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Anyone following the Dr. Gates story?

VarunaTTVarunaTT member
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in Wedding Woes
I'm interested in thoughts about it.
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Re: Anyone following the Dr. Gates story?

  • ReturnOfKuusReturnOfKuus member
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    edited December 2011
    No.  Can you give as objective a summary as possible so I can form an opinion?
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  • PMeg819PMeg819 member
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    edited December 2011
    It's so he said/he said. I haven't really formed an opinion either way.
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  • mrsconn23mrsconn23 member
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    edited December 2011
    I've read bits and pieces of it.  I agree with PMeg...It's too back and forth right now to really know what's what.
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  • VarunaTTVarunaTT member
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    edited December 2011
    Huh.  Let's see.Dr. Gates is a Harvard professor.  He had been out of town.  When he arrived at his home in Cambridge, he discovered he had lost his keys.  With the help of his cab driver, he attempted to break into his home with the use of a crow bar at the front door.  Someone saw this and called the police.  When the police arrived, they say that Dr. Gates was belligerent and refused to identify himself.  Dr. Gates say that the police assumed he was a criminal.Dr. Gates is a black man.  He is also the director of Harvard University's W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research.  The neighborhood is predominately white and the arresting police officers are white.  He is saying it was racially motivated, while the police officers are saying that if he had just identified himself and not been belligerent, none of this would've happened.The charges have been dropped, but the news storm is still going.
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  • HisEarth.HisEarth.
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    edited December 2011
    I agree on the He Said/He Said, but this is Professor Henry Louis Gates, ladies!!
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  • **O-Face****O-Face** member
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    edited December 2011
    Hm.  Sounds like a mess that won't be cleaned up easily. 
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  • notamrsnotamrs member
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    edited December 2011
    They had the arresting officer on NPR this morning.  Hard to say without having witnessed it, but it sounds like Gates refused to provide id and yelled at the officers.  Remember that he was arrested for disorderly conduct, not breaking and entering.I understand him being tired and defensive since he was just getting back from a trip and only trying to get into his own house, but my personal feeling is that if a police officer asks you for ID, you should give it to him, no matter what color you are.
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  • PMeg819PMeg819 member
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    edited December 2011
    HE, the whole situation is strange to me. The police officer and Dr. Gates seemingly have two stories that are completely opposite. To me, it's not like a few details are changed but the whole interaction is vastly different between the two.
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  • ReturnOfKuusReturnOfKuus member
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    edited December 2011
    Oh, THAT one.  I didn't know his name.I don't know what to think.  I've heard that he showed the cops his ID and they still arrested him, but I've also heard that he didn't. 
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  • VarunaTTVarunaTT member
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    edited December 2011
    HE, I wonder if his job doesn't make him more liable to scream racism than not.  I realize how horrible that makes me sound, but it's what I wonder.  I mean, refusing to show ID to a cop?  That'll cause you an issue no matter your color/position/location.Also, I would've called the cops too if I saw someone with a crow bar trying to force the front door open.  Black or white or yellow of whatever color that person would've been.
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  • hmonkeyhmonkey member
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    edited December 2011
    varuna, i don't think so. i just think of what my dad would have said, and he's just an average citizen. my parents live in a predominantly white neighborhood, too. there would have been plenty of (accented) yelling, and my dad would be yelling about he is the homeowner, and the bricks the cop is standing on were laid by his own hands, and the cop better get off them.
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  • DG1DG1 member
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    edited December 2011
    I thought it was established on both sides that - whether he specifically showed ID or not - the cops DID know before they arrested him that he wasn't breaking and entering and that it was the guy's own house.Why does an angry black man bother living in a predominantly white neighborhood anyway?  I mean, if it's your thing to hate white people as part of your quest for equality, wouldn't you try to NOT live around them?Sorry. Gates is part of what's wrong with achieving racial harmony in this country.  Being abrasive just promotes division.  Look at Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.  Then look at Obama. 

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  • VarunaTTVarunaTT member
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    edited December 2011
    Why does an angry black man bother living in a predominantly white neighborhood anyway? I mean, if it's your thing to hate white people as part of your quest for equality, wouldn't you try to NOT live around them?"That is one helluva leap of logic.  I don't think anyone has identified Dr. Gates as "angry black man".  And, quite frankly, why should the color of anyone's neighbors have to be any sort of consideration of where to live for any color?  And BTW, predominately white neighborhoods, in general, are NICER neighborhoods that a professor at Harvard might like to live in b/c of the history of racial inequality.
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  • HookaPantsHookaPants
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    edited December 2011
    Why does an angry black man bother living in a predominantly white neighborhood anyway? I mean, if it's your thing to hate white people as part of your quest for equality, wouldn't you try to NOT live around them?You can't possibly be fcking serious and I mean it just like that.
    "I would be sad if sex was only about the climax, lame." Someone who is obviously doing it wrong
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  • E SquaredE Squared member
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    edited December 2011
    It's easy to say that 'cooler heads should have prevailed.'I can't say that I wouldn't have been just as belligerent as he was (almost echoing Monkey's statement). I've heard conflicting statements about what transpired, but I admit that I tend to lean towards racism as my knee-jerk reaction in these cases.
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  • VarunaTTVarunaTT member
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    edited December 2011
    Thank you, Hooka.
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  • E SquaredE Squared member
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    edited December 2011
    Eye-to-eye with Hooka.
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  • DG1DG1 member
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    edited December 2011
    Yep. If you hate white people, why would you want to live around them?  Wouldn't you be surprised if a KKK member opted to live in a black neighborhood?  I'm not saying he *shouldn't* live there. I'm just wondering why he wanted to.  Cambridge is a diverse place - there are plenty of perfectly nice neighborhoods all around.

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  • HisEarth.HisEarth.
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    SHUTTING THE FRONT DOOR! END OF REPLIES! IT'S FRIDAY & I LIKE (SOME) OF Y'ALL!!!!!
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  • PMeg819PMeg819 member
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    edited December 2011
    Here's the thing that bothers me about this situation. There are a lot of white people who look at this and say "just another black person screaming racism when all the cop wanted to do was his job." I'm not trying to diminish the fact that racism exists but when it comes to incidents like this, when the story isn't clear and facts are getting distorted, it does nothing for anyone's side. On the flip side, I'm sure there are just as many black people who look at this and say "just another white man being racist". Regardless of the outcome, the damage has been done and it just upholds some people's longstanding ideas about race/racism.
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  • VarunaTTVarunaTT member
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    edited December 2011
    I agree with PMeg as well.There are rumors of tapes now, so that might shed some light on the subject.
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  • HookaPantsHookaPants
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    WTF? He doesn't hate white people. I'm going to have to bow out of this one.
    "I would be sad if sex was only about the climax, lame." Someone who is obviously doing it wrong
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  • HisEarth.HisEarth.
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    edited December 2011
    James Crowley = Jim Crow!
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  • DG1DG1 member
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    edited December 2011
    Aaah.  I thought the body of Gates's work for the last 30 or 40 years had pretty much established that he's more of the Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton approach.  Wouldn't you be surprised if you found out Al Sharpton lived in a predominantly white neighborhood?Also, I re-read my original phrasing. It was poor. "Why bother" doesn't convey what I meant to say.  I hope my follow up posts have clarified. 

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  • katorigasukikatorigasuki
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    i'm going to have to side eye DG on that statement as well.talk about making a lot of assumptions.
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  • HookaPantsHookaPants
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    edited December 2011
    DG, no I wouldn't. BECAUSE THEY DON'T HATE WHITE PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
    "I would be sad if sex was only about the climax, lame." Someone who is obviously doing it wrong
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  • HisEarth.HisEarth.
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    edited December 2011
    Dayum, END OF REPLIES!!!, really doesn't work here.
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  • katorigasukikatorigasuki
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    edited December 2011
    how do you know he hates white people?  do you know anything about Dr. Gates's work?  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/this is what he's most known for.  and it's a very high quality, even handed program.
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  • VarunaTTVarunaTT member
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    edited December 2011
    FTR, I've met Al Sharpton and he was very nice and polite to me.I've never even entertained the thought that Sharpton/Jackson and their contemporaries hated white people.  I think they hate racism and it's consequenes.  Being white =/= being racist.
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  • E SquaredE Squared member
    Sixth Anniversary 500 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I'll keep my head cocked firmly to the side for the rest of the day for convenience's sake.
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