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Let's take it from the top: I fight like hell for black people. I fight against the egregious violations in the criminal justice system, and I believe in Henry Louis Gates, the Harvard University professor recently arrested for disorderly conduct. So, hearing the following words from me is not like hearing them from Juan Williams on Fox News.
But here's the deal: In last night's press conference, President Obama was incorrect to provide such strong and immediate support for the case of Dr. Gates. I'll quickly lay out the reasons why:
1) Obama admitted several times that he didn't know all the facts. If you don't know the facts, then you cannot accuse a police department of "acting stupidly." These words amount to a political nuclear warhead being launched by the most powerful man in the free world. Careers are going to be ruined because of this and people are going to suffer. Before making such a strong statement, our president should ensure that he fully understands the situation.
2) Obama started his statement by saying, "Skip Gates is a friend" and admitted that he might be a bit biased. Bad move. By making such a statement, the president doesn't sound like a man objectively evaluating a situation. He sounds like someone who is backing his Harvard crony. Welcome to class warfare, Mr. President. You've now alienated millions of working-class Americans and thousands of police officers by backing your friend without properly investigating the situation.
3) Dr. Gates has a distinguished record, but so does the officer. Sgt. James Crowley has received strong and unconditional support from the Cambridge Police Officers Union, and he has a stellar record with the police force. This support is significant since the union could have remained silent. Also, you must realize (as Dr. Wilmer Leon states) that the district attorney's office dropped the charges on Dr. Gates, not the police department. That is a very different thing, since the DA is affected by political pressure. To hear more of Dr. Leon's insightful comments, please click here.
4) Showing an ID and proving that you live in a home is not (and should not be) enough to get most officers to stop asking questions. One-third of all female murder victims are killed by an intimate. Many of the assailants are men who break into their own homes to kill their spouse. The officer has an obligation to investigate, to make sure the person is supposed to be in the house, not just that he is a resident.
5) I am not condemning anyone. I am not saying that Henry Louis Gates is a criminal, and I am not saying that the officer is corrupt. I am saying that I want more facts. I want to hear from witnesses. I want to see more evidence showing me that this cop was really being racist and that this was not just a battle of egos. Being a professor at Harvard does not give anyone the right to disrespect a law enforcement officer, but being an officer doesn't give you the right to mistreat a person of color.
The bottom line is this: I am not attacking the president, but he should not have attacked Sgt. Crowley. I am not attacking Henry Louis Gates, but I am not interested in being asked to make a full judgment with half of the necessary information. No one knows what happened in that house, and until there is an investigation, the president should be extremely careful with his words.
If you want to hear it "straight from the Boyce's mouth," please click on the video below:
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a distinguished scholar with the Barbara Jordan Institute for Policy Research at Texas Southern University. To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered directly to your e-mail, please click here.
Comments: (133)
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By: 6SkreetScholar on 7/23/2009 4:11PM
Dr. Boyce,
I agree with those recognizing the inherent contradictions in your criticism of President Obama. First, your statement that "If [the President doesn't] know the facts, then [he] cannot accuse a police department of "acting stupidly", is diametrically contradictory with you characterizing the President's support as a "big mistake" without you fully knowing what he may know about what happened. Secondly, the media reports confirm that Dr. Gates was on the phone with Harvard security who then confirmed his identify to Officer Crowley. If you don't think that Dr. Gates's stature as a well known and respected scholar should have mattered to the officer, maybe you could agree that the questions should have ceased after the Harvard police vouched for Dr. Gates. Finally, while you are quick to defend the officer (making the same rush to judgment to accuse the President of making), how would you explain the Mayor and police chief calling the situation "regrettable".
Still don't see a cause for concern? Maybe you're not being authentic!
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By: 6SkreetScholar on 7/23/2009 4:15PM
Dr. Boyce,
I agree with those recognizing the inherent contradictions in your criticism of President Obama. First, your statement that "If [the President doesn't] know the facts, then [he] cannot accuse a police department of "acting stupidly", is diametrically contradictory with you characterizing the President's support as a "big mistake" without you fully knowing what he may know about what happened. Secondly, the media reports confirm that Dr. Gates was on the phone with Harvard security who then confirmed his identify to Officer Crowley. If you don't think that Dr. Gates's stature as a well known and respected scholar should have mattered to the officer, maybe you could agree that the questions should have ceased after the Harvard police vouched for Dr. Gates. Finally, while you are quick to defend the officer (making the same rush to judgment to accuse the President of making), how would you explain the Mayor and police chief calling the situation "regrettable".
Still don't see a cause for concern? Maybe you're not being authentic!
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By: Carlos on 7/23/2009 4:20PM
Now this is racial profiling!!!
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By: eharris on 7/23/2009 4:26PM
What! the President has a right to say what he wants. He was asked his opinion which he was very honest about, regarding knowing "all the facts" of the case. Also, I am sick of people trying to police everything the President and his wife says or do. How dare you and all the rest! The whole of America feels like they have a right to put President in his place. Now everyone has an opinion. Where were you people when George Bush was dragging this country into the gutter? Where!!!!!!!!!
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By: bhl on 7/23/2009 4:28PM
Dr. Boyce Watkins, what will you say when it happens to you? Believe me it will.
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By: BrigitteAntoinette on 7/23/2009 4:43PM
No, No, NO! Obama said he didn't have all the facts but he really did have them! He stated the whole case!
He was right! The officer should have turned around and left as soon as he saw the ID, and the driver was there and should have shown his drivers license also. The officer should not have hung around long enough to have Gates get upset! Gates has been all over the TV, and he should have been shown the proper respect that any older person deserves! The cops have it bad lately, they need to do their jobs and leave, and stop trying to get people to show them respect! As individuals they too much power, too much discretion! Those cops should have left long before they did! Hurrah for Obama! And Hurrah for Gates!
Cops should know their place! one of protecting and serving not asking a million questions!!!! They are no where near being Gods!!!They think they are, but they are not, just public servants!!
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By: BrigitteAntoinette on 7/23/2009 4:52PM
I remember in 2000, when we bought a house in a neighborhood I had never been in; I rode my bike to get some ice from a burger joint about 5 blocks from my house; a cop car pulled up beside me and asked me my name and where I was coming from! He said a neighborhood person called to say I was doing something. I couldn't believe it, but I said"well you see what I am doing", riding my bike. I was so pissed, but I stayed calm, and he drove away. I wonder what the caller said! There's a nigger in my all white neighborhood? Come question her? WHAT!!! What could it have been? When I call the cops from home they don't come! I almost hate them!!
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By: Reggie Greene The Logistician on 7/23/2009 4:56PM
We have three observations about the Harvard professor incident:
1. We find it interesting that the fact that this was the professor's home was evidently not established early on way before the dispute escalated;
2. We find it fascinating that the versions of two members of society, who most would ordinarily view as responsible and honest citizens (this obviously does not include politicians), would vary so dramatically from a factual point of view.
3. Finally, considering that the reading and viewing public were not present at the scene (and thus have no first hand knowledge), and that there is no video tape to our knowledge of the sequence of events and what was said, how so many have formed conclusions, and made assumptions, about who did what and who was wrong.
There are some things which Professor Gates might have considered upon the arrival of the police, no matter how incensed he may have been.
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By: marvin E. Franklin Sr. on 7/24/2009 7:57AM
Dr.B0yce like most media seem to be looking to the president to fill their hunt for negetives in order to promote ratings, Dr. Boyse in his article attacked the president for making a statement on the arrest of Dr.Gates without having the fullness of facts is Dr.Boyes not doing the same thing he accused president Obama of doing, one must remember president Obama was answering a question from a news corespondant who happened to be white, the question being in essence did Mr.Obama think the arrest of proffesor Gates had any racial over tones,in answer president Obama spoke of the proven acts of police profiling in the past and for the police to be summoned on a home breaking and entering and the police arrest Mr.Gates after Mr Gates had shown proof of being the home owner,the police said Mr.Gates was belligerent and this gave cause for Mr.Gates arrest.
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By: Donna Johnson on 7/24/2009 7:34AM
Obama did preface his comments by saying that he did not know all of the facts, however,... If the guy did refuse to back off after seeing Dr. Gate's ID, then he was stupid. Obviously, look at the attention this case has attracted. Additionally, Obama probably knew like many others knew. This is not the first incident of this kind -- An African American neuro-surgeon was stopped by the same police stating that he looked like a suspect in a murder case. My husband, the city's economic development director, was approached in the same manner four years ago in Ohio, although he was not breaking into our house. He'd entered already with his key, and a few minutes later the bell rang. He answered, fully dressed in a business suit --his briefcase sitting on the floor next to him, and was asked by police to show his ID, as there had been a rash of break-ins in our neigborhood recently. He cooperated, largely because he was so shocked. They left, but what if he'd complained like Skip Gates? Who knows? Ironically, this never happened to my white neighbors on either side of us, who are certain that it was an act of racism. They never called the police and stated so publicly. This made it harder for the police to say that they were just doing their job. In fact, they gave no excuse or explanation.
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