I guess the President will take some heat for the comment because the media needs something to hang on to and talk about 24/7. He spoke the truth. I don't have a problem at all. As a white woman who was married to a black man befvore civil rights passed in 1961, I know what it is like to be profiled and pulled over and slammed up against the car with a gun to my head saying the reason we were being stopped is we fit the description of an "interacial couple who robbed a liquor store".

Blacks and hispanics and treated like shit in this country. That is undisputed. Good on the President for tellling it like it is.

Pshh let them talk about it, sane people wont care and it gets them to stop twisting the facts on health care reform.

How how Longtime Reader (on the front page) is so terrified of right wing talking points from a news network which has an audience of less than one percent and will never, ever say a kind word about Obama.

Why is Obama attacked by this guy for stating the obvious?

Why is Longtime reader afraid of race.

Our president is a black guy....get used to it.

Of course race was a factor, but the other problem with this is the unholy deference we're supposed to pay to law enforcement these days. The guy was in his own house. What right does a cop have to demand you id yourself in your own house! Of course, a smart homeowner and a smart policeman should find it in their mutual interest to reassure each other but the sense of entitlement that some police have these days is dangerous.

I, a fifty plus suburban homeowner in a stodgy sedan going 15 MPH, was stopped by an outraged hostile totally out of control suburban cop 5 blocks from my house because the idiot thought we were engaged in a high speed getaway chase of the kind you see on California local news. He assumed I was trying to flee because I had not the remotest reason to think he was trying to stop me for my supposed crime of not coming to a full stop at a stop sign. An infraction that I was totally unaware I had made. A polite reminder to be cautious might have been in order. Instead, he screamed at me. I said not one word to the guy. I shook all the way home. I avoided the leafy suburban street in my neighborhood for months.

He wasn't concerned about the minor traffic infraction if it even happened - he was livid with rage because he thought I was dissing him and not showing him the respect he thought he deserved. You'd have to see this little leafy narrow street to appreciate the full absurdity of it.

That may have been the problem in this situation. Harvard Prof doesn't bow to the almighty police state hence police lose control. Race is a factor but we're all at risk for the same kind of treatment these days.

I want Obama to continue to speak the truth no matter what the political costs.

dear 'long time reader':

is 'self-obsessed' the new 'uppity'?

i guess i don't subscribe to the same newsletters as you.

best,

fkaZkosmo

I'm surprised that no one seems to have caught the extra laugh Obama gave to the press corps when he caught them laughing at his "I'd probably get shot" joke.

It was small but very telling. It said, "Yea, you guys think its funny because you have NO IDEA what I'm talking about."

It was a joke that was meant to illicit thought, not laughter.

No matter how you arrange the timing of events, the fact that Gates was in his own home mitigates any over-reaction he may have had. The president was right about that.

Interestingly, the situation closely mimics the hypothetical question on the old IQ test that had to be removed when it was shown to be answered differently by blacks:

"If a man comes up and hits you, should you:
a.) run
b.) ask him why he hit you
c.) hit him back"

(since blacks always answered "c" for sociological reasons, and "a" was felt to be the most intelligent response they had to change it.)

Obama was asked what this incident said about race in America, and he made sure he didn't waste the opportunity to make people thing about it.

And if you think it was dumb for him to have expressed his opinion on this issue, this way, just ask yourself this: can you think of any president who came firmly down on the side of African-Americans on this topic... EVER?

After tonight, there is only ONE first black president of the United States. (and it's isn't Hillary's husband.)

I'm pretty horrified by the knee-jerk reactions here.

I post both Dr. Gates and Sgt. Crawford's versions of events here:

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/desidero/2009/07/two-stories-henry-louis-gates.php

Included is an update referencing the PR Chair for the Harvard Black Students Association:

based on police reports, he personally didn't think the arrest was racially motivated and that "the officer was just doing his job." But he also said that while the professor may have overreacted or even acted rudely, the police should not have issued an arrest."

Profiling? The police were responding to a call noting two black guys jimmying a front door, which was accurate. Should they have been looking for an Italian? The door lock was banged open by one of the guys. Should the police ignore? Should the police not ask for ID on a break-in call? Sgt. Crawford contends he gave his name and the reason he was investigating.

Does it help our dialog on race to hype a bad example rather than highlight the many serious cases of severe, wrongful racism? I personally thinks it hurts the dialog, makes people think, "oh, it's not that bad, they're always complaining". But Obama's good at being flippant in these moments. "I'd probably get shot". Gee, that helps, tell us about your racist grannie again. It seems the police went and fetched Gates' cane, instead of smashing his face into the pavement that certainly happens elsewhere. So we'll have a debate on proper verbal etiquette in greeting suspects, rather than more general abusive police behavior, tasering and other serious infractions of rights, including a high degree of real racism.

I believe shooter is referring to the principle of cadit quaestio ei incumbit probatio qui niger.

OK, the cop probably overreacted by arresting Gates, but it also seems clear that we wouldn't be reading about this at all if Gates had simply said "Thank you for your interest, officer, but this is my house. I'm a Harvard professor and here is my ID." Didn't anyone ever teach Gates to make nice with the law? That's a pretty basic rule that I daresay applies to all races.

Summary of Obama's words;

"I was not there, I do not know all of the facts, I am sure that the Cambridge police are racist and acted stupidly in arresting 'poor' Prof. Gates."
P.S. "I expect all non-thinking Americans to accept my gibberish blindly and be outraged. Thank you."

I was a passenger in a car and I was pulled over, and ordered to get out. No traffic violation mentioned, just get out. Police began to search my car, look at the books in the back, rummage glove compartment, etc. More police arrived. A crowd formed.

I asked, politely, if I had done something wrong, esp since I was a passenger merely, and could I leave? I was shoved onto the hood, frisked, handcuffed, and booked for interfering with the work of the police.

The arresting cop wrote up the incident. Even with all it's fabrications, it so failed to justify what he had done that his Sgt. made him redo it. The first effort was tossed in the trash; my lawyer surreptitiously fished it out. When the state's attorney saw it, he dropped the charges. But I had a court date, and an arrest record.

I am white. At the time I had long hair. I was, in other words, profiled.

Unless and until something such as this happens to you, you will not have a clue about what it feels like. If it has happened to you, you view differently the story of Prof. Gates.