This is insanity.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Colleagues of Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard’s most prominent scholar of African-American history, are accusing the police here of racism after he was arrested at his home last week by an officer investigating a report of a robbery in progress.

Professor Gates, who has taught at Harvard for nearly two decades, arrived home on Thursday from a trip to China to find his front door jammed, said Charles J. Ogletree, a law professor at Harvard who is representing him.

He forced the door open with the help of his cab driver, Professor Ogletree said, and had been inside for a few minutes when Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department appeared at his door and asked him to step outside.

Professor Gates, 58, refused to do so, Professor Ogletree said. From that point, the account of the professor and the police began to differ. - NY Times

Apparently, smart niggas get it, too.

(More after the stretch)

STRETCH...

The differing accounts go loosely like this:

Gates says he gave the officer his driver's license and Harvard ID to prove that he not only owned the house he was "breaking into," but was also an esteemed member of the community. According to Gates, Crowley still didn't believe he lived there, which pissed the Harvard Professor off and led him to ask for Crowley's name and badge number.

Officer Crowley says Gates offered only his Harvard ID, but that he was still "led to believe that Gates was lawfully in the residence," then became "surprised and confused with the behavior" Gates showed, which allegedy included him exiting the residence to yell at the officer further.

Whatever happened, it resulted in Professor Gates being arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

Now, who's telling the truth? Probably both of them.

Do I think the police of Cambridge, MA - which, to me, always sounded like a place that sold "Whites-Only" pies - are capable of the level of racial profiling alleged in this case? Oh, hell yeah. I think the Police Department is capable of many levels of corruption and overall dirtiness, so I don't put much out of their realm of capability, especially not racial profiling.




But at the same time, do I think it's possible that a 58-year-old nigga got just a little rambunctious at the idea of being questioned and threatened with arrest at his own home? After taking into consideration that he probably had a bit of an attitude by that point anyway since he'd come fresh off a long-ass flight from China only to be locked out of his house, only to then have the cops show up to investigate a B&E in which he was the main suspect? Not to mention the fact the he already wasn't feeling well due to some kinda infection? Yeah, that nigga was pissed d-fuck off and probably did get a little snappy with the officer.

But the redacted police report claims Gates was pretty damn unruly, even going so far as to pull the ghetto-ass "yo mama" bomb out of his ass [Cop: "Sir, if you have any more questions, you can talk to me outside. Gates: "Yeah, I'll talk to yo mama outside."] and yelling, "This is what happens when you're a Black man in America!" as they took him, in cuffs, to the squad car. It also says the officers were very polite and empathetic, even cuffing Gates with his hands in front of him for his comfort and going back inside to get his cane. How sweet!

Of course, police reports are written by police so you have to expect it to sound like they're a bunch of coddlers.

What I'm having the biggest problem understanding is how the lady next door didn't recognize her neighbor. The report says the call was placed to police at about 1 in the afternoon, which means she looked out her window in broad daylight and really believed muhfuckas were breaking in. I don't know if they've created the nigga dumb enough to pull a kick-door in fuckin' Cambridge, MA - on a house in an upscale neighborhood minutes from Harvard University, mind you - in BROAD DAYLIGHT. Fuck she think this is, Paper Soldiers?

Smells like bullshit to me.

Anyway, that's all I have to say about that. I know I didn't really come to a conclusion, but fuck it.

This ain't CNN.







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