President Barack Obama has waded deep into an increasingly bitter race row by saying that a white police officer "acted stupidly" in arresting a renowned black Harvard professor, Henry Louis Gates, after he forced the door of his own home.

The president's additional comments about a long history of police racism amid accusations that one of the country's most prominent African-American scholars was detained only because he is black has dampened enthusiasm for claims that Obama's election takes America "post-racial".

Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct after neighbours called the police when they saw him and a black taxi driver attempting to force the jammed front door of his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

What transpired is disputed but after producing identification to show that he was at his own house, a row ensued in which Gates demanded an officer's name and badge number and accused him of racial profiling. The police sergeant then arrested him for disorderly conduct.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/23/obama-race-henry-louis-gates

The sgt should be locked up for good. he deliberatly arrested Gates to spite him as a black man even when he was in no doubt who Gates was and the fact he was in his own house

If it was the British police, they will apologise profusely for the mix up and leave. I once had a run in with them and they were literally falling over themselves trying to apologise for coming to my home after some jerk called them there were disturbances and shouting there which was a big lie.

in America however, civility takes the back seat when police is taking to a black person. So many blacks are wrongly imprisoned there mostimes with the active conniavance of the police and the prosecutors witholding vital evidence from the defence that would have cleared the black person. So many blacks are given up to life and lengthy sentences even when for the same crimes, whites are given suspended sentences or short terms. we are all aware of the shooting death of a black girl by a white shop attendance in texas for the fact she was haggling too much over food items. The white murderer later got a 10 year SUSPENDED sentence! This is for a crime many blacks (mostly wrongly accused) are on death rows

Are Americans racist? you be the judge

"The Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home," he said. "What I think we know, separate and apart from this incident, is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. And that's just a fact."
Obama had earlier lightened the mood by wondering what would happen if he were trying to break in to his own home

is this ALL Obama could do?

If so, those africans waiting for OBAMA to help them are in for a long wait

But the police officer at the centre of the row, Sergeant James Crowley, told a Boston radio station that he won't be apologising and that it is "disappointing that he [Obama] waded into what should be a local issue".
"I know what I did was right," he said.

Gbam!
The guy clearly insult President Obama. Na wo. We are waiting,

Crackers,born stupid oyinbos,never changes.How can he arrest a professor in his own home?Meanwhile the idiots too that called the police in the first place should know.

Crackers,born stupid oyinbos,never changes.How can he arrest a professor in his own home?Meanwhile the idiots too that called the police in the first place should know.

what did black president going to be about it? Nothing. Only Joke about it!!

the oyinbos are now against Obama?

Officers rally behind the white officer who arrested a black Harvard scholar and ask Obama to apologize

back2back:

is this ALL Obama could do?

If so, those africans waiting for OBAMA to help them are in for a long waitGbam!
The guy clearly insult President Obama. Na wo. We are waiting,

Perhaps you wanted Obama to order the arrest and execution of the officer in charge? What else do you expect him to do? Why would you blame a Black president who wanted to lighten the mood of a discussion concerning such a politically charged and tense subject as racism?

We get it, you don't like Obama. We do. Deal with it!


PS: would that you had the guts to hold your own leaders accountable for their actions!

These guys are fucking racist. There isnt a black man in America who has had a racial profiling issue with the cops. Just this year alone i have had 2 experiences. Well, i recently got my self a small digital recorder and i m hope it happens again, i can sue their ass with the highest amount possible.

Just 3weeks ago i had same issue, It was 8.30am i had resume 30 mins early and was alone in the office, Imagine a police officer telling u he saw you turned to get a coffee and you disappear like i was suppose to say hey officer i'm here!!! , It was so unbelieveable i didnt even notice him, didnt know he was hiding profiling me from 500 yards away in a coffee shop. Meanwhile i was at work, i step out to pick some files from my car and the officer quickly drove in and was like catch ya!, lol it was like a scene out of the movies. He asked if for an I.D, he asked what i was doing where i was, i told him i worked in the facility he came in pretended like he wanted to send a distress call and after a while, told me that he saw me and before he could say jack i disappeared, he smile over it but i wasnt smiling cos' i was angry for one even if he had wanted to racial profile me, he should have seen that i had no tatoos on or earrings, neither was i sagging my pants. Worst off it wasnt as if there was a distress call for a black man or a robbery had just gone down, so there was no reason for him to racial profile me in the first place Tho! my work place is wired with 6 cameras it wont make much case for me in the court cos' it has no voice recording ability. I'm hoping it happens again. I have a lawyer who will not charge me a penny by get 50% of the outcome if i win.

Harvard professor, Henry Louis Gates is also Yoruba

Obama is a tested intellectual and a soul rebel,he will stand for justice,black or white not withstanding.Of course crackers will always hate him because darkness and light don't mix.

Obama is a ray of light while crackers,KKK's will always be agents of darkness that they are known for,American police is almost a front for ku klux clan,from the time of jk hoover to the present day

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama concedes his words — that a white police officer "acted stupidly" when he arrested a black university scholar in his own home — were ill-chosen. But, while he invited both men to visit him at the White House, Obama stopped short of publicly apologizing for his remark.

The president personally telephoned the two men, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley, in an effort to end the rancorous back-and-forth over what had transpired and what Obama had said about it. Trying to lighten the situation, he even commiserated with Crowley about reporters on his lawn.

Hours earlier, a multiracial group of police officers had stood with Crowley in Massachusetts and called on Obama to say he's sorry.

It was a measure of the nation's keen sensitivities on matters of race that the fallout from a disorderly conduct charge in Massachusetts — and the remarks of America's first black president about it — had mushroomed to such an extent that he felt compelled to make a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room to try to put the matter to rest. The blowup had dominated national attention just as Obama was trying to marshal public pressure to get Congress to push through health care overhaul legislation — and as polls showed growing doubts about his performance.

"This has been ratcheting up, and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up," Obama said of the racial controversy. "I want to make clear that in my choice of words, I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department and Sgt. Crowley specifically. And I could've calibrated those words differently."

The president did not back down from his contention that police had overreacted by arresting the Harvard professor for disorderly conduct after coming to his home to investigate a possible break-in. He added, though, that he thought Gates, too, had overreacted to the police who questioned him. The charge has been dropped.

Obama stirred up a hornet's nest when he said at a prime-time news conference this week that Cambridge police had "acted stupidly" by arresting Gates, a friend of the president's. Still, Obama said Friday he didn't regret stepping into the controversy and hoped the matter would end up being a "teachable moment" for the nation.

"The fact that this has garnered so much attention, I think, is testimony to the fact that these are issues that are still very sensitive here in America," Obama said.

Obama, who has come under intense criticism from police organizations, said he had called Crowley to clear the air, and said the conversation confirmed his belief that the sergeant is an "outstanding police officer and a good man."

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs refused to say whether Obama had apologized to Crowley.

Asked repeatedly about that, Gibbs said if Obama "doesn't want to characterize" his remarks to Crowley, "I'm not going to get ahead of him."

The story had taken on a life of its own, and the White House scrambled to keep up.

Gibbs said just Friday morning that the president had probably said most of what he was going to say, and that the only problem was media "obsession."









http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090725/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_harvard_scholar

hmmm interesting ,,,when our pastor said it last year that d yanks re racists obama argued he even stop going 2 d church, just to get into d office,god dey sha


I think mr presido should have handled this incident differently n b more diplomatic.my opinion lol