Comments on: Friday round-up: police state a-go-go, yee-haw!

By: cgeye

cgeye — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:46:12 +0000

In Colorado, it can get you dead.

The Make My Day Law can allow a resident to shoot from within his house at a stranger, if there is a belief that harm is intended to that resident. This, of course, exempts shots at the police, so go know.

What interests me is that I’m not hearing squat about or from the bodyguard, who was the guy breaking down the front door in the first place. It wasn’t just Gates the neighbor was reacting to — it was the Big Guy. You know, the Big Guy that’s like that guy in the Brinks ad, who jumped on the door and broke it? Yeah, him.

By: Digger

Digger — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:19:02 +0000

Is it actually a violation of etiquette to be outspoken when someone uninvited is in your house?

By: Historiann

Historiann — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:20:23 +0000

quixote: it’s not ILLEGAL to be “impolite.” People who are “impolite” are not ordinarily subject to arrest, so it’s not merely “unprofessional” to arrest someone for this. C.P.D. engaged in a gross violation of someone’s rights, which when we look at the broad sweep of American history, looks like it was racially informed.

I really don’t think that Prof. Gates’s etiquette violation rises to the level of incarceration. I don’t even myself see it as an etiquette viloation: if someone with paramilitary authority and a gun was in my house after I had told him to leave, you’d better you bet I’d be angry and frightened, and I probably would be extremely “impolite” myself. The U.S. Constitution should trump Miss Manners, every time.

By: quixote

quixote — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:14:50 +0000

If I were President and speaking from first reactions, I would have said, “It is impolite to be rude to the police. It is unprofessional and unacceptable for the police to react to that.”

What’s so difficult about those concepts?

By: Digger

Digger — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:08:53 +0000

Historiann, “Everything used to be so awesome before the Civil Rights movement, which unleashed so much division in this country!” Yeah, damn people who want their rights, just squawking and making everyone else’s life hell. There’s only so many rights to go around, you know.

Seriously, I do agree with the point that making it a discussion about an *individual’s* racism (or sexism, or homophobia, etc.) allows folks to side-step the fact that we *all* live in a systemically racist, sexist, homophobic society. That doesn’t mean it’s static, but it won’t change overnight.

Oh, and apparently Obama has invited Gates and the arresting officer to the White House to have a beer. And, I suppose, chuckle about the whole silly misunderstanding? LOL WUT?

By: jc

jc — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:26:26 +0000

I also want to add that for Crowley being a teacher on racial profiling, why was he surprised that Gates wasn’t polite, that Gates didn’t hop to white man’s commands? Gates showed proof that he lived in his house and it STILL wasn’t adequate enough. Black men being hauled off from their own houses by white cops would SURELY be addressed in a racial profiling course, right? Crowley would/should have experience and knowledge about the fear, rightfully so, black men have in being hauled away to the slammer by white men, right?

Chris Rock has a “how not to get your a$$ kicked by the police” educational video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0mtxXEGE8

1) Obey the law 2) Use common sense 3) Stop immediately 4) Turn that sh*t off 5) Be polite 6) STFU 7) Get a white friend Don’t ride with a mad woman.

I linked you over at Isis.

By: Rad Readr

Rad Readr — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:49:18 +0000

The bad part about Obama backing down on the “acted stupidly” comment is that for once a prominent politician said what a lot of us know already — cops act stupidly all the time. And it’s not jut about racism (Rodney King), it’s about having a little power. That’s why they call it the thin blue line. And like racism, it’s not about individual cops (some good ones, they work hard, tough job, some nice people), it’s about police forces in which abuse and racism are part of the institution’s history.

By: Dr. Crazy

Dr. Crazy — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:36:49 +0000

I hate leaving this sort of comment, for it is stupid, but I’ve been restructuring gen. ed. at my university all day, so I will: Everything y’all have said about racism? I totally agree.

By: life_of_a_fool

life_of_a_fool — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:15:19 +0000

I agree with Kathleen Lowrey about south/non-south racism. I have lived in the south, the midwest, and New England and I have observed appalling examples of racism everywhere. The biggest difference to me between the south and the non-south is that it’s a little harder for the south to dismiss racism and race relations and a lot easier for northerners to be sanctimonious and “what me?!”

I also agree with susurro (and Historiann, as I think your points were very similar) about the need to fixate on an individual who may or may not be racist, to avoid issues of societal racism.

That also puts us in a weird position where people try to put others in a box of “pro-law enforcement/anti-Gates” or “anti-law enforcement/pro-Gates” which to me is a weird false dichotomy that misses the point.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:56:43 +0000

Kathleen–well, I think it has something to do with not handing your political opposition a loaded gun pointing back at you. I’m sure Bill O’Lielly wet his pants when Obama said that the C.P.D. had acted “stupidly.” Who among us thinks that Obama’s first statement was inauthentic? IMHO, that stands and his attempts to back away from it are probably pointless now. (But I get why he’s trying to walk it back.)