By now, everyone is aware of the arrest of Harvard Professor Louis Henry Gates, which occurred outside of is 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 further assume that he said terrible, ridiculous things. 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.
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UPDATE:
Although I certainly believe that race played a central role in this specific incident, this issue - at large - is one that is much bigger than race. It is about our fundamental rights, and about police abuse of power. It is about the relationship between our nation's police, and our nation's citizens.
For far too long, police officers have been granted virtually unfettered discretion to use the law as their own personal weapon. Instead of protecting our rights and enforcing the laws, many police officers are more interested in forcing us to respect them. Some communities - particularly poor people and people of color - have felt the impact of these transgressions more acutely. But make no mistake: this is a problem, at large. This is a moral problem. This is a legal problem. This is a constitutional problem. It is, therefore, a problem that should concern all Americans.