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jamiam July 21 2009, 15:34:17 UTC
*sob* I just spent most of yesterday evening have this exact discussion via twitter with a friend of mine.

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readingthedark July 21 2009, 15:38:59 UTC
I've repeated this everywhere, but I'm so unfit for this world that my first thought was that any person with authority in the Boston area should be able to recognize Gates on sight because he really is that prominent and this incident is as stupid as if they had confronted the mayor in front of his house.

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jamiam July 21 2009, 15:49:07 UTC
You mean, like this?

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snurri July 21 2009, 16:32:38 UTC
I recall seeing that comment, yeah. I often feel like I live in a different reality, too.

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snurri July 21 2009, 16:31:57 UTC
But the arrest happened after he provided ID. In fact from Gates' account it sounds like the handcuffs went on the moment he accused the cop of racism.

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snurri July 21 2009, 16:40:30 UTC
I think the fact that he was asked to show ID is exasperating, and probably far less likely to happen to a white person, but understandable given the circumstances. The arrest is completely unjustified.

The charges have apparently been dropped now. But I've been enraged by some of the comments on the links I posted above.

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gkr July 21 2009, 17:32:03 UTC
My first thought is it had less to do with racism (though that element is possibly there), than with "contempt of cop." Given just a bit of authority, it felt like someone who hates to have it questioned. "Don't respect me? Well, I'll show you what I can do with my authority." Gates didn't show the deference the guy thought he deserved.

Kind of like the video of the ambulance that got pulled over in May (I think), where it was pretty obvious the cop didn't take well to getting flipped the bird (or thinking he got flipped), or having someone tell him he wasn't in charge and so got all bent out of shape and escalated things.

But then, I wasn't there and I don't know the cop. But I've known enough cops to have seen that pattern and I tend to assume that's the case whenever small matters escalate with cops. And yes, race does play in to that mentality.

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2 sides to every story unnamed_horror July 21 2009, 19:09:38 UTC
The arrest report is on TMZ. It seems that maybe the arresting officer is Hispanic. The neighbor who made the call to the cops about a possible break-in did not recognize Gates.

If there is any credence to the cop's side of the story, he was anticipating dealing with a B&E scenario. I imagine things escalated quickly, but any time a person starts name dropping or "you don't know who you're messing with" and "step outside with your mama" rather than just saying "there's seems to be a misunderstanding" is a participant, not a victim.

My husband is an attorney (who did civil rights work), I work for the City of Boston and try to follow the local politics, etc., I didn't know what Gates looked like.

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Re: 2 sides to every story snurri July 21 2009, 19:17:21 UTC
he was anticipating dealing with a B&E scenario

And yet, after he found out that wasn't the case, AFTER Gates had produced identification, that's when the arrest took place. Sorry, not buying it.

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