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During a Wednesday, July 22, 2009 news conference, United States President Barack Obama told reporters and a national television audience that he knows Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates, adding that he is a friend. He then said the actions of the arresting Cambridge Police Department officer were stupid, considering Dr. Gates was told that he was under arrest from the confines of his own home and then handcuffed and escorted to a squad car. Prior to answering this final news conference question, President Obama had offered an extensive explanation of his plan to reform the American healthcare system. He let it be known that 47 million Americans are without healthcare insurance, and another 14 thousand will be added to this number daily if he and members of Congress do nothing. But after he walked away from the podium for the short stroll to the White House’s family quarters, I had the sense that his comments about the Gates’ arrest would overshadow those made about healthcare reform. The fact that black American men are arrested far more frequently than their white American counterparts is no surprise. But what is so perplexing about Dr. Gates’ arrest is it was made even though the arresting officer had been told that Dr. Gates was the homeowner, not a thief. There are reports that Dr. Gates acted belligerent toward the arresting officer. But even if Dr. Gates had acted belligerent, did his alleged reaction to being falsely accused of a crime warrant an arrest? I think not. Dr. Gates has repeatedly said that things went from bad to worse when he asked the arresting officer for his name and badge number. I believe it panged the arresting officer to hear these words because he knew Dr. Gates’ intention was to use the information to file a complaint against him. Consequently, the arresting officer allowed his sense of self-righteousness to blind him to the reality of the situation: he was wrong, Dr. Gates was right. If we used this incident as a metaphor for America, we would be able to see why some white American’s self-righteous attitudes continue to impair the American citizenry’s ability to reach consensus on the race issue. Yes, we all agree that all men are created equal, that they have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but this self-righteousness causes white Americans to ignore black American challenges and concerns. Many of them seem to think the government has done more than enough to make amends for legalized slavery and oppression. And now that we have a black president, many of them feel there should be no more excuses for not being able to achieve in school, prosper on the job. I agree that some black Americans have not been taking full advantage of the opportunities afforded to them, but the remedy to this problem does not lie with the election of the first, black president. Visit any urban school in this country, and you will come in contact with young, black students who seem to be more concerned about fitting in than developing platforms for future success. They have seemingly become disinterested in the educational process, even though their parents, grandparents and great grandparents lay their lives on the line, confident that their offspring would one day lead more prosperous lives. But these young, black students are products of their environment. The same holds true for young, white students and those from other racial/ethnic groups. Because the environment, or mainstream American culture, is one that highlights the achievements and contributions of white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant males and females, these students continue to engage in the same group identity politics that were so prominent in their ancestors’ lives. We see where this engagement has taken us – to the edge of a hypothetical cliff – but even this truth is not inspiring more white Americans to exchange their self-righteousness for genuine concern for black Americans and other persons of color. It doesn’t even inspire them to admit their wrongs, both past and present. But it also doesn’t awaken young, black students to the fact that there is not a white standard for success. As a social worker, I have come in contact with many young, black students who behave badly at and perform poorly in school because they don’t want to appear white. To them, appearing white equates to excellent grades and good behavior. It also equates to being self-righteous, thinking you are God’s gift to mankind. What they need to know is success has nothing to do with skin color, everything to do with a desire to be great at whatever you do. My hope is we Americans will use the events surrounding Dr. Henry Louis Gates’ arrest to have more candid conversations about race, how it has caused centuries of dysfunction within the human family. Ultimately, an exploration of these events will show every American how far an apology goes when it originates from a regretful heart. What do you think? I look forward to reading your responses. Jeffery A. Faulkerson, MSSW From THE PURPOSEFUL WRITER http://purposefulwriter.blogspot.com/
Posted By: J. A. Faulkerson
Thursday, July 23rd 2009 at 10:27AM
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..."But after he walked away from the podium for the short stroll to the White House’s family quarters, I had the sense that his comments about the Gates’ arrest would overshadow those made about healthcare reform"... I do know that the media will overshadow what the President said about Health Care Reform with his comments about Gates' Arrest. It's not about dialogue for change, but it's all about the ratings. I doubt Race relations will change until we all become tired of the situations that we find ourselves in as did the countless un-named people of the various movements for change did. I keep saying it that there is just too much apathy in the Black community for me. It saddens me. Each time there is an injustice, we need to take action. We need to exercise the rights of being citizens of this country as well as get involved in the community on various boards to support the interests of the Black community. In addtion to this, I think we need to join forces with other minorities to help one another because it appears we are faced with similar discrimination. Change comes with each one of us choosing to do something about our own situations; then collectively as a group we can join our voices together as well as poole our resources to cause a shift in the status quo. I think the election of President Obama is a prime example of we can do when we all come together to change belief systems.
Thursday, July 23rd 2009 at 11:12AM
Jen Fad
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Would Gates' have still been arrested if he had called the police to help him get into his home instead of choosing to force his own door in!? He probably would have still been arrested.
Thursday, July 23rd 2009 at 11:21AM
Jen Fad
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You're not the only one saying that Mozell!!!
Thursday, July 23rd 2009 at 1:30PM
Siebra Muhammad
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((((LMBO))) at Mozell!
Thursday, July 23rd 2009 at 6:10PM
Jen Fad
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I hope these two men can resolve their differences amicably, but it appears Dr. Gates is intent on using it as a "teachable moment." I applaud him for doing so, but I also wish Sgt. Crowley, the arresting officer, would put his pride aside and publicly apologize for making the arrest in the first place. Sgt. Crowley's public apology may be the catalyst that Dr. Gates needs to recognize his contribution to the incident. It has been widely reported that Dr. Gates escalated the situation by acting belligerent toward Sgt. Crowley. If these men can find it in themselves to forgive and forget, they will be showing us, the American public, the collective steps we must take to move from a period of racism to a period of reconciliation.
Friday, July 24th 2009 at 8:59AM
J. A. Faulkerson
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Sister Irma, Sorry for the earlier post that I deleted that you were referring to. Honestly I do think this is a case of too much ego, but in light of the media now trying to make it like President Obama should be neutral...I think they are way off base; therefore, my previous comment had to be deleted so that I can weigh in on the media (which you know by now that I feel they should be censored because they have too much influence and too many personal opinion) manipulating the American people. Sorry but disregard the earlier post. {No the KKK better never show up on my lawn}
Friday, July 24th 2009 at 10:30AM
Jen Fad
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How about this short common sense, though simplistic, approach to this....Mr.Gates identified himself, he had every right to be there. This is his santuary....his home! There is no other issues involved here. No other crime being committed....no domestic violence situation for further investigation. Now! Get the hell out of the man's house! What else did this officer need? What was he waiting around for? The result of the officer's exihibiting his power over a black citizen regardless of his economic or social status when he thought no one was watching is exactly what he was waiting around for. Any one in this situation would be outraged and I don't see what other excuse the officer may have had. Do you think the officer would have stuck around if it was a distinguish white professor from Havard?
Friday, July 24th 2009 at 12:52PM
M. Chelley Laurenz
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Thank you, President Obama, for using your influence to realign our conversation about race. Now let's hope Dr. Gates and Sgt. Crowley can reach an amicable resolution, and members of the human family will follow suit.
Friday, July 24th 2009 at 3:02PM
J. A. Faulkerson
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Well here we go again...How can a person be belligerent in his own house when there is an intruder even if he is the police? Do we know what the officer did to provoke Dr. Gates to be belligerent? There is always two sides to the story. How many times have we heard or experienced the truth as expounded by white police officers or white people period? From my experience, the Police Departments encourage citizens to ask for badge numbers and names. How do we know that he is a real policeman? White people ignore the challenges of people of color because they create them. Just because Obama is in the white house, doesn't mean that things will change over night. He is just one man and many are questioning his blackness and some even are saying he is white. Boy we just can't get it right. Some of those same people who are saying he is white practice the "One Drop Theory". There re many issues to be addressed in the Black community. One big one is the education of Black children. We need to take our kid back and teach them ourselves. If they know their history, they will be a different citizen. Many black students do not know of Black Success unless it is music or sports. They need to know Dr. Ben Carson, Guyon Bluford, Dr. Mark Dean, Dr. Mae Jamison just to name few. They need to know about the black men and women who invented the things that they use everyday. They need to know about influential people with money other than Oprah and people in the entertainment field. Until we, as people of color, take charge of our own lives, and stop looking to the slave master to do what is "right" and fix things for us, nothing is going to change.
Friday, July 24th 2009 at 6:20PM
Thomasena Martin-Johnson
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"Truth is found neither in the thesis nor the antithesis, but in an emergent synthesis which reconciles the two."— Hegel The Gates incident is a perfect storm, laden with ego, class, political, and of course, racial issues. How do we resolve it? Let the storm pass; let it die out. Set an example of reconciliation that can be duplicated and replicated across the nation. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., had the right idea. Let's keep his dream alive. Bishop Desmond Tutu did the right thing following the fall of Apartheid; let's follow his example. President Obama is rising above the fray by acknowledging the offended parties; let's support his effort.
Tuesday, July 28th 2009 at 6:33PM
Warren Maye
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Amen to that Brother Maye...let's support the President's efforts!
Wednesday, July 29th 2009 at 8:04AM
Jen Fad
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C-H-A-N-G-E......!!!!!!that is needed and long over due, will never ever come until we stop going hand in hand with those who has so successfully been able to so openly teach us in the Black community to abuse our ownselves. example, How many of us in the Black community went so freely and proudly hand and hand with what is taught in the church that the Obama's atteded for 25 yearsas being anti-God and Anti-American??!!? . A church where Oprah also was a member until forced to leave for the same reason as the Obama's to be able to be in a powerful position to continue to help their peoples gain EQUALITY!!!!!!. And, did this without even researching the back ground of BLACK LIBERATION THELOGY?Or know that the Clintons went to one of these churchs the whold time they were in the Whitehouse their own selves???!!?? NOTE*the definition of PREJUDICE in you dictionary.... As long as we remain so much against our Black churchs teaching by way of preaching our true history of being African-Americans which will reenforce our pride in our own culture,history that has allowed us as a race of people; then we will still have a country of Token people of color in any powerful positions from our local police to our supreme Court that can help prevent what happened to professor Gate, to our young male in Jena, La. getting almost a life sentence in prison for a high school fight that did not even involve a GUN but his clothing that we all wear!!!! If even our president can not have freedom of religion, and only because of the color of his skin(I put emphsis on color of skin because he did not take the color of skin of his mother) and a non White European sounding name ,then why do we even think we deserve equal justice under the law or even RESPECT?!!!!???/ WAKE UP
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA
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Sister Jen, I agree with you 120% and this site has proven we can not only unite in a common cause, but we can over come something that has been such a divider of not just races, class but of all of mankind...RELIGIOUS FREEDOM... I say this because if you, a Christian and Siebra a member of the NOI and me a N.D. Buddhist can unite, because we have been able to communicate that we are Black and proud and leaders in our community to fight against racism, and prejudice, then we have already over come this obsticle by becoming :sisters in the Black family and friends in understanding that we a united by the same cause... YES WE CAN...pass this on that unity must be won first before we can advance to where we want to be in this country and this planet seeking peace and security....YES WE DID, all of us on this site...give ourselves a pat on the back, we deserve it(smile)
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA
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Brother Clark, I see the policeman refuses to apologize even after being called not being a good representative of the uniforme he wears or the trust placed in his occupation, to me is great. It is great, because this should cause even more of us sitting on the side lines/apathy to make a move towardards answering the call of our president to become individual leaders in helping him bring the the interest of the average citizens of America into play as a CAUSE for our leaders who are in office by way of our individual voteto put into law/ laws get enforced!! This will never become a reality unless and untill we unite in our own local communitys.....YES WE CAN...
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA
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ONLY IN AMERICA can we continue to only TALK about CHANGE and not be in full unity behind our president's friend as he would be if still a local black community leader and not our president... here we sit waiting to hear what the Black 'talking heads' M-A-Y be able to say that the Black community is actually saying and waiting for the NAACP to bring in the notice or our political and legal system to back up the words that our president said yesterday, but could not say as fully as he could have said if he was not the president,,, the police abused and demeaned my friend, and your teacher of Black history, and lets go into action to stop tis blaten open police brutaily on our black males. but, here we are having more sound bites on our public air waves of Chris Brown helping the White racist to prove how unimportant the mother is in , how unneed the female gender is when compared to the male..... I can not show how out raged I am as a Black proud mother and female how ashamed I am of our Black community for ading and abetting this behavior as our social norm in America!!!!!!!!! My comment may not be logical, but I am in my N----mode so what do any of you expect (smile)
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA
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sister Jen, are you saying that the KKk can come on dr. Gates lawn and burn crossed and this is called FREE SPEECH and this man can not say what he wants to say on his own lawn, Please tellme what is wring with this picture? ONLY IN AMERICA can a president(shown in sound bites)saying, "The police acted stupid". is considered wrong because he made this statement about a person he knows personally. When president Nixon almost froced the release of Charles Manson and his whole Family to be set free because he said that they were killers and not ALLEGED killers. Is this do to prejudice(ingorance because no voices like this is allowed) or just more SKIN COLOR???!!! We can not have it both ways... I did not know until yesterday these two things. 1.After the policeman had seen Dr. gates idenification he, the policeman was in the wrong for not leaving right then and not having a degate as this is not in his job description. The only way one can be arrested for disterbing the peace must be done in a public place...is this why the police acted like he and Dr. gates were in a bar an not his home when he asked this home owner to STEP OUT SIDE? or as an attorney it was a smart move to cause the right-wing to keep this coming after our president so that this would not die, because I believe any attorney worth his salt would know about this being asked out side and then arrested was more police abuse.
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA
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well, sister Thomasena, we still have those in our community that will be able to over us having unequal justice like Jeffery example, Now this policeman asked this person to come out of his home because he could nto arrest him for being in his own home saying things like this...Now this is a direct quote of the Black police man who was one of the three officers there...This police man was the one chewing gum at the press conference today. His name issgt. Leon leshley...he told Kon Lemon an anchor over on CNN that has countless awards for reporting the news and has won a law suit agains police profiling him self.Leshley told Lemon that dr. Gates was saying irratic things. When pressed to quote the police oficer here is that direct quote...Dr. Gates in showing his anger about how he swas being treated in his own home until he said, this is like A White woman crying rape by a Black man and that Black man ends uo in prison on the word B_l_a_c_k! end quote. And for the Jefferys out there her is something we still can not ralate to a Black man and what he can not do like use his civil right of free speech, but the White media can...did you get to hear our president relating that police man's plite because the press is on his lawn 24-7 dispite him telleing them to leave his property. This is the same policeman that arrested Dr. gates for being at is own home!!!Is this policeman allowed to arrest a Black man for public destrebance byt not people dosrupting a whole neighborhood trying to get press rating...is this because they are White? At any rate something is not right no matter how you put this...And, I do believe that press conference demanded an apology from the Black female mayor, A mayor wo has been trying to get the ok for racial profiling classes? again what is wrong with this story. Now the governor is being asked to apologize for using his right to free speech. He said this arrest bothered him. Hell it bothered the D.A so much he dropped the case... now this means that there was no case at all and our president was only agreeing with the D.A. that this was a stupid move which is going to cost that city millions if not billions and this is not stupid? Huh, the Jefferys out there????(smile) *I must rush out to a buddhist meeting so no time to edit, sorry.but if you get to watch the videos of CNN NEWSroom today and the press interview on The Andra Mitchell program on msnbc. You can better understand what and where I am speaking about...
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA
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Jeffery, I am sure that ,that was the same cause that you are expecting was the same thoughts as Jesus, Dr. King and even Rodney King, but it did not stop those nooses on those trees at that high school in Jena, La.or trying to get a Black man getting beaten so bad the police called this young Black man as having tortured before being drug to death by a pick up truck. No, not in the deep south but rignt here in "northern" Ca... Yet these same all White police department refused to call it a hate crime when attacked by two strangers just out of prison who the only thing they knew about this young man was he had black skin. And, his having black skin was enough to kill this young man on his way home from work...and guess what Jeffery we had to band together to force the D.A to call this a HATE CRIME!!!!but, then I guess you do not live in the same planet as I do where man has been killing each other like this. Only because they did not like their religion,or skin color... Me, I will continue to chant(pray)that dr. Gates files a law suit as this is the only way to be able to get the Republican right-wing off of our president's back. You see now the innocence of the White man now has Rush Limbaugh preaching to ever racist how our president "Is B-L-A-C-K so he has this chip on his shoulder because he has issues with of all places,AMERICA...now what was that you were saying ...(smile)
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA
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