stepped outside of the house (and still on his property), the officer arrested him.
Yeah, outside his home, as he followed the policeman who asked him to step outside....
There's a reason the charges were dropped, and it's not about influence-- it's about the prosecutors looking at the police report and seeing the charge was bogus. Could not stand up in court.
Poor scholar. How did hired help dare to question him? Now, "As always, whitey now sits in judgment of me, preparing to cast my fate." By the way, he has a tax problem - his Inkwell "charity" is bogus.
I'm not saying the neighbor is a racist, since I don't think there's any basis to say so definitively. However, the fact that she didn't mention Gates's race doesn't prove that she isn't. Hypothetically, she could still be a racist, decide to call the police because Gates is black (whereas in this hypothetical situation she wouldn't have if he were white), but not mention it because she didn't want to sound like a racist.
Again, not saying she is, just saying that "She didn't mention his race, therefore she isn't a racist" isn't sound logic.
you just said it.
did you listen to the audio? a second neighbor brought it to her attention. neither woman even saw him or his race. now, what's racist about not seeing an individual, calling the police and not mentioning what you did not see? but perhaps you are correct, she may have been committing a deeply buried THOUGHT CRIME!
anyway, what bothers me most about this non-event is how it detracts from ACTUAL abuses of power by law enforcement.
Read the transcript (or listen to the tape). You'll see that she was actually making the 911 call at the request of an "elderly lady" who first saw the men trying to get in. She says to the operator that she probably wouldn't have even noticed them, but this other woman approached her as she was walking nearby and told her what she had seen. The woman who called then saw just the final part of the attempt to get inside the house.
The 911 operator asked her if the men she saw were "white, black, or hispanic" and she replied that she didn't really know but one of them might have been hispanic.
Yes, Whelan is not the neighbor. She works nearby but lives in Malden. She said she saw the backs of the men as they entered the house.
"Again, not saying she is, just saying that "She didn't mention his race, therefore she isn't a racist" isn't sound logic"
i just want to take another moment to illustrate the absurdity of this argument. here's a hypothetical situation, following your logic:
pretend that i am accusing you of being a racist. i have no proof, of course. you haven't said anything remotely resembling a racist remark or comment. that's all well and good, but that doesn't mean that you aren't a racist. it is possible that you have refrained from expressing your racism on this forum out of fear of being perceived as a racist. which you may be and probably are.
this is the same sort of circular logic utilized by our religious friends. just because there is no proof of the existence of god doesn't mean that he doesn't exist!
Dude, no offense, but you sound very racist.
You're a racist for saying that he's a racist.
Being white I realize that the burden if proof for not being a racist is on me. That is why when I am calling 911 or even just ordering pizza I start off every conversation with "My name is ###### and I am not a racist".
Anytime a 911 call is made, pedigree of the potential offender is obtained. This way, the arresting officer has an idea of what to look for. It's like if you report a hit & run, the vehicle color is irrelevant? She could have just gotten back from a Klan meeting or Palin Rally, she just didn't see, therefore couldn't say. She just told what she saw. The next time I see a Hasidic, someone dressed like Bozo the clown, and three midgets (SORRY, "little people") wearing PETA T-shirts in the act of committing an armed robbery, should I just report it as "six guys"? Oh, sorry, that means I'm being sexist.
Six humans.
Actually calling people humans is not really politically correct these days. We prefer homosapiens.
In the vernacular?
Duke Lacrosse 1.5.
The only apology left is this asshole Gates apologizing for smearing Crowley's name in the national media.
Maybe Gates owes all of us an apology for crying wolf and wasting our time.
Then he should drop his fucking lawsuit, pay his fines, and shut the fuck up and go back to work.
Yeah, and the Hipster Grifter was only arrested because she's AZN.
WNYC wants New Yorkers to weigh in on the Henry Louis Gates incident. Was it racial profiling? Will the White House's "beer diplomacy" work?
Did race play a role in the arrest of Henry Louis Gates in Cambridge?
Click here and share what you know with WNYC: http://www.publicradio.org/applications/formbuilder/user/form_display.php?isPIJ=Y&form_code=370d44283631
this dude was just pissed bc he is pres. obongoes friend and thought he was untouchable