Decius wrote:
There seems to be two opinion camps with regard to this Gates affair.

1. Racial: Gates was arrested because he was black - a white person in similar circumstances would not have been arrested. This speaks to the racism in this country.

2. Authoritarian: Gates was not arrested because he was black - he was arrested because he talked back to the police, as well he should be. People who don't respect the authority of the police deserve whats coming to them.

My perspective falls into a third column:

3. Gates was not arrested because he was black - he was arrested because he talked back to the police. The police ought to understand that someone whose house has been broken into is going to be in an agitated state, particularly if they are confronted with an officer of the law who at least initially thinks they might be the criminals who did the break-in.

I agree with Obama's observation that:

The Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home.

This was petty muscle flexing on the part of the officers. This is not a racial issue. This sort of unnecessary exercise of power by government officials is an everyday problem that occurs in all kinds of different contexts.

I don't understand why none of the public commentary on this issue that I've seen takes this position. Its interesting to see the President speak out on something like this, but inevitably the policy responses will be targeted at solving the wrong problem.

Unfortunately, this looks like it is incorrect. Based on the Globe report Gate's lawyer is entirely correct. Once the officers were provided identification the issue for their appearance ended, they should have simply said, "sorry, we had a call, and with the previous break ins in the area wanted to make sure nothing was going on," and moved on.

Would Gates have been arrested if he were white? I doubt it. Without video, we won't know exactly what happened at that door, but it is unclear why he was, according to the report why he was asked to step outside at all much less repeatedly. Something in this stinks. He;s in his own residence as shown by ID, but he's still being asked to step out? That doesn't make sense.

I don't think it's overt racism, I think it's the sort of ingrained thing that isn't thought about but happens everyday.

RE: BBC NEWS | Americas | Black scholar arrest angers Obama