Why The Cambridge Police Are Wrong
By Justashotaway
By now, everyone is aware of the arrest of Harvard Professor Louis Henry Gates, which occurred outside of his Cambridge home last week. Just this afternoon, police officers and their representatives rallied in Boston, to hold a press conference, deny any wrongdoing, show their support for Officer Crowley, and request an apology from President Obama.
Let's begin, with a couple assumptions.(1) Let's assume that when the police showed up at Professor Gates' home, Professor Gates was shocked and offended. Here he is, a Harvard Professor, living in Cambridge Square. He locks himself out of his house, and when he manages to get inside, he turns around only to see a police officer standing there.
(2) Let's be honest. Let's assume that if Professor Gates was white, the police probably would not have been called in the first place. But even if the police did arrive on the scene, to find a white 58 year old with a cane, claiming that he lived there... they probably would have said, "I'm sorry sir. Have a good night."
(3) Let's assume that Professor Gates was pissed. Let's assume that he said terrible, ridiculous thinks. Let's assume that he said, "Fuck you, pig. Get out of my house. I don't have to deal with your racist, power-tripping bullshit. Fuck you and your mama." I sincerely doubt that Professor Gates would ever say any such thing, but let's assume.
At this point, let's stop making assumptions. Let's work with what we know.
After entering the house, encountering Gates, having some sort of dialogue, and verifying that Gates was, indeed, the owner of the residence, Officer Crowley did not attempt to resolve the situation. Instead, he tried to get Gates to come outside of the residence. Why?
Because Officer Crowley was pissed off. Officer Crowley was upset because a black man had pulled the, "Don't you know who I am" card on him. A black man had refused to respect his authority. Often, when a police officer feels that his authority has been disrespected, he starts looking for a legal excuse to escalate the situation, and possibly, to arrest the citizen.
Let's stop bullshitting. This is nothing new. Back in May, I was standing on the street talking to a police officer near Eastern Market in DC. I had a question about something happening in my neighborhood. He did not seem very interested in helping me out: like I was annoying him. When I pointed out to him that I didn't appreciate his attitude, he threatened to arrest me for "disorderly conduct."
That's what rogue police officers do. When you piss them off, when you offend them, when they feel that their authority is not being fully respected, they threaten to arrest you for disorderly conduct.
And that's what happened in Cambridge that night. Officer Crowley was
pissed off. And when Professor Gates walked outside of his house, and
continued making comments that did not evidence the appropriate level of
respect, Officer Crowley simply arrested him. He figured he could just fall
back on the lingo that he's been using for decades "tumultuous behavior". If
you don't REALLY have a reason to arrest someone, you just file a police
report where you indicate that they were engaging in "tumultuous behavior",
and that should cover your ass. Well, that may be police procedure in
Cambridge, and police procedure throughout much of the country. But that
doesn't make it right.
A primer on rights and respect
As an American citizen, you have rights. I have rights. We all have
rights. These rights are inalienable. Among these rights is the freedom of
speech. We, as a nation, have a long history of protecting speech. And we
protect political speech above all else.
Officer Crowley's arrest of Professor Gates on charges of "disorderly
conduct" squarely contravened the First Amendment, which protects our freedom
of speech. We don't even need to turn to federal case law on point. The
Massachusetts Supreme Court has already told us as much: In 1976, that court
held that the First Amendment prevents application of any disorderly conduct
law to language that is expressive conduct, even if that language is offensive
or abusive. The only exception to this is language that falls outside of
First Amendment protection: i.e., fighting words. Nowhere in the police
report does it indicate that Professor Gates' words of such a character that
they would - by their very utterance - "tend to incite an immediate breach of
the peace."
So that's the rights component. This is about our rights.
Now the respect component. Officer Crowley arrested Professor Gates
because he felt like he had not been shown the proper level of respect. He
was wrong. The only respect that is required in this situation is
respect for the Constitution and the rights and liberties of individual
citizens. People should respect police officers who actually do
their jobs, and who are truly committed to protecting and serving. But
police officers cannot claim respect by way of right. Nobody has any legal
duty to respect any police officer, period.
That's where Officer Crowley got confused. Nobody has to respect him. But
he damn well better respect us. Why?
Because that's the law.
