Comments on: Skip Gates arrested for being indignant in his own home! Historiann left peacefully to her own indignation.

By: Monocle Man

Monocle Man — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:52:28 +0000

PS – I almost forgot . . . I have been detained for rolling through a red light, accessory to urinating in public, and failure to hang my food on a tree limb so that bears might not eat it . . . I’m sure that I will be able to remember a few more each week, as this incident has stirred the darkest recesses of my memory . . . stay tuned.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 03:42:52 +0000

Damage Control, the person who called 911 wasn’t a neighbor. I heard (no link yet) that she was someone who worked in the neighborhood who was just walking by. I too had the same initial thought–what kind of neighbor is this?–but Cambridge is a busy little city with lots of traffic.

By: Damage Control

Damage Control — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 03:40:26 +0000

Now, every one is trying to go for controlling the damage already made. Boston is not a very forgiving town to dark skinned people. I worked with a white man whose wife was from Far east with a dark complexion. It was in the 1980’s and when they traveled by subway, the older ladies looked strangely at them. The man got annoyed many times — to the point of punching some of these old ladies. Another friend who taught Indian music in Cambridge was assaulted badly in the neighborhood he lived — because he was married to a white woman. He was told “You are not fit to live in the neighborhood”. Fortunately, his wifely family had the muscle power to prosecute the two thugs in the law of court.

I am bit unclear why the neighbor woman called police. She could not recognize Prof. Gates or she is someone new to the neighborhood? Would she have called the police if the person would have been a white man? These are the issues to address — not the individual Gates or the policeman who arrested him!!

By: Sad American

Sad American — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:25:20 +0000

If you are not free in your own home
Are we free?

By: Historiann

Historiann — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:41:18 +0000

MM–I disagree. Gates’s privilege as a Harvard proffie certainly meant that he felt more empowered to talk back, but talking back and being angry aren’t crimes! There are pissing match elements perhaps, but they’re embedded in a larger context. (See today’s post for more on this.)

By: Friday round-up: police state a-go-go, yee-haw! : Historiann : History and sexual politics, 1492 to the present

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:36:32 +0000

[...] oh man! The arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. last week, and the dismissal of the “disorderly conduct…, are still top news in the U.S.A. (Really? I mean, isn’t that whole health care/North [...]

By: Monocle Man

Monocle Man — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:56:09 +0000

This was just a good old fashioned pissing match. It seems that the key moment of escalation was when Crowley decided to ask for a second form of ID (the Harvard ID did not have an address) because he was being abused when asking for the first one.

I have been stopped by the police for no taillight, no headlight, no license plate light, no front license plate, no registration, no inspection, speeding by 4 MPH, speeding by 32 MPH, sneaking onto a golf course, drinking in public, staggering down the street, and, yes, for just walking down the street. I find the behavior of Mr. Gates difficult to understand.

By: Kathleen Lowrey

Kathleen Lowrey — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:38:57 +0000

Ignatz-

Why does the existence of *worse* things somehow trump discussing the badness of this bad thing that happened to Professor Gates?

This is classic concern trolling of the variety that pops up in discussions of race, sexuality, gender, feminism.

Although, dude, if this story of Professor Gates’s very bad day as compared to police harrassment of young black men in poor neighborhoods raised your consciousness so much that you’ve already started a social justice organization to work on that much more pressing issue, a thousand pardons.

Otherwise, you’re contributing less than nothing: how exactly is it making the world a better place to only exert your energies to pooh-pooh concerns about related dynamics?

By: Historiann

Historiann — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:10:01 +0000

I think being asked to show multiple forms of ID in your own home and then being arrested in your own home IS a big deal! I can’t imagine the blue streak I’d be cursing if it happened to me. Screaming and hollering at people in your own house is perfectly legal–if the officer didn’t want to hear it, he could have just said, “have a nice day, sorry for your trouble,” and walked away. (In my state with our “Make My Day” law, I can plug someone on my doorstep through a closed door just because I *feel* he’s threatening me.)

Just because it happens to others who don’t get publicity for their troubles doesn’t mean it’s not outrageous. (Should he have to sit down and shut up like those who are less well connected? No–this incident can perhaps be used to highlight their experiences.)

By: Ignatz

Ignatz — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:57:02 +0000

An alternative perspective: suggested not by me, but by a friend who heard about the story: maybe Gates *was* exhibiting disorderly conduct. He didn’t get booked for trying to break into his own house; he got booked for yelling at a cop. And I’m sure he did raise his voice, did accuse the cop of racism. Maybe he shouted and let forth some choice imprecations–after all, he’d just returned from a long trip and was probably in no mood to be diplomatic.
Depending on what Gates said, and on what the Cambridge disorderly conduct statute specifies, his actions might have fit under the perimeters of the statute–Gates’color and job affiliation notwithstanding.
To me, as well, it seems like no big deal compared with the insults less privileged minorities often face daily, with no press coverage.