Monthly Archives: July 2009

Everything Else

We are Doomed… Part 2

Here we are, back in the fray.  This time, we are discussing the arrest of prominent Harvard professor (of African-American culture) Gates;  he was questioned and arrested as he was trying to get back into his home after an extended overseas trip.

A diverse coalition arrests Prof. Gates
A diverse coalition arrests Prof. Gates

My credentials to address this issue, and why I’m a better commentator than the person holding the highest office in the land, President Obama, are here, in a previous post. President Obama weighed in on this issue and lent it an aura of importance and substance that it probably does not merit.

Let’s go ahead and dissect this one with our racial-bias-free scalpel, shall we??  Prof. Gates has just gotten back from China (14 hour flight) and is probably tired and just glad to be home. But then he notices that his front door is jammed.  Turns out his home was broken into during his absence.  While getting his front door unjammed, a neighbor calls 911.  So far this sounds reasonable.  Biased? No.  I would have called 911 even if only 2 white people or 2 white females or 2 white female models were trying to force my front door open (in the latter case, I would have gone in and joined them).

Police arrive and question Prof Gates.  Biased? No. The police’s job is to ask questions.  And there was suspicious activity at the front door, even if it was the owner of the house trying to force his way in.   Prof. Gates refuses to show ID.  Biased? Yes.  If he believes that he is being asked for ID only because he is black, he is mistaken. Period.  A good cop would ask for ID even if it was President Bush found in the house1.   Prof. Gates starts asking for the officer’s ID.  Biased? No.  We have a right to know our officer’s name during an investigation.  And don’t forget, the police are also there to investigate the previous break-in as well.  Instead of starting charges of racial profiling (Biased? Yes. Big time.) Prof.  Gates should have filed the police report on the break-in right there.  The police are a service that he and all of us in the community are paying for.  And yelling at the police is never a good
idea, even if they deserve it.  Showing deference, or at least cooperation to a man with a gun is always a good idea.  And don’t forget that you paid to give him the gun.

Mistakes made? Plenty, but mostly by Prof. Gates, from what is being reported.

Mistakes Made by Policeman:
Police should never walk into your home without being invited by the owner. They need a court order to come in unless you invite them in; there may have been some words issued by Prof. Gates that could be construed as an invitation, so be careful what you say.

Mistakes made by Prof. Gates:
The owner should never leave the safety of his home and follow the police outside.  You are giving up some of your rights by entering a public venue.  Don’t shout at a policeman and berate them in public.  You can show your displeasure by ammending  the police report and complaining at the station house. He should have started break-in investigation as soon as police arrived.  This really throws suspicion off of you, when you are aiding police.  And police are a service that you are absolutely paying for, so use it. Don’t bring up race.  But if your teaching specialty is hammers, everything around you starts looking like a nail.  Automatically bringing up race dooms us all.

Mistakes make by President Obama:
President Obama’s outrage is OK.  After all, Prof. Gates is a personal friend.  Any of us would  automatically take the side of our friend in a dispute against a cop.  I believe the words “rogue officer” were unfortunately uttered by someone in the fray.  But as President, Mr. Obama must put down his personal feelings and keep the debate cordial and race-neutral.  By quoting statistics that blacks and latinos are disproportionatly arrested (it’s true) he fueled the fire.  A President must weigh his words carefully and keep personal emotion out of his statements.  In this case, the arresting officer is clean and the President will come out looking badly.

Incorrectly regarded as a mistake:
Arresting a middle aged man that walks with a cane is perfectly OK.  So is arresting an elderly woman walking in crutches.  Or a teenager in a wheelchair.   All of these folk could constitute a danger to a policeman and any of them could pull out an exotic home-made weapon from cane, crutch, wheel chair.  A good ninja can make a weapon out of eyeglasses or a toothbrush2 so everyone should be treated the same way: handcuffs and extreme vigilance.   I remember from “The Fugitive”  that Federal Agent Tommy Lee Jones removes Harrison  Ford’s handcuffs once they are back in the squad car and offers him an ice pack for his wrists. I’m not sure if this is standard procedure, but I guess once you’re in the squad car you are more manageable and less likely to try to start a getaway attempt.  And the ice pack is just a nice touch from a really cool, tough Federal Agent.

In conclusion: Archangel summed it up nicely when he said that a tired, weary Prof. Gates probably reacted inappropriately when confronted with a stressful situation.  Also, the arresting officer has a super-clean background in racial sensitivity and even taught on how to avoid racial profiling.

Circumstancial evidence points to Prof. Gates being at fault.  But now that his friend Prez Obama has taken his corner, it will be difficult to find a reasonable solution that does not include the signing of a non-agression pact at the White House’s Rose Garden.  Such is life.

  1. Given our current liberal climate, has President Bush been cleared of from the initial break-in of the house?  I’d like to know [↩]
  2. this is a good topic unto itself, for a different article [↩]
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Everything Else, Politics, Rants

We are doomed… Playing The Race Card

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Race relations are a big topic this year.  From the office of the Presidency to the next Supreme Court Justice to the selection of Surgeon General, race would seem to be a central factor in selection.  Not that these folk are not good, smart people; they seem to be good enough to do what their positions require.  But were they selected because of their overwhelming qualifications, or because they held some promise and they also advanced the color-blind American agenda?   Don’t get me wrong: it’s a good agenda.
Just witness the statue of Justice; it is blindfolded, ready to go into combat with that really big sword.  Another blind entity dispensing martial arts justice1.

Disclaimer: I am not a Caucasian, if that is even important.  Most dwellers of the Russian Caucasus region look nothing like your typical redneck person (sic)  from the Deep South. I could not pass for White, whatever that means.

But I have to take issue with the case of the alleged discriminatory Swim Club in Pennsylvania. Much has been made as to how a daycare class of minority students was run out of the club by just-awful white racists.  I think that the swim club is being harassed unfairly, by a day-care practicioner that has a chip on her shoulder.  Look at the facts, in a color-blind way: Was the group large? Yes. Did the group create a crowd that is unusual for the club? Yes. Did the crowding enhance the ability to swim laps in the pool or to enjoy a quiet swim? No.  Just for those reasons, I would have ended my contract with the daycare program: our facility is just too small to accommodate you.  There were 2 other groups that received the same reasoning for termination of contract; they are not making any waves (sorry, I could not resist)  about it.

Cute kids, ugly situation, flawed decisions.
Cute kids, ugly situation, flawed decisions.

But this one person decided that the swim club was too exclusive to be allowed to exist.  Exclusivity being defined as having the need to swim in a calm environment without 65 kids jumping into the pool. Trust me, I have small kids, it gets very loud.  So she took the comments of some of her students and decided to bring a lawsuit against the club.  Allegedly, some daycare kids heard others at the swim club make derogatory remarks, eg:watch the dark skinned kids or they’ll steal your towel and don’t they ruin a perfectly good pool outing.  Although I never automatically take a kid’s word above a trusted adult, this is what this unknown person did.  And now the swim club may have to close, since it cannot afford to mount a legal defense.

Did the swim club err? Yes.  They should have kept their contracts and notified members that certain swim periods would be crowded, since the club was assisting daycare groups that no longer had access to a regular swimming pool.  Did club members have the right to complain? Yes.  They had paid their dues and expected access to a swimming pool that was normally uncrowded.  Did they have the right to make racists remarks?  No. The club leadership should have used this opportunity to educate their members about life in the  20th, er, 21st Century.  Should they have used the words “[the kids] changed the atmosphere and complexion of the club?”  No. These are perfectly good English words,  but they do sound like the color of the kids’ skin had something to do with the decision.  Stupid word choice.

Solution?  Have the swim club institute racial sensitivity classes for members (including its President);  apparently they need them.  Have the daycare come back to use the pool and drop its legal case.    Contact between the swim club members and the general population is a good thing and would foster understanding between people.   But now  that the news shows have shown the swim club as a “bad” place and placard-wearing losers are using this as an opportunity to appear on those news shows (don’t they have jobs?),  this mess will move to its sad conclusion: the swim club will close and those very stereotypes that should be destroyed will be reinforced.  Oh yes,  everyone out of the pool !!!

PS> The daycare is seeking punitive damages against the swim club. I’d hate to think that the daycare program  is trying to shake down the swim club for money over this incident.  A lot of good daycare programs are receiving  reduced funds nowaways, and this may be a tragic way to raise money.  I will continue to think that it’s only the sad interaction between flawed people that has gotten us to this point.  That, and the eagerness of a lawyer to get some cash from (maybe) affluent people.

  1. remember the TV show Kung Fu? [↩]
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