thread starter Aroe Jul 26 2009
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| Summary: Apparently Mr. Obama and an old college professor he had (Mr. Gates) went out to do something... Well anyways, Mr. Gates was supposedly locked out of his house (Mr. Obama was not with him at the time) so he tried to open up a window to get inside. Someone who witnessed this called in the police on "suspicion of break in / burglary" A policeman showed up and began questioning Mr. Gates and Mr. Gates began raising his voice and getting angry at the policeman for questioning him. The policeman never rose his voice, while Mr. Gates continued. The policeman told Mr. Gates to calm down several times and finally he had to arrest Mr. Gates for not cooperating. When Mr. Obama heard about this incident he responded that the police "acted stupidly" by arresting Mr. Gates. Mr. Obama said this before he even heard any details about the incident. When the policeman and Mr. Gates were asked to apologize for the incident, the policeman refused because he believed that he had done nothing wrong and he acted as he should have acted as a police officer. Long Version: President Obama on Friday sought to defuse the controversy surrounding the recent arrest of a prominent black professor, saying he talked to the police officer involved and believes him to be "a good man." Obama said he believes that both men overreacted during an incident that has sparked allegations of racial profiling by Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley and resulted in a media frenzy. He invited both Crowley and Harvard University scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. � the man Crowley arrested � to come to the White House. "My impression of him (Crowley) is that he's an outstanding police officer and a good man and that was confirmed in the phone conversation," Obama said. Making a surprise appearance at a White House media briefing, Obama admitted he was partially responsible for racheting up the controversy because of comments he made about the arrest during a Wednesday night news conference. On Wednesday, in response to a question at the news conference, Obama said police "acted stupidly" in arresting Gates on July 16 for disorderly conduct. The charges were subsequently dropped. The president went on to say that blacks and Hispanics have a history of being stopped by police more frequently than whites, and that has contributed to resentment in minority communities. On Friday, Obama said he should have chosen his words more carefully, and he believes both Gates and Crowley overreacted to the situation. "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," Obama said. Earlier Friday, a multiracial group of police officers asked Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to apologize for critical comments. Patrick has said Gates' arrest was "every black man's nightmare." Dennis O'Connor, president of |