Obama, Gates, Police and Black Folks

When the President ran for the Presidency he invoked his dear white mother and grandparents to get into power. Threw his former pastor under the bus, and made no commitments to black Americans for their collective vote. Now the president has pissed off the white cops. Instead of Barack Obama pissing them off for a good reason, like shooting black people in the back or tasering black folks while black, he had to say something about his Harvard Buddy.



As reported by MSNBC, many police officers across the country have a message for President Barack Obama: Get all the facts before criticizing one of our own.

Obama's public criticism that Cambridge officers "acted stupidly" when they arrested black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. could make it harder for police to work with people of color, some officers said Thursday. It could even set back the progress in race relations that helped Obama become the nation's first African-American president, they said.

"What we don't need is public safety officials across the country second-guessing themselves," said David Holway, president of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, which represents 15,000 public safety officials around the country. "The president's alienated public safety officers across the country with his comments." More HERE

AAPP: Many in the Brotherhood of Police Officers have alienated and abused black folks for years. Whites have wanted to politically dig into Obama for some time, he has given them the opportunity with his support of Louis Gates over police in this issue. Here is what Barack obama had to say:

Obama was asked about Gates' arrest at the end of a nationally televised news conference on health care Wednesday night and began his response by saying Gates was a friend and he didn't have all the facts.

"But I think it's fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry," Obama said. "No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And No. 3 — 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."

AAPP: Why can't Barack Obama ever talk about black people, without including some other group? Why don't Gates and Obama get it? Just because you have a Doctorate degree or Law degree from Harvard "your still black in America." Maybe, just maybe, The President should be supporting the "voiceless" blacks who have been abused, shot, tasered and killed by police, rather than supporting a man who already has a voice, and get's paid well, to express his opinion on how he feels white police act towards black people. It's interesting how black elitist Louis Gates and President Barack Obama, are all of a sudden one of us common black folk.

When do we begin to hold people accountable? Who should be held accountable? Should it be the Police who are seeking an Obama apology? I guess Obama's honeymoon period with the American people is over. What do you think?

More about this issue on African American Political Pundit.com

Louis Gates, Barack Obama, Black Nationalism and Black Elitism

My first reaction when I heard about the incident about Louis Gates was you got to be kidding me. I like many bloggers were not a happy campers. I like many was feeling sorry for Henry Louis Gates. I thought like many black folks that the Cambridge Police had gone over the line. There were a number of bloggers who raised questions early about Louis Gates motives.

Some Black conservatives and conservative bloggers are decoding the Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrest and asking...Why did Louis Gates have to yell, "Why, because I'm a black man in America?

For me, I respected Louis Gates until I read my own home town newspaper, The Boston Globe, and read how Louis Gates, 58, the director of Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research attacked black nationalism and is now into the black us (Harvard Educated) vs them (Black Nationalist) politics.

Now his "Harvard University buddy, President Barack Obama is coming out regarding his arrest in Cambridge, Mass. More HERE

I have lost a tad bit of respect for Gates and Obama. They only talk "Black" when the "black Harvard crowd" get what average black folks with no "Haravrd degrees" get everyday. If you have a dregree from a lowly HBCU, State College or heaven forbid no degree, you get no respect in "President Obama's Fantasy Post Racial America."

I wish Barack Obama showed Outrage when black folks got murdered by police, like the 73-year-old black.. and everyone knows race was a factor in the police shooting of unarmed elderly grandfather who what shot in cold blood in that small town in Homer Louisiana. Or the black guy that got shot in the back by the Oakland Transit Authority? Let's not even talk about black man that get shot and killed by police and was shot 12 times from behind. No that crime by police was not the Harvard type of crime, it was not politically sexy, Oh, has President Barack Obama even been down to New Orleans? Don't get me started...

Get this, Gates said that as a man who is “half white,’’ who was married to a white woman for more than two decades, and whose children are part white, “I don’t walk around calling white people racist. . . . Nobody knows me as some lunatic black nationalist who’s walking around beating up on white people. This is just not my profile.’’

AAPP: WTF! "Half White" WTF! Married to a white woman for more than two decades, and whose children are part white! What lunatic black nationalist who’s walking around beating up on white people is this guy talking about? Why is Louis Gates creating (as blogtalkradio host Black Achievement noted, a boogie men for whites? Black nationalist are bad, I'm one of you. Why you treating me like this? I Married a white woman for more than two decades, and my children are part white, why would you do this to me? I'm one of you.

Negro Please!

Why is Gates and and President Barack Obama playing this elitist black thing?

Ask yourself why Barack Obama is sticking up from his Harvard buddy, but cannot say one damn thing about a black man who got shot in the back in Oakland or black folks who get tasered to death while black. I don't get how President Obama, could be weighing in on the arrest of Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr but cannot even speak about the attack on black America since he has been elected.

Get this Barack Obama said last night that Cambridge police “acted stupidly’’ when they handcuffed Gates even after he showed proof that he lived in the house. Obama scolds Cambridge police.

Police acted 'stupidly' in Gates arrest, Obama says - sounds like black elitism to me ... Now all of a sudden, Henry Louis Gates Jr is one of the “1 Million Black Men In Jail. Whatever!

Read more at African American Political Pundit.com

There are a lot of thoughts from all corners from the blog theBlack Snob to many others.

What are do you think? What are your thoughts?

Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., ARRESTED

As reported by the Huffington Post, this booking photo released by the Cambridge, Mass., Police Dept., shows Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who was arrested while trying to force open the locked front door of his home near Harvard University Thursday, July 16, 2009. Gates, a pre-eminent African-American scholar, is accusing Cambridge police of racism after he was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after police said he "exhibited loud and tumultuous behavior." He was released later that day on his own recognizance and arraignment was scheduled for Aug. 26. (AP Photo/Cambridge Police Dept.)

Bloggers like Oliver Willis is following the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, as are other bloggers like The Daily Voice,The Savvy Sista, The Greenwich Diva, Mo' Kelly Report, and Blog-AroundHarlem.com.

There is more, the Huffington Post reports, police responding to a call about "two black males" breaking into a home near Harvard University ended up arresting the man who lives there – Henry Louis Gates Jr., the nation's pre-eminent black scholar.

Gates had forced his way through the front door because it was jammed, his lawyer said. Colleagues call the arrest last Thursday afternoon a clear case of racial profiling.

Cambridge police say they responded to the well-maintained two-story home after a woman reported seeing "two black males with backpacks on the porch," with one "wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry."

By the time police arrived, Gates was already inside. Police say he refused to come outside to speak with an officer, who told him he was investigating a report of a break-in.

"Why, because I'm a black man in America?" Gates said, according to a police report written by Sgt. James Crowley. The Cambridge police refused to comment on the arrest Monday.

Gates – the director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research – initially refused to show the officer his identification, but then gave him a Harvard University ID card, according to police.

"Gates continued to yell at me, accusing me of racial bias and continued to tell me that I had not heard the last of him," the officer wrote.

Gates said he turned over his driver's license and Harvard ID – both with his photos – and repeatedly asked for the name and badge number of the officer, who refused. He said he then followed the officer as he left his house onto his front porch, where he was handcuffed in front of other officers, Gates said in a statement released by his attorney, fellow Harvard scholar Charles Ogletree, on a Web site Gates oversees, TheRoot.com

Check out what grass roots folks have to say on my blogtalkradio program about Henry Louis Gates Jr., the nation's pre-eminent black scholar at: http://tobtr.com/s/590154.

Statement on Behalf of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. -- by Charles Ogletree

This brief statement is being submitted on behalf of my client, friend, and colleague, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. This is a statement concerning the arrest of Professor Gates. On July 16, 2009, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 58, the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor of Harvard University, was headed from Logan airport to his home [in] Cambridge after spending a week in China, where he was filming his new PBS documentary entitled “Faces of America.” Professor Gates was driven to his home by a driver for a local car company. Professor Gates attempted to enter his front door, but the door was damaged. Professor Gates then entered his rear door with his key, turned off his alarm, and again attempted to open the front door. With the help of his driver they were able to force the front door open, and then the driver carried Professor Gates’ luggage into his home.

Professor Gates immediately called the Harvard Real Estate office to report the damage to his door and requested that it be repaired immediately. As he was talking to the Harvard Real Estate office on his portable phone in his house, he observed a uniformed officer on his front porch. When Professor Gates opened the door, the officer immediately asked him to step outside. Professor Gates remained inside his home and asked the officer why he was there. The officer indicated that he was responding to a 911 call about a breaking and entering in progress at this address. Professor Gates informed the officer that he lived there and was a faculty member at Harvard University. The officer then asked Professor Gates whether he could prove that he lived there and taught at Harvard. Professor Gates said that he could, and turned to walk into his kitchen, where he had left his wallet. The officer followed him. Professor Gates handed both his Harvard University identification and his valid Massachusetts driver’s license to the officer. Both include Professor Gates’ photograph, and the license includes his address.

Professor Gates then asked the police officer if he would give him his name and his badge number. He made this request several times. The officer did not produce any identification nor did he respond to Professor Gates’ request for this information. After an additional request by Professor Gates for the officer’s name and badge number, the officer then turned and left the kitchen of Professor Gates’ home without ever acknowledging who he was or if there were charges against Professor Gates. As Professor Gates followed the officer to his own front door, he was astonished to see several police officers gathered on his front porch. Professor Gates asked the officer’s colleagues for his name and badge number. As Professor Gates stepped onto his front porch, the officer who had been inside and who had examined his identification, said to him, “Thank you for accommodating my earlier request,” and then placed Professor Gates under arrest. He was handcuffed on his own front porch.

Professor Gates was taken to the Cambridge Police Station where he remained for approximately 4 hours before being released that evening. Professor Gates’ counsel has been cooperating with the Middlesex District Attorneys Office, and the City of Cambridge, and is hopeful that this matter will be resolved promptly. Professor Gates will not be making any other statements concerning this matter at this time.

Read the police report here.

Check out the blog African American Political Pundit for more information.

AAPP: I'm surprised he was not Tasered While Black

Assault on Black Women - Tasered While Black After her toddler Murdered

The Blog Tasered While Black has been following the Tasering of Black folks in America and Canada for some time. This blog and bloggers like Villager at Electronic Village, and Francis Holland at Electrocuted While Black have been been tracking the tasing of black folks for some time as well.

John McCusker / The Times-Picayune

But the tasering of a black teen-aged mother, after she learned her toddler son and a 6-year-old boy were killed inside an apartment at 945 East Monterey Court in Terrytown early this year goes beyond abuse of auhority and power. This particular post about the Tasering of a black Woman after she discovered her child was murdered is particularly disgusting. Yes a black mother of a 6-year-old boy killed in a triple murder in Terrytown, LA who was subdued with a Taser gun by Jefferson Parish deputies at the murder scene is just another in the continuerd attack on black women in America.

One has to wonder if this would happen in a middle class community and the women was of another color?

Handout Robert Claiborne, Jr,

Get this, as reported by ther newspaper NOLA, back in April 2009, The mother of Four Overstreet grew irate with authorities when she arrived at the Monterey Court apartment where the rampage happened before 4 a.m. Saturday. When she got physical, deputies stunned her to bring the situation under control, Col. John Fortunato said.

There is more:

Meanwhile, the Sheriff's Office released the names of two other people killed in the brazen shooting, a teenage mother and her toddler son. An 11-year-old girl who was critically wounded hasn't yet been identified.

The dead mother was 19-year-old Domonique Sterling, Fortunato said. Her 23-month-old son was named Robert Claiborne Jr.

Sterling is said to have been babysitting Four Overstreet and the girl who survived the attack.

The incident happened around 3:43 a.m. in the 900 block of East Monterey Court, Fortunato said.

Authorities believe two unidentified men entered an apartment in the area and "executed" Sterling and baby Robert, he said. Wielding handguns, the men also shot young Four and the 11-year old girl in the home.

Four died at the hospital from a gunshot wound to the head.

Robert was also shot in the head. Sterling was shot in the back, and the 11-year-old suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the body, Fortunato said.

Fortunato said witnesses told authorities that two men dressed in dark clothing kicked in the door and began firing. The teenager was found lying on the floor in the living room, while the two deceased children were found in a rear bedroom. Authorities also located crack cocaine and marijuana in the apartment.

One of the suspects, said to be in his 20s, wore a red bandana over his face, a black baseball cap and a dark hooded sweatshirt. MORE HERE

It's time to have Congressional Taser Hearings into Taser Torture in America. Sign the petition HERE.

Place a Congressional Taser Hearings Widget on your blog.

African American Political Pundit is a regular contributor to this blog.
He is also publisher of the blog Tasered While Black.