Gates-gate
Judges and lawyers will all agree that there are two sides to every story. Divorce lawyers usually assert that there are three sides: his side, her side and the truth. In the media debate raging over Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and the Cambridge Police Department there are also three sides: his side, the police officer’s side and good old common sense.
While Gates is clearly an expert on African American History, after spending years behind the halls of ivy at Harvard and the world of academia, he appears to have failed to span the distance between the text book and reality. Just like Mark Twain who said that you can’t fight with people who buy ink by the barrel, you don’t argue with police officers with guns and the power to arrest you. Police officers have a job to do and a protocol to follow. When all is said in done, as a citizen you have the absolute right to dispute your treatment with a police supervisor, in court or the police review board. But yelling and screaming at police officers – no matter what the race of the officer or the accused is never a good idea.
To understand my point of reference, I served as a municipal court judge for 24 years and heard thousands of disorderly conduct cases – a number of which resulted in findings of not guilty of the offense but with a lecture to the defendant informing them that they should have been found guilty of gross stupidity. Over my years on the bench I did a number of “ride alongs” with police officers and state troopers – to make sure that I understood their perspective. After I retired from the bench, I served as a special prosecutor for the City of Cleveland and ruled on several deadly force shooting cases and as an adjunct professor of criminal law. You can add to that that I’m a “wise African American woman” who vaguely recalls riding a segregated train but will never forget the day during my first year at a state university when I was the only girl on my dorm floor was not invited to a sorority rush party – I was also the only African American. So you can’t tell me about racism.
So now that you understand my perspective, let’s get to “Gates-gate.” The events have to be reconstructed based on the statements of Gates and the officer – which is the reason that most police officers spend their own money to have video or audio recordings equipment to keep a record of arrests and interactions with citizens.
In dissecting the events surround the Gates arrest there were two parts. First, there was the investigation regarding a possible break in and whether or not Gates was the perpetrator, which according to the Officer, Gates was never a suspect. Once it was established that there was no break in and Gates was identified as the resident of the house, the incident should have ended but unfortunately moved on to phase two.
Phase two, from what I can see was initiated by Gates, when he accused the officer of being a racist. Now that’s not to say that the officer may or may not have been out of line – I wasn’t there. But if Gates felt that he was treated inappropriately, then the next morning, or when ever, he could have called the Chief of Police, the Mayor of Cambridge, the President of Harvard, and since President Obama is his friend, the White House to voice his complaints. Gates, however, chose to voice them on the scene.
To this great mix of “he said – she said”, enter President Obama who added his two cents at a national press conference. With all due respect to the President, a “Skip Gates is my friend and I wasn’t there” comment would have been sufficient. To conclude that the police department acted stupidly is a pretty far stretch.
I was recently stopped for speeding on the interstate highway. It was not until the officer got to the side of my car and I explained that I was going to reach for my purse and get my license did I remove my hands from the steering wheel. I didn’t find the fact that he had his hand on his gun racist – it’s police procedure. He had a job to do and was entitled to act in a manner that protected his safety. Sure, I could have called him a racist for stopping me or for having his hand on his gun, but what good would that have done?
We all know about getting started on the right foot. Not only did Gates get off on the wrong foot, he then inserted it into his mouth and feasted on the taste of shoe leather. With all of his education he then proceeded to displayed severe symptoms of diarrhea of the mouth by spewing racist allegations at a police officer who was there to do a job. In my opinion, Gates “jumped funky” and got exactly what he was entitled to – an arrest for disorderly conduct. If anyone acted stupidly, it my book it was Henry Louis Gates.
*Submitted by By Judge C. Ellen Connally (ret.)
Contact: cellenc@aol.com *
Comments
Last time I checked, there was still a right to free expression in this country. A person has every right to stand on his own property and be disagreeable with another person, even a police officer. The 58 year old professor who walked with a cane was not committing any crimes, no assault, no burglary. He was guitly of showing a lack of respect to the officer. As the author points out, police commonly demand subservience and submission. However, they have no lawful right to this demand and are not justified in abusing their lawful powers when they do not get what they want. Even if the police account is accepted in its entirety, the officer should have driven away after advising the professor of his bad manners. He had no right to arrest him for failure to submissive on his own property!
Great article. Glad you expressed your viewpoint from a black female judge. Well done!
Thank you, Judge, for writing the best commentary yet on what really went down that night in Cambridge. Professor Gates' heart, mind, and mouth ran directly to where he has earned his livelyhood for decades...race politics. This entire incident was about race because Professor Gates entire professional life is about race. By every account (including those of an african american officer on the scene), Ofc Crowely was trying to do his job. Prof Gates was the accuser from the word go. Not that poor woman who reported the break-in; and not the cops who responded to the call. I fear it is no accident that the tape recording of the incident has yet to be released. It's suppression is to protect the good professor. If there were recordings implicating the cop, it'd have been on national news for days by now.