Why Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Was Arrested

I read a letter to the editor in a recent TIME Magazine (8/24/09) from a gentleman in Raleigh, NC. He was weighing in on Henry Louis Gates, Jr. being arrested in his home. He posed the question:

“Why is everyone overlooking the fact that Gates immediately starting mouthing off and playing the race card? A cop’s job is tough enough. Why couldn’t he have simply answered the officer’s questions and said, ‘Thanks for looking out for us.’?”

While this is certainly a simplistic answer to what Mr. Gates could have done in response to being questioned in his own home, I don’t want to argue that Mr. Gates’ response was completely without fault. But, we should remember for what it was Mr. Gates was arrested. The official reason for his arrest was based on him “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior”.

Let me say that again. Mr. Gates was arrested, in his own home, for exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior. This, after having done nothing wrong whatsoever.

With this in mind, how many arrests have we seen at these Democratic town hall meetings where exhibiting “loud and tumultuous behavior” was the sole reason some people even showed up? People who had been led to behave so loud and tumultuously by those in the media repeatedly pushing the factually inaccurate notions of “death panels” and “Obama-as-Hitler”?

In a way, I don’t blame these people who only get their information from places like Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, etc. If the lies they repeat with mind numbing regularity were the only things I ever heard, I’d be inclined to act out in loud and tumultuous ways, too.

So, let’s get back to Mr. Gates’ arrest. Here’s a man, no matter his current station in life, who has undoubtedly had his fair share of racism aimed his direction. Actual racism. Not just made up stories about racism which were doled out to him by the media with mind numbing regularity.

Mr. Gates has experienced real instances of actual racism.

And then, after a life time of these experiences, after working hard to get to a place in life where one would expect to be above such indignities, he found himself standing in his own home being asked to prove he wasn’t a burglar.

And he snapped.

He didn’t go looking for somewhere to snap.
It happened in his own home.
He didn’t snap based on the lies of others.
He snapped based on a lifetime of his own experiences.

And for that, he was arrested for being “loud and tumultuous”.

I only hope those who wish Mr. Gates had acted with more civility are also asking those who are disrupting town hall meetings to “simply ask their questions and thank their representatives for looking out for them.”

Comments

  1. Nate OubreAugust 17, 2009 at 11:55 AM

    I completely agree with this one. The fact remains that he was arrested in his own house wearing slack and a golf shirt, while using a cane to walk, with reading glasses, in harvard square, on suspicion of robbing his own house. I would be mad too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 19, 2009 at 7:30 PM

    "...people who had been led to behave...?"

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 2, 2009 at 8:13 PM

    You're really unbelievable. If the idiot would have stayed in his home he could have ranted all he wanted and gotten away with it. It was only when the jackass followed the police onto the front porch, while still cursing at them and playing the race card, which you obviously don't have a problem with, and continued to yell out loud where all the neighbors could now hear... at that time he was considered to be displaying "loud and tumultuous behavior." And at that time he was placed under arrest. NOT for what he said while still in his house, but what he said while OUTSIDE his house. If people like you would get your hands dirty a little more in life you might understand what the rest of the world is like further out than just a few blocks down the road from UCLA.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 2, 2009 at 8:22 PM

    Do you know why California has wild fires, so many illegal immigrants and is broke?
    Because you deserve it!

    ReplyDelete

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