Harvard Prof Gates and Officer Crowley share Irish Bloodlines

[rajdet]

I love the irony of this.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=8195564&page=1

Henry Louis Gates Jr., the black professor at the center of the racial story involving his arrest outside his Harvard University-owned house, has spoken proudly of his Irish roots.
Strangely enough, he and the Cambridge, Mass., police officer who arrested him, Sgt. James Crowley, both trace their ancestry back to the legendary Niall of the Nine Hostages.
In a PBS series on African-American ancestry that he hosted in 2008, Gates discovered his Irish roots when he found he was descended from an Irish immigrant and a slave girl.
He went to Trinity College in Dublin to have his DNA analyzed. There he found that he shared 10 of the 11 DNA matches with offspring of Niall of the Nine Hostages, the fourth century warlord who created one of the dominant strains of Irish genealogy because he had so many offspring.

[Pam]

I wonder if the Officer will apologize to his cousin for false arrest?

[gibran]

trace all of us back far enough and find how we are really releted...that is why we need to treat each other as brothers and sisters..no matter what the catergories others place us into...

[jiminnm]

I wonder if the Officer will apologize to his cousin for false arrest?

I wonder if Gates will apologize to his cousin for acting like a jackass.

[ejames01]

The people on this board are even worse.

I wonder if Gates will apologize to his cousin for acting like a jackass.

[Omaha]

Like my hero, Stephen Colbert, I am too am incapable of seeing color or gender. But unlike Stephen, my inabilities to distinguish color and gender come and go. As a result I an in a post racial state of mind.

Nevertheless, from my reading of what happens in the world that others live in, it seems that DWB and variations on that theme are real phenomena across this great nation. In this instance the police properly responded to a call. What happened later is what became problematic.

But I don’t know why expressing your dismay and frustration by raising your voice, or “getting your Irish up,� at a police officer who knows that you are in your house and on your front porch is a crime.

It may be on the Cambridge or Massachusetts books, but I haven’t found reference to it yet. Anyway, for whatever reason, the charges were dropped.

Colin Powell, says that it’s been his experience that people of color [[regardless of size and darkness of complexion) too often are viewed and treated as if all are dangerous. He is critical of Gates for not keeping his cool.

But officer Crowley could have defused the situation as well. He had the real power to make a discretionary call and, after seeing Gates, checking his ID, assessing the situation, and calling for back up…officer Crowley did just that…made a discretionary decision.

[firstandten]

Regardless of how one might feel about Prof Gates, he has come up with some powerful programs on PBS exploring the family trees of certain blacks more deeply than ever has been before by not only using old records but DNA technology. There were some segments that people finding out a part of their history that was painful, literally cried in front of the camera. This is significant because most black families can't trace their roots past the end of slavery or about 150 years

[ccbatson]

Is this an argument that is supposed to change anything?

[ejames01]

Of course not. We know you still don't like the colored people.

Is this an argument that is supposed to change anything?

[ccbatson]

Me? I have never indicated anything of the sort...more to the contrary if anything, but no bias at all is how I would characterize my views...as it should be for everyone.

[Detroitej72]

This story reminds me of how they traced Obama's to Cheney's family.

It is kind of ironic whenever the lineage of two opposite sides are shared by a common ancestor.

[vetalalumni]

... officer Crowley could have defused the situation as well. He had the real power to make a discretionary call ...officer Crowley did just that…made a discretionary decision.

This was the most critical [[turning) point of the entire event.

[jams]

Me? I have never indicated anything of the sort...more to the contrary if anything, but no bias at all is how I would characterize my views...as it should be for everyone.

That has to be the funniest thing I've read all year!

[rjk]

On the ABC national news a few days ago they had a clip of a black woman talking about how she made sure to tell her teenage daughter not to be sarcastic or smart off to the police if she is ever gets pulled over. The anchor [[Charlie Gibson) said something along the lines that it's unfortunate that it's gotten to that point in his closing comment following the segment.
Huh? Having to tell someone not to smart off to the police is like having to tell them not to put their hand on a hot stove. If you have to be told that you've got much bigger problems than you realize. Even at 16 I would have taken it as an insult if my father felt the need to tell me not to smart off to the police.

[Ravine]

Amen to that comment, Rjk.

[Omaha]

As a Social Darwinist, I hate the idea that with power comes the responsibility to use it justly, fairly and even handedly. I think that greed is good, and I am all about the rich and well born pursuing short-term profit maximization. Using power any other way than to grow your power and authority and to serve your own internal avarice seems foolish.

To expect a police officer not to let whatever remaining societally reinforced biases influence his use of discretionary power, is to be unrealistic. You can't hold the police to a higher standard than those who are chosen to lead the great engines of our society. Hence, the sage advice, "don't mouth off to those who have the power to detain and arrest you."

But racial profiling by those with discretionary power to arrest is a known reality...although I hope it is becoming much rarer. I am also hoping that a teachable moment comes out of the conversation over beers at the White House tonight.

And it sounds like my adage about choosing your parents well has many variations. Although as a Colbert Conservative, I can't see race, maybe there still exists a thing called by some "white skin privilege."

[rajdet]

I am a black male. From the mid 80’s until 2004 I wore my hair in dreadlocks. In 1988 they were not as pedestrian as they are now. I know more than most about profiling and peoples assumptions. I have had strangers ask where they could buy weed, I knew on the tarmac on any return flight into the country that I would be searched, I knew driving my shiny new truck at night through Livonia that I’d be better off driving 53 mph. That being said there are times after a long frustrating day, you do not have the energy for peoples stupid ass assumptions. One would think that a police officer who is trained to handle volatile situations with calm would have handled that situation a little better.

[ccbatson]

Radjet...If I dress as a homeless person would be expected to dress, should I be surprised if I am treated like a homeless person?

[ejames01]

WTF? How should a black male with dreadlocks be treated?

I am a black male. From the mid 80’s until 2004 I wore my hair in dreadlocks. In 1988 they were not as pedestrian as they are now. I know more than most about profiling and peoples assumptions. I have had strangers ask where they could buy weed, I knew on the tarmac on any return flight into the country that I would be searched, I knew driving my shiny new truck at night through Livonia that I’d be better off driving 53 mph. That being said there are times after a long frustrating day, you do not have the energy for peoples stupid ass assumptions. One would think that a police officer who is trained to handle volatile situations with calm would have handled that situation a little better.

[Omaha]

Expect all police to administer justice blind to stereotypes? Expect all police to never judge a book by its cover? Expect physical behavior to be the deciding behavior that dictates how an officer of the law uses his or her discretionary powers to detain and arrest?

Unfortunately it is the exception to the rule that allows ugly stereotypes...stereotypes that can lead to negative end results.

Amadou Diallo anyone? Let's make sure that NEVER happens again.

Maybe in a perfect world. Expect the statue of justice to raise her blindfold so as to treat some people better than others?

[East Detroit]

Me? I have never indicated anything of the sort...more to the contrary if anything, but no bias at all is how I would characterize my views...as it should be for everyone.

No bias at all? In your dreams. ALL top athletes are dopers, because you deal with doping athletes. Quite a bias there. Just one example.

[cheddar bob]

I love the irony of this.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=8195564&page=1

Henry Louis Gates Jr., the black professor at the center of the racial story involving his arrest outside his Harvard University-owned house, has spoken proudly of his Irish roots.
Strangely enough, he and the Cambridge, Mass., police officer who arrested him, Sgt. James Crowley, both trace their ancestry back to the legendary Niall of the Nine Hostages.
In a PBS series on African-American ancestry that he hosted in 2008, Gates discovered his Irish roots when he found he was descended from an Irish immigrant and a slave girl.
He went to Trinity College in Dublin to have his DNA analyzed. There he found that he shared 10 of the 11 DNA matches with offspring of Niall of the Nine Hostages, the fourth century warlord who created one of the dominant strains of Irish genealogy because he had so many offspring.

Wow, they're practically twins, huh?

[rajdet]

Radjet...If I dress as a homeless person would be expected to dress, should I be surprised if I am treated like a homeless person?

Ccbatson, was this remark for me? OK, I will make an exception just for you, and assume it is. If you dressed like what ever your perception is on how a homeless person should dress, chances are, I would treat you with the same respect I treat everyone else, until you said or did something that made me lose that respect. I learned a lesson about assuming things quite a few years ago, ironically from a homeless man. As it turns out my original preception of this man had very little to do with the reality of who he was. I took the time to get to know something about that man and in doing so learned a lesson about life, love, loss, and character. Cc, I will let your preception be your reality.

[rajdet]

Wow, they're practically twins, huh?

Cheddar bob, if you really think about it we are all related.

[cheddar bob]

Cheddar bob, if you really think about it we are all related.

Then why would you "love the irony" if we're all related?