From the "Black People Arrest Themselves" files

[Caliga]

@ grumbler

Obviously not

But what I mean is that it'd been grabbing headlines in the Crimson, etc.  I dunno if the issue had died down since late 2006 when I left, but this will surely reignite it.  By the time Summers left I was at one of the teaching hospitals so I didn't get as much news (both directly and as interdepartmental gossip), but I would guess replacing him with a woman killed the sexism debate.

[Valmy]

But does Summers being a racist/sexist/nazi whatever mean the whole school is?

[Caliga]

The issue was that the administration didn't do enough to promote black dudes and women into tenured positions.  I don't know that you can pin that all on the President, but I suppose he could share the blame because if there are 'racist' deans he should be removing them.

Don't ask me to rationalize this... I never perceived any kind of bias, but then again I had a job and lacked the idle time to get paranoid and angry at people for no reason, unlike the folks who write for the Crimson.

[swallow]

Read the story again.  The police officer was not part of the university's police force.  He was a city cop.

But he 'phoned the university police

The Cambridge police report describes a chaotic scene in which the police sergeant stood at Gates's door, demanded identification, and radioed for assistance from Harvard University police when Gates presented him with a Harvard ID'

[The Minsky Moment]

Read the story again.  The police officer was not part of the university's police force.  He was a city cop.

This isn't NYPD, its the City of Cambridge police force.  Henry Louis Gates is very well known in that community and a very recognizable figure.  He showed two different forms of ID and still was harassed.

[Caliga]

Boston and Cambridge cops have a rep for being gigantic assholes btw.

[The Minsky Moment]

I'm just saying that is a pretty small town.  You would think a police sergeant would probably be able to recognize him by appearance, or at the very least recognize the name on the two forms of ID he saw.

[Malthus]

Boston and Cambridge cops have a rep for being gigantic assholes btw.

Ah, but are they equal opportunity assholes? 

[Valmy]

Boston and Cambridge cops have a rep for being gigantic assholes btw.

Well they are probably Irish and everybody knows all Irish people are incredibly racist.

[Caliga]

er, I don't think of Cambridge as a small town but rather as a smallish city.

You're also assuming that public servants in Massachusetts aren't phenomenally ignorant.  Bad assumption

[Caliga]

Well they are probably Irish and everybody knows all Irish people are incredibly racist.

Valmy comes right out and says what I was going to try to subtly hint at. 

[DontSayBanana]

Surprised nobody's talking about the question of whether the cop went inside the house. If true, especially after being shown ID, the cop spectacularly mishandled the situation and deserves whatever disciplinary action Gates' attorney can get thrown at him.

[Norgy]

Ok, I going to watch Andy Sipowicz and NYPD Blue now.

[KRonn]

Surprised nobody's talking about the question of whether the cop went inside the house. If true, especially after being shown ID, the cop spectacularly mishandled the situation and deserves whatever disciplinary action Gates' attorney can get thrown at him.

The cop may have mishandled things, and it will come out in investigation. But the professor being inside his home wouldn't necessarily mean that he isn't a burglar, given that the call came over a home break in. Cop may have entered the home and found the professor, and not know that he's the home owner.  I get the impression that things got heated before and after the cop being shown ID.

[garbon]

Sounds like the officer got annoyed with him yelling about racism and the like, and used the excuse that the professor hadn't initially wanted to show ID.  One would think after 58 years, said African-American professor would know how a black person is supposed to act around cops...kind and courteous.