President Obama and stupid, white cops

August 3, 3:14 PMNY Conservative ExaminerTodd Keister

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"Black scholar" Henry Gates, President Obama, and Sergeant James Crowley - Source photos/AP

Last week, our president declared that a police officer who arrested his friend for disorderly conduct “acted stupidly” in doing so. He made this nationally televised accusation after admitting that he did not know all the facts surrounding the case; yet he nonetheless felt it appropriate to use his office to smear the reputation of a dedicated, professional police officer.

On July 16, Sergeant James Crowley of the Cambridge, Massachusetts Police Department was dispatched to a reported break-in in progress. Upon arrival, he was met by the caller, Lucia Whalen, who reported seeing two black males with backpacks attempting to force their way into her neighbor’s house.

Upon arrival, Sergeant Crowley observed an “older black male” standing in the foyer of the residence and asked him to step outside and talk with him. At this moment Sergeant Crowley was taking a risk with his personal safety by not drawing his weapon in the face of a possible felon in the process of committing a burglary. No doubt, he recognized the possibility that the man had a legitimate purpose for being there and took the risk in the interest of not unduly frightening the man.

The man who was standing in the doorway, and who owned the house Sergeant Crowley had rushed to protect, was Harvard professor Henry Gates, who as it later turned out had locked himself out of his home and had been trying to find a way in after returning from a trip. When Sergeant Crowley politely asked Gates to step outside and speak with him, Gates replied, “No I will not.” He then began to shout, demanding to know who Crowley was. Sergeant Crowley identified himself and stated that he was investigating a reported break-in at the house, to which Gates shouted in reply, “Why, because I’m a black man in America?”

Gates then picked up a telephone and called the police station, demanding to speak to the police chief, saying that he was dealing with a “racist police officer” at his residence. After his unsuccessful call, he then began to threaten Sergeant Crowley, telling him that he had “no idea who he was messing with” and that he hadn’t heard the last of him.

Sergeant Crowley asked Gates to provide photo identification to verify his identity and that he was in fact the owner of the home. Gates first refused, demanding that Sergeant Crowley show him identification. He then provided a Harvard University ID card rather than a driver’s license. Sergeant Crowley then requested a response from the University police to verify the ID. Gates continued his tirade against Sergeant Crowley, repeatedly threatening him and demanding to know his name, which Sergeant Crowley had already provided several times. Once Sergeant Crowley verified Gates’ identity he informed him that he was leaving. As Gates continued his shouting, threats, and demands for information, the sergeant told him that he would speak with him outdoors if he had any further questions, to which the learned, respected Professor Gates replied, “yeah, I’ll see your mamma outside!”

As Sergeant Crowley descended the steps from the residence, Gates continued his shouts and threats. A small crowd had begun to gather and the sergeant warned gates to cease his behavior or face arrest. After ignoring a second warning, Sergeant Crowley was left with no alternative but to arrest Gates for disorderly conduct.

These are the facts. Yet the president of the United States believes it was Sergeant Crowley who behaved stupidly. The president said, “…number one; any of us would be pretty angry. Number two; that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And number three; what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that’s just a fact.”

Really Mr. President? Any of us would be pretty angry? A police officer quickly responds to your house, which is being broken into, and he asks you to properly identify yourself so that he does not leave a burglar in your home, and the president believes the natural response is anger. If by “any of us” the president means people prejudiced against police officers, or black liberals with a racial bias against white police officers, then I guess he’s right. If he means rational Americans of any race, he’s way off base.

The president, an apparent expert in law enforcement, also thinks Gates should not have been arrested after he proved he was the homeowner. Let me help the president clear that matter up. Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct for his yelling, swearing, and generally tumultuous behavior which clearly alarmed and annoyed other neighborhood residents – not for being in someone else’s home.

As for the “long history” of blacks and Latinos being “disproportionately” stopped by law enforcement; no evidence exists to support such a claim. Despite the media frenzy over anecdotal incidents of racial bias in police stops and searches, there is no credible evidence to support the notion that police officers in general treat any minority group unfairly.

Furthermore, the “racist police officer” Sergeant Crowley, teaches a course about avoiding so-called racial profiling, and performed lengthy CPR on (black) Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis after he collapsed from heart failure on Crowley’s beat in 1993.

The only racists in this story are Professor Gates and President Obama. Gates clearly demonstrated his racism by inserting race into the discussion about Sergeant Crowley’s standard procedure in investigating the reported break-in to his home. President Obama paraded his racist inclinations in the same way.

Skin color has nothing to do with what Sergeant Crowley did on July 16. Does any non-racist person believe that Sergeant Crowley would have ignored the call of a burglary-in-progress if the perpetrators had been reported as white males? Or that he would have simply taken the word of a white suspect that he was the homeowner?

The simple fact is that Gates is an arrogant racist with a prejudice against police officers. He believes he is a defacto victim because of his skin color, and that because he is professor at a renowned center of leftist education, he is entitled to deferential treatment by stupid, racist police officers. President Obama apparently believes that, because police officers are “stupid” and racially biased, that the natural reaction to them trying to protect your property is to get angry and verbally abuse them.

Sergeant Crowley is a respected professional who did nothing to deserve the attacks leveled against him by Professor Gates and President Obama. He did his duty and showed enormous personal restraint in the face of Gates’ personal insults and threats, resorting to the tool of last resort – arrest – only after all other means failed.

Now Sergeant Crowley has had to endure the ordeal of having a beer with Obama and his pal Gates, along with Joe Biden, so that the president can demonstrate his magnaminity in what he refers to as a “teachable moment.” The only thing to be learned here is that the president of the United States should not comment on arrests for petty offenses in local communities, and should certainly keep his racist opinions to himself until he learns the facts about an incident he is going to comment on.

Police officers in many communities already avoid enforcing the law upon African Americans whenever possible, in order to avoid the charge of racism – an accusation impossible to refute. The result is the phenomenon of “de-policing” in black communities; police will often avoid high-crime black neighborhoods to prevent accusations of racial bias, with the result being less safety for the law-abiding black citizens living in fear of crime and disorder. The president’s declaration that investigating a break-in at a black man’s home is proof that cops are stupid racists will only make matters worse for police officers and American citizens of all races.

The only stupid thing Sergeant Crowley did was rush to the scene of a reported felony-in-progress to risk his life in order to protect Professor Gates’ home from a crime. Sadly for him, his professionalism and commitment to duty would not allow him to ignore the call, and as a result he has been forced to endure this disgraceful public ordeal.