If police question/detain a black person is it racism?

[violet lightning]

Once again, it all boils down to Common Sense, Rationality and the Golden Rule.
Cops can be abusive at times, I've been the victim and have seen what assholes some cops can be. (in my case, it was mistaken identity which was remedied, but not before being verbally accused and taken downtown in cuffs!) But some of those cops were OK too, so it again boils down to the individual. (not groups like "pigs", thats just as bad!)

So some police can be rascist just as in any job, and guess what some white people are rascist too, and you know what? Some black people are rascist as well!
Its a human trait to be found in all variations of man.
So using common sense, it does seem reasonable (a key word) that a home owner would show his ID to a policeman who was investigating a break-in at his own home. In effect, trying to protect Gates.

Gates was probably already pissed-off about getting locked-out and having to break in to his own home.
As for the person who called in the break-in, I don't know the full details. How much did the person see? The whole break in, or just someones ass sticking out a window and disappearing?
There may be a racial component to the call, but maybe not. If I saw someone breaking into a neighbors house, I honestly wouldn't care about what color they were, or age, or whatever. And I wouldn't go over to ask them what they were doing either. I'd call it in and let the cops deal with it.
(and by the way, that has got to be a reall hard job)

So we have all heard of the real cases of police abuse and I hate it-but I don't hate the police. I certainly don't bow down to them either, but I do try to show respect and cooperate if its warranted. (I think people have a love/hate relationship with police...they can infringe on our personal freedom at times, but boy when we need them, are we glad they are there!)

I feel like in this case , Gates over-reacted and felt singled-out and perhaps embarrassed. (as in "Don't you know who I am... ? )
It sounds like the cop took an earful for as long as he could, and was even outside leaving, as Gates continued to hurl insults at his mother. Now who is verbally abusing who? So the cop could have let it go, but he decided he had had enough and the professor had lots of chances to just let it go.
I think unwittingly, by saying he was a friend of the President, he has actually hurt his friends carreer by creating a mini-uproar.
Now he's being called to the White House for a meeting with Obama. I'd like to be a fly on the wall for that discussion.

What erks me is President Obama and the stupid Governor weighing in on the case before, as they even admitted , all the facts were in. Both assumed the police were wrong and both now sound like Mike Naiphong (sp?) the dumb ass prosecutor in the Duke University "rape" case.
Really dumb, rookie mistakes. Wait till the facts come in, especially in a case involving race issues. (which I wish were "non-issues")

Now racial profiling and statistics are an interesting topic too....

[TracyCoxx]

Originally Posted by violet lightning

What erks me is President Obama and the stupid Governor weighing in on the case before, as they even admitted , all the facts were in.

Yeah, while I agree that Crowley shouldn't have arrested Gates, I do love watching BO squirm. And it's all due to his own inexperience.

[jdawg]

If the cops showed up during an in-progress break-in I'm almost 100% positive that there wouldn't be any back and forth about rights as the suspects would run. So I can't even really answer that hypothetical as it would never occur.

[tslust]

Originally Posted by jdawg

If the cops showed up during an in-progress break-in I'm almost 100% positive that there wouldn't be any back and forth about rights as the suspects would run.

You'd be surprised at how many would-be robbers actually try to convince a cop that they're the owner.

[TracyCoxx]

Originally Posted by jdawg

If the cops showed up during an in-progress break-in I'm almost 100% positive that there wouldn't be any back and forth about rights as the suspects would run. So I can't even really answer that hypothetical as it would never occur.

When you make police impotent, it will occur. If cops aren't allowed to insult the suspect by insinuating they shouldn't be there, then they just have to act like they own the place. What's the cop going to do?

Originally Posted by jdawg

It should be noted that Gates did provide a Harvard ID. So for all of the people saying that he was an asshole who wouldn't provide identification. You're wrong.

No, he was an asshole who cried racist at a cop who was just doing his job. At least up until the point where he arrested Gates.