Henry Louis Gates Jr, a Harvard Professor and friend of Barack Obama, arrived at his home last week after a visit to China. He was having trouble getting his door opened and a neighbor called the police because it looked like someone was breaking into his home. The police arrived and asked him for some ID. Gates became irate and initially refused to show ID. He was eventually arrested because he followed the police officer outside to continue his tirade. Gates accused the officer of racial profiling and said the cop was a racist. Al Sharpton got in on the action and this became a national story.
Sgt. James Crowley said that he is not a racist. He is an instructor on racial profiling and he tried to save a black professional basketball player by administering CPR. It is unlikely a racist would preform mouth to mouth on a black man.
Barack Obama added fuel to the fire by stating that he did not know all the facts and that he did not know if race was a motive but that the police “acted stupidly.” The White House has been doing damage control since the remark. Gates has demanded an apology and SGT Crowley said that he would not apologize, now or ever.
I wonder what would have happened if Crowley had shown up at the residence and an actual burglar was in the home and the burglar said that he was to owner so Crowley left without asking for ID thus allowing the crook to rob Gates blind. You can bet Crowley would be in some real hot water. Also, how did Crowley know if a criminal was behind the door with a gun and that Gates was trying to get rid of the officer because of that threat?
SGT Crowley did his job. Gates should be happy that law enforcement quickly responded to the report of a possible robbery and that they asked Gates for ID to ensure he was who he claimed to be. Gates should also be happy that the police took the time to ensure there was not a dangerous situation behind the door.
Instead Gates and the race hustlers, including his race hustling buddy in the White House, have made this an issue about race instead of solid law enforcement. Could this have been handled differently? I don’t know because I was not there but I do know that if you become belligerent with the police you can end up arrested.
A black police officer who was at the scene backs up SGT Crowley and says that he supports him 100%. Sgt. Leon Lashley said Gates acted strangely and that Crowley did things correctly.
Let’s see how long this twists in the wind before Obama is forced to apologize for indicting a police officer, and playing the race card, for doing his job.
UPDATE: This letter says quite a bit. Obama, SHarpton and Gates should read it.
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