A Message for President Obama
This is supposed to be a fun, fluffy celebrity blog. However, the news of the day has me a bit rattled, and I feel the need to venture off-topic today and respond to President Obama's press conference from last night.
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President Obama:
I am a loyal supporter of yours, but I am disappointed by the comments you made last night about the arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates.
First of all, you began your remarks by admitting that you didn't have all the facts about the incident, but then you went on to pass judgement anyway, saying that the police officers in question acted stupidly, and then you insinuated that what happened to Gates may have been an example of racism.
I wasn't at the home of Professor Gates when the arrest took place. However, based on the police reports and the personal accounts of multiple witnesses, it seems that Gates threw quite a fit when asked to present identification. Yes, he was in his own home, but that home was burglarized within the past several months, and the police thought someone was trying to break in again.
If I locked myself out of my own home and tried to break in through the front door, I would hope that the police would take notice and make sure I was who I said I was instead of looking the other way and possibly let a burglary take place. Also, I would always have the sense to cooperate with the police and not mouth off or cause a big disturbance, which is what Professor Gates allegedly did.
The fact that Professor Gates was acting out on his own property is not a factor here. The law doesn't stop at your front door. If Gates was being uncooperative and disorderly, he should have been arrested. If anything, he received preferential treatment because the charges were quickly dropped without a court hearing.
I come from a family of three police officers. Both my father and my husband are officers in the city of Chicago. I regularly hear firsthand accounts of all the horrible things they have to deal with on a daily basis. The stunts people pull with the police are unbelievable, and most of the time they get away with it because the court system is so overloaded that "trivial" matters such as disturbances and drug possession are thrown out in court because there isn't any time to deal with them.
It's true that there are some bad apples in law enforcement, and unfortunately, those are the people who make national news all the time. No one ever comments on the thousands of decent officers out there who work hard at their jobs and do everything they can to make the world a better, safer place.
Mr. President, your comments last night resulted in headlines such as "Obama Thinks Cops are Stupid" being plastered all over the Internet and the daily papers. That has only added to the many feelings of anger and distrust people already have about police officers.
Instead of adding fuel to the fire, I hope that your administration will reach out to law enforcement officials across the country to find out what resources they need in order to do their jobs more effectively. I suggest starting with your hometown of Chicago, where morale among police officers is extremely low. You need to work together in order to make things better, not take sides and increase tensions.
I appreciate you taking the time to read this e-mail, and look forward to seeing how you respond to this extremely important issue.
Respectfully,
Melissa Niksic
Chicago, IL
...that's the media's fault. But you're wrong about everything else. Since when can people not be arrested in their own home? All evidence shows that Gates was being a complete ******* to the police, screaming and uncooperative and, according to some people, threatening. You can't act that way and expect to get away with it, regardless of where you are.
He only got angry after they continued to harass him.
You're ignoring a huge chunk of this story.
"Since when can people not be arrested in their own home?"
Since the whole point of the police being there was the fact that they thought he was BREAKING IN. And since he wasn't -- it's not illegal to gain entry to your own house! -- they had NO reason to arrest him.
They also kept insisting he step outside because you can only be arrested for disorderly conduct if you're in public -- as long as he was indoors he was most definitely not doing anything wrong. I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty ticked off if I was being harassed by the police under similar circumstances.
Sure, the police expect submission and subservience. And it's always good to be polite to the police. But that doesn't mean they have an unlimited right to arrest you just because they feel like it, or if you're not being polite!
...is that the police arrived at the home, saw Gates inside, asked him to come out and speak to them, and Gates refused. Several neighbors have said that they witnessed the whole incident, and supposedly Gates was heard screaming like a madman over the police radio (why haven't those tapes been released, I wonder?). Gates refused to cooperate with the police and caused a public disturbance. I believe those are both grounds for arrest.
Again, I wasn't there, so I can't be sure of what really happened. However, I have a hard time believing that the police just decided to arrest Gates for the hell of it. It sounds like Gates was on the defense the second the police arrived.
that you have a pro-police bias. In fact, you stated as much in your open letter. And that's OK, it's understandable given your background, but you have to acknowledge that it is a bias.
Obviously I wasn't there either. I can only state my opinion based on what I've heard. But as far as I'm concerned, while the police had every right to check on the situation, they should've left as soon as Gates proved it was his home.
Funny--you say "I have a hard time believing that the police just decided to arrest Gates for the hell of it." But you work in the media! You know that yes, in fact, people DO get arrested for no good reason sometimes! Cops are people too, and while most are good, they too have their biases, they make snap judgments that are sometimes wrong, and some of them are even downright bad people.
Gates probably was on the defensive -- put yourself in his shoes. He had just gotten home from a long trip, had to force his way inside his own house, and then the cops show up? I'd be cranky too.
It may very well be true that there was no racism involved in the whole incident.
But Obama was right on when he said the police acted stupidly. Once Gates proved it was HIS HOUSE, they had no reason to arrest him. None, nada, zilch, zip. They should have left right then and there.
As you well know, the national media -- and local media, don't tell me the DH's hands are clean -- is fond of blowing things out of proportion. Of writing headlines that don't tell the whole story. No headline could ever tell the whole story, in fact; that's what the story is for. Why don't you chastise your fellow media types for blowing a 30-second statement out of proportion instead?