7/23/2009

Prof. Gates' Strawman

In the aftermath of his arrest and Presidential pardon prime-time mention, Prof. Louis Gates Esq has pulled out the time honored "this wouldn't have happened if I were white" canard.

He tells his daughter [Hat tip: Kausfiles]:
If I had been white this incident never would have happened. He would have asked at the door, “Excuse me, are you okay? Because there are two black men around here try’na rob you [laughter] and I think he also violated the rules by not giving his name and badge number, and I think he would have given that to one of my white colleagues or one of my white neighbors.

Now it strikes me that Gates' statement is non-sensical. If he had been white, then the two persons reported to be trying to break into his house (him and his driver) would have been white....not black. So if the two reported home invaders had been white, the police would have come looking for white home invaders. Thus they would have probably treated the white Prof. Gates the same as the black Prof. Gates...and then they would have arrested an arrogant, *white* Harvard professor for Disorderly Conduct.

In fact it seems that Prof. Gates thinks that whites deal with other whites like those in Eddie Murphy's "White Like Me". As Kaus alludes...who is the one with the stereotypes here?

But the simple fact of the matter is that Prof Gates would have been "accosted" by the police no matter what his color.

UPDATE: Welcome back Instapundit readers! Stay a while, and take a look around....

UPDATE II: When it comes to matters of Law Enforcement, I would always recommend heeding the word of Jack Dunphy. This case is no different...
In fact, if Crowley’s account is accurate, it was Gates who profiled him, imputing racial animus as the reason for the sergeant’s presence on the front porch.
Read the rest....

8 comments:

Donald Sensing said...

I think it was Garrett Morris who did the "White Like Me" sketch,not Eddie Murphy.

rocat said...

no, definitely Murphy.

I remember that when it aired, you know, way back when SNL was still funny...

submandave said...

Eddie: "White Like Me", "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood"

Garrett: "Chico Esquela", "Get me a shotgun and kill all the Whities I see"

jeff said...

I've actually been in this same situation, although close to 30 years ago. From reading the police report it appears BEFORE he provided ID he went off of on the cops and tried to call the chief of police. Then finally produced it, continued to yell and scream at the police. He was asked to step outside of his house for the very simple reason that the cops have no idea how worked up he will get and if he has any weapons inside. He then continued to yell and scream outside at which time he was arrested. This is exactly the same thing we went thru 30 years ago, our guy wasn't a Harvard professor though. And like this case, the ADA decided it wasn't worth the time or expense to prosecute the case.

nick said...

all white men are racist


but the cop acted stupidly
in not defusing the situation

jeff said...

Well, nick....since you were there, where do you think things went wrong? And what do you think he should have done when the hysterical party continued to escalate? Since you were there and all and know it was the white raciest cop fault.

nick said...

YOU HAND OUT YOUR BUSINESS CARD

duh

LIKE THE "PROFESSIONAl" COPS
IN THIS TOWN DO!


duh

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