User:SharkxFanSJ/HLG

The arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a Harvard University professor and documentary film maker, occurred at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 16 2009. When Gates and his driver forced open his malfunctioning front door that day, a local witness reported their actions as a possible burglary to police. Accounts regarding the ensuing confrontation differ, but it resulted in Gates being arrested for disorderly conduct by the responding Cambridge Police officer, Sgt. James Crowley, and taken into custody. The charge against Gates was dropped on July 21. The arrest generated national media coverage and a debate about racial issues regarding whether or not it represented an example of racial profiling by police. Professor Gates’s African-American ethnicity and involvement with studying the history of black Americans, along with comments by President Barack Obama, put a national media spotlight on the events.

At a July 22 press conference President Obama was asked for his reaction to the matter. He replied that while he didn't know "what role race played" in the incident, that "the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home". Obama's apparent siding with Gates, without having all the facts of the incident, drew criticism from members of law enforcement across the country. Two days later, Obama stated that he regretted that his comments exacerbated the situation, and hoped that the situation could become a "teachable moment". He also gave his opinion that both the officer and Gates "overreacted" to the situation. On July 30, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden met with Crowley and Gates at the White House for a conversation over beers.

Arrest
On July 16, 2009, Gates had just returned from a trip to China, where he had finished filming a new documentary series for PBS tracing the ancestry of cellist Yo-Yo Ma. As the front door of his home would not open, Gates entered through his back door. He could not, however, open the front door from the inside, even after unlatching it. Gates states that the lock was damaged and speculated that someone had attempted to "jimmy" the lock while he was away. Gates went back outside and, with help from his driver, forced the door open. Since the house is university owned, he then reported the problem to Harvard's maintenance department.

thumb|Gates led from his home in handcuffs after being arrested. Sgt. Leon Lashley in the foreground.


 * According to the police report and interviews with Sgt. Crowley, the officer asked Gates to step outside, and he refused, saying "Why, because I'm a black man in America?" and "I'll speak with your mama outside". Sgt. Crowley has stated that it was an unusual response for a resident in the home legally.  The police also said that Gates initially refused to provide ID, instead called someone to complain about a "Racist police officer", and ultimately showed his Harvard ID.  Sgt. Crowley has stated that as he tried to radio in the name on the ID, Gates shouted so loudly he couldn't hear his own voice.  The police report states that "Gates continued to yell at me, accusing me of racial bias and continued to tell me that I had not heard the last of him".  On the 911 dispatcher audio recordings, a man's loud and emphatic voice is heard in the background at several points during Sgt. Crowley's transmissions.


 * According to Gates's version of events, he identified himself as the resident. When the officer asked another form of ID, Gates replied he had to get it inside, and then officer Crowley followed him into his home without permission. After providing both his Harvard ID and his driver's license, both with a photo and the latter with his home address, Gates informed the officer that Gates had felt mistreated at the door by the officer due to Gate's race. (Gates later said, "He didn’t say, ‘Excuse me, sir, is there a disturbance here, is this your house?’—he demanded that I step out on the porch, and I don’t think he would have done that if I was a white person." Gates informed the officer that Gates intended to file a complaint against him, repeatedly asking the officer for his name and badge number which the officer would not provide. Sgt. Crowley instead told Gates to step outside his home. Gates followed him outside, onto his front porch, where Sgt. Crowley arrested him. Gates later wrote: "A crowd had gathered, and as they were handcuffing me and walking me out to the car, I said, 'Is this how you treat a black man in America?'"  In an interview with columnist Maureen Dowd, Gates denied he made a reference to the mother of the arresting officer.

Gates was charged with disorderly conduct. The charges were later dropped by the Middlesex County district attorney's office, upon the recommendation of the city of Cambridge and the Cambridge Police Department. In a joint statement, authorities and Professor Gates called the incident "regrettable and unfortunate". Sgt. Crowley said he would not apologize for his actions.

Response
The incident was first reported in The Harvard Crimson, the campus newspaper, the Monday morning after the arrest. Following a write-up by the Associated Press that afternoon, the story spread quickly. Public interest of the arrest grew when newspapers published the photograph showing a handcuffed Gates being escorted away from the front door.

A number of individuals commented on the incident in the days that followed. The Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, stated that he felt "troubled" about the situation. The Mayor of Cambridge, E. Denise Simmons, suggested that the incident was a "teachable moment" and that she hoped there would be meaningful dialog between Mr. Gates, the police force, and the general public. Some members of the Harvard community have raised questions about racial profiling. The Reverend Al Sharpton has also discussed the incident and referred to it as one of "police abuse or racial profiling" and said that it was "outrageous" and "unbelievable." Gates argued that the police picked on him because of his race, and said that he would use the incident to raise awareness of alleged police mistreatment of blacks, suggesting that he may plan a documentary about it.

Sgt. James Crowley's supporters noted he was chosen by a black police commissioner to serve as an instructor for a Lowell Police Academy course entitled "Racial Profiling," which Crowley has taught since 2004. He tried to resuscitate Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis while working as a campus police officer at Brandeis University in 1993. Crowley received public support from many police officers, including African Americans, who portrayed him as a good and fair officer. Sgt. Leon Lashley, a black officer who was present at Gates's arrest, said he supported Sgt. Crowley's actions "100 percent", while another officer in the department said "racism is not part of it, and that is what is frustrating."

David E. Frank, a former prosecutor in Massachusetts who is now a senior news reporter for Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, commented that, from a legal standpoint, "the decision not to prosecute certainly seems to be the correct one." In his analysis, even if the prosecution could prove all of the disputed factual allegations in Crowley's report, Massachusetts case law does not consider offensive and abusive language to be disorderly conduct per se, and they would be unlikely to prevail in court.

Jon Shane, who spent 17 years as a police officer in Newark, New Jersey and is now a professor of criminal justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who specializes in police policy and practice, told TIME magazine that, had he been the responding officer, he would not have arrested Gates after identifying him. He described Gates's behavior as "contempt of cop" which officers are supposed to handle as a first amendment right under the U.S. Constitution. Tom Nolan, a criminal justice professor at Boston University who spent 27 years in uniform at the Boston Police Department, was quoted in the same article supporting an officer's use of discretion in disorderly conduct cases. Eugene O'Donnell, a professor of law and police studies at John Jay College, told the TIME reporter that disorderly conduct is "probably the most abused statute in America."

In an interview for CNN, General Colin Powell, former Secretary of State and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman offered opinions on both sides of the incident. With regard to Gates, Powell said "I think he should have reflected on whether or not this was the time to make that big a deal". Powell recalled that he was taught as a child "not to argue with a police officer trying to do their job" and that Gates should have instead cooperated to avoid making the situation difficult, suggested that Gates could afterward file a complaint or lawsuit if he disagreed with the officer. With regard to Sgt. Crowley, Powell stated that: "Once they felt they had to bring Dr. Gates out of the house and to handcuff him, I would've thought at that point, some adult supervision would have stepped in and said 'OK look, it is his house. Let's not take this any further, take the handcuffs off, good night Dr. Gates."

Both Gates and Crowley have been active participants with the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, California. Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the center, has invited both of them back to the center in order to "create the next real 'teaching moment' for our nation."

Lucia Whalen
Sgt. Crowley stated in his official police report after the incident that he received a call that two black males were trying to enter a house. He said when he arrived at the scene Lucia Whalen, the witness and 911 caller, told him that "possibly two black males" were trying to enter a house. Whalen has since disputed the representation of her statements in the police report. Several days after the incident, Whalen held a press conference, where she indicated that she never identified the individuals as black.

In a release of the 911 call recording, Whalen could be heard saying, "I don't know if they live there and they just had a hard time with their key" or whether it was a break-in. When asked for details by the dispatcher, she said she was unsure of their race since she had only seen their backs, and speculated that one of the men might be Hispanic. Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert C. Haas has said that the police report is a summary, with descriptions – like the race of the two men – being collected during the inquiry and not necessarily from the initial 911 call.

Sgt. James Crowley has asserted that his information on the race of the suspects came specifically from a brief encounter with Whalen outside Gates' house. Ms. Whalen, at her July 29 press conference, stated that she made no such description. She stated that the entirety of her conversation at the scene consisted of her saying, "I was the 911 caller" and Crowley responding, "Stay right there." She said that at no time were the words "black men" or "back packs" mentioned.

The Boston Globe reported on July 31 that Gates sent Whalen a bouquet of flowers and a note. Whalen's attorney stated that the flowers were sent as an "expression of gratitude" from Gates. Whalen reportedly appreciated the gesture.

Justin Barrett e-mail
On July 28, it was revealed in the media that Justin Barrett, a 36-year-old Boston Police Department officer who has been on the job for two years, and is also a member of the Massachusetts National Guard, sent a mass e-mail to fellow National Guardsmen and to The Boston Globe in which he referred to Gates as "a banana-eating jungle monkey." Although the email was signed only JB, when he was asked about it, Barrett admitted to his BPD superiors that he was the author. According to an article in the Boston Globe, Barrett wrote the email containing the racial slur "in reaction to media coverage of Gates's arrest July 16," in particular to a July 22 Globe column by Yvonne Abraham, who expressed support for Gates. In the e-mail, Barrett wrote, "If I was the officer he [Gates] verbally assaulted like a banana-eating jungle monkey, I would have sprayed him in the face with OC [oleorosin capsicum, or pepper spray] deserving of his belligerent non-compliance." During the course of the message, Barrett used the phrase "jungle monkey" four times, three times in reference to Gates and once in reference to Abraham’s column, which he characterized as "jungle monkey gibberish."

Upon learning of the incident, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis immediately stripped Officer Barrett of his gun and badge, put him on administrative leave, and scheduled a termination hearing. The Massachusetts National Guard also suspended Barrett. In reaction to the news of Barrett's conduct, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino compared the officer to a "cancer" and said he is "gone, g-o-n-e" from the Boston police force.

Barrett, in a television interview, said that he used "a poor choice of words" in the email. He added, "I did not mean to offend anyone." Barrett has also stated, "I have so many friends of every type of culture and race you can name. I am not a racist." Barrett has since sued the Boston Police Department and the City of Boston, charging that the suspension from his duties was a violation of his civil rights.

Press conference and briefing
U.S. President Barack Obama was asked a question about the incident at a July 22 news conference on health care reform and replied "Now, I've – I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, 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. That's just a fact."

Obama's remarks sparked a reaction from law-enforcement professionals. James Preston, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Florida State Lodge, stated: "To make such an off-handed comment about a subject without benefit of the facts, in such a public forum, hurts police/community relations and is a setback to all of the years of progress". Preston further warned that "by reducing all contact between law enforcement and the public to the color of their skin or ethnicity is, in fact, counterproductive to improving relationships". In addition, the Cambridge police commissioner, describing the impact of the accusations, commented that "this department is deeply pained. It takes its professional pride seriously". On July 24, 2009, a multiracial group of police officers demanded an apology from President Obama and Governor Deval Patrick for making comments which the police described as insulting. Republican congressman Thaddeus McCotter said he would introduce a resolution in the House of Representatives calling on the president to apologize to Crowley. An opinion poll released by Pew Research found that 41 percent disapproved of Obama's initial siding with Professor Gates, despite admitting he was not aware of all the details of the incident, while only 29 per cent approved, and support from white voters dropped from 53 to 46 percent.

President Obama appeared unannounced at a White House press briefing on July 24 and said "I want to make clear that in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically &mdash; and I could have calibrated those words differently." Also, that "I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted as well."

"Beer Summit"
President Obama called both men on Friday, July 24th, and invited them to the White House to discuss the situation over beers. Gates accepted the offer to meet with Sgt. Crowley and President Obama at the White House. Gates also stated in an email to the Boston Globe that "My entire academic career has been based on improving race relations, not exacerbating them. I am hopeful that my experience will lead to greater sensitivity to issues of racial profiling in the criminal justice system. If so, then this will be a blessing for our society. It is time for all of us to move on, and to assess what we can learn from this experience." Sgt. Crowley also accepted the offer to meet at the White House.

One of Gates's lawyers, Harvard Law Professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr, a former professor of Obama's, stated that "I think the president has taken the right approach by trying to make sure we move forward [...] He's always had the ability to negotiate difficult conversations, and his steps today are an important step in the right direction. I think the president has given his assessment, which makes a lot of sense, and, however you feel about it, it has reduced the temperature and allowed everyone to move forward in a constructive way." Steve Killion, president of the Cambridge patrol officers association, also stated "I'm absolutely pleased with [Obama's call]. I think it was a good thing for the president to do. He's the commander in chief, he's in charge. Whether or not he should be involved in local politics, he runs the country. We all want to see this behind us."

On Thursday July 30, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Professor Gates, and Sergeant Crowley met at the White House. Initially the Gates and Crowley families were given separate tours of the White House. The families then continued their tours together while the principals had a friendly conversation over beer. Crowley and Gates told Obama that they already had planned to meet again soon for lunch. Obama said he believed "what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart" and that after the meeting he was "hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode."

Both Crowley and Gates issued post-meeting statements. Crowley commented that he and Gates discussed the topic "like two gentlemen, instead of fighting it out either in the physical sense or in the mental sense, in the court of public opinion." Gates commented that he hoped "that this experience will prove an occasion for education, not recrimination. I know that Sergeant Crowley shares this goal." In an interview with the New York Times, Gates further commented on the meeting, "I don’t think anybody but Barack Obama would have thought about bringing us together [...] the president was great – he was very wise, very sage, very Solomonic." When asked for his impression of Crowley, Gates joked: "We hit it off right from the very beginning [...] when he’s not arresting you, Sergeant Crowley is a really likable guy."