Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrested

"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...

"My colleagues and I have asked the question of whether this kind of egregious act would have happened had Professor Gates been a white professor," said Dr. Counter, who said he had talked to Professor Gates since the arrest. "We think that it has to be investigated, and we are deeply saddened by what happened.""


I hope some people are asking the question of whether there would be complaints had Professor Gates been a white professor.


From the police report, the [white] officer involved:

"I asked if he would step out onto the porch and speak with me. He replied "no I will not"...

While yelling, he told me that it was none of my business and accused me of being a racist police officer...

I radioed on channel 1 that I was off in the residence with someone who appeared to be a resident but very uncooperative...

Gates then turned to me and told me that I had no idea who I was "messing" with and that I had not heard the last of it...

Gates began to yell over my spoken words by accusing me of being a racist police officer and leveling threats that he wasn't someone to mess with... Gates continued to yell at me...

I again told Gates that I would speak with him outside... His reply was "ya, I'll speak with your mama outside"...

As I descended the stairs to the sidewalk, Gates continued to yell at me, accusing me of racial bias and continued to tell me that I had not heard the last of him...

I warned Gates that he was becoming disorderly... Gates ignored my warning and continued to yell at me"


Meanwhile, corroborating testimony from a Hispanic officer (from the same report):

"As I stepped in, I heard Sgt. Crowley ask for the gentleman's information which he stated "NO I WILL NOT!". The gentleman was shouting out to the Sgt. that the Sgt.. was a racist and yelled that "THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO BLACK MEN IN AMERICA!" As the Sgt. was trying to calm the gentleman, the gentleman shouted " You don't know who your messing with!""


This is why police patrols in Singapore always have members of more than one race.

Addendum: Pretty much the same happened to Bob Dylan, who co-operated and did not threaten the police officer.