


Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr was arrested inside his house for breaking into his own house? If really it was a neighbor that called the police, Icheoku asks, why did that neighbor not recognise his neighbor, Professor Gates? OJ Simpson is languishing in prison today for similarly "stealing his own stuff"? But unlike OJ, Professor Gates does not have the notoriety of past accusation of murder and so people rallied around his cause and his charge of disorderly conduct was dropped. If in doubt, how many Network Televisions parade a blackman or any minority in their prime-time slot or any other full fledged anchor-person; yet some deny there is no racism in America? Icheoku says, whether or not Gates 'flew into a verbal rage' was no reasonable ground to arrest an owner for breaking into his own house; once proper identification has been made to determine his identity? Since when has verbiage become a crime in the land or was he a madman to just fly off the handle without any provocation or prodding? Normal practice dictates that Sgt Crowley, upon ascertaining Gates identity, would have greeted and left, after explaining to Gates that they had received a report of a possible break-in into his house? Therefore, the real question here should be, why did Sgt. Crowley and co overtly prolong their look-in call and not leave immediately after ascertaining Professor Gates identity; and that an owner was the alleged break-in suspect? Peradventure, is it possible that they were surprised that a 'nigger' could own and live in a house in that neck of the woods, in Cambridge Massachusetts and decided to probe further, provoking the "verbal rage"?


Obama Was Right About the Gates Arrest
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Share Print CommentsOn Thursday, President Obama weighed in on the arrest of African-American Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, saying a Cambridge police officer "acted stupidly" when he arrested Gates for disorderly conduct. The next day, Obama backed down from his harsh comment.
Obama was right the first time.
I don't know if the police officer arrested Gates because of the Harvard professor's race. A lot of white people would say that if they mouthed off to a cop, they too would be arrested.
But one thing is clear: Gates did not violate any law. Under Massachusetts law, which the police officer was supposedly enforcing, yelling at a police officer is not illegal.
There are clear decisions of the Massachusetts courts holding that a person who berates an officer, even during an arrest, is not guilty of disorderly conduct. And yet that is exactly what Gates was arrested for.
The Massachusetts statute defining "disorderly conduct" used to have a provision that made it illegal to make "unreasonable noise or offensively coarse utterance, gesture or display," or to address "abusive language to any person present." Yet the courts have interpreted that provision to violate the Massachusetts Constitution's guarantee of freedom of speech. So police cannot lawfully arrest a person for hurling abusive language at an officer.
In several cases, the courts in Massachusetts have considered whether a person is guilty of disorderly conduct for verbally abusing a police officer. In Commonwealth v. Lopiano, a 2004 decision, an appeals court held it was not disorderly conduct for a person who angrily yelled at an officer that his civil rights were being violated. In Commonwealth v. Mallahan, a decision rendered last year, an appeals court held that a person who launched into an angry, profanity-laced tirade against a police officer in front of spectators could not be convicted of disorderly conduct.
So Massachusetts law clearly provides that Gates did not commit disorderly conduct.
The Cambridge Police should be training their officers to know the difference between legal and illegal conduct. What Gates did was probably not so smart -- in general, be nice to people carrying guns -- but it wasn't disorderly conduct. At least not in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
That explains why the charges against Gates were dropped. It wasn't because the police were trying to defuse the situation. It was because Gates had done nothing illegal.
Arresting someone for doing something that isn't illegal is pretty stupid.
Then again, perhaps Obama was wrong. Maybe the police officer wasn't acting stupidly. He was just acting abusively. That is even worse.