911 Tape in Henry Louis Gates, Jr. arrest contradicts police report

The woman who called 911 after seeing Dr. Gates "break" into his own home said she saw two men, one of whom looked Hispanic. At no point did she say she saw two Black men with backpacks as indicated in Det. Crowley's police report.

Listen to the tape for yourself.

UPDATE: Lucia Whalen, the Portuguese-American caller who placed the 911 call, denies exchanging any words with the officer about the race of the men who were seen outside the house.

Asked whether she spoke to Crowley when he arrived at Gates' home, she said: "The only words I exchanged were 'I was the 911 caller,' and he said, 'Stay right there.' " The officer's police report indicates a detailed exchange in which she indicated two Black men were seen at the home. The officer later stated Whalen and other spectators seemed alarmed at Gates' behavior outside his home which lead the officer to place him under arrest for disorderly conduct.

Might I suggest, she might have been distressed to see that an emergency call she placed in good faith lead to an older disabled distinguished colleague of hers (she works at Harvard) being arrested at his own home? That is just a suggestion, mind you.

When the President calls you out you know it's that ass!

Obama aired out the Cambridge Police Department last night at the end of his healthcare speech:

"I think it's fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry; 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 ... that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately."
The incident, Obama said, shows "how race remains a factor in this society."

I think it's safe to say there will be some openings at the police department soon.

GHWB: Going Home While Black

America's preeminent Black scholar, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., was arrested last night. His crime was one count of GHWB: going home while Black. Gates, the director of Harvard University's W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research had just returned from a trip to China when he and his driver discovered his front door was wedged shut. Gates let himself in the back door, disarmed his alarm, then he and his driver pushed on the front door from the outside until it opened. The driver left and Gates called Harvard's property management company. The police arrived while he was on the phone and proceeded to question him.

According to Gates, he informed the officers that he lived at the address and produced both a driver's license and a Harvard photo ID, but officers continued to question him. Gates became upset at the repeated questioning after he had proven his residence and requested the officer's name and badge number. When the officer repeatedly refused, he followed him onto the porch where he was arrested and handcuffed in front of other officers.

The police report tells another story. According to officers, Gates was arested on a disorderly conduct charge after exhibiting "loud and tumultuous behavior." Police Sgt. James Crowley wrote in his police report Gates said, "Why, because I'm a black man in America?" and kept yelling the responding officers were racially biased.

Gates' attorney, Harvard scholar Charles Ogletree simply said, "I think the incident speaks for itself."

Text: Wild Safari

Source: CNN

UPDATE: The Middlesex County D.A. "has agreed to enter a nolle prosequi in this matter;" they will not pursue charges.