RealClearPolitics - A Racial Power Equation
I found this column to be a lesson in "why we don't just all get along". We open with an assertion:
Would it be the first time a white man was unjustly hauled to jail by a black officer if the shoe were on the other foot? But, "it's about power and entitlement". Let's think about that for a bit -- do we not REGULARLY have all sort of white "celebrities" of various sorts in the news for everything from disorderly conduct, various driving problems, alchohol, drugs (even the very recreational pot use)?
Consider virtually any rock band? I try to pay as little attention as possible, but Brittany Spears, Mel Gibson, Rush Limbaugh (detained at Miami Airport for having Viagra without a prescription, along with his well known Oxycontin addiction). I'm sure I could go on, but so what? "Powerful whites" don't get arrested?. It seems VERY questionable based on evidence.
So we move forward with the orignial suspect assertion. The REAL PROBLEM is that the POLICEMAN was somehow "pissed off" BECAUSE this "big cheese" was black -- otherwise he would have "turned the other cheek". But wait, I thought we CELEBRATED the "powerful" falling under the normal rule of law like everyone else? Young George Bush got a DWI even though his Dad was hugely wealthy and powerful. The Bush twins got busted for underage drinking WHILE their father was President. Even Teddy Kennedy at least had to file a police report for killing his young secretary. Had any of these folks decided to start screaming at the officers involved, I'd be surprised if they would have gotten much in the way of press or other left-wing sympathy.
That paragraph is pretty rich. What have we here? The "Law and Order Democrats"?? Are we asserting that it is usually CONSERVATIVES that are on the side of "to hell with authority, let's abuse the fuzz"?? Police stopping by to see if your home is being robbed is NOT "intrusive state power" ... it is sort of "minimal expected government service". Would one actually to be in favor of police NOT doing that, one would be in favor of anarchy. What we have here is a naked (and poor) attempt to equate a view that private citizens need to observe basic compliance with government authorities doing their jobs with some sort of "racism". One hopes that the formulation is disingenous, else the author borders on the insane.
And then the big finish. If Lawrence Summers were to have gotten into a similar shouting match, there would have been no arrest. The columnist is secure in there being no way to "prove" such a thing -- non-arrests don't make much in the way of stories. The assumption is however that Larry Summers would have decided to get into a shouting match with the officer. Most all of us have had occasion to deal with police under various and nearly always stressful circumstances. How many of us have gotten into shouting matches with them? I'd hazard to say very few, or none -- the fact is that Larry Summers would be VERY unlikely to do so, since what HE would see is an officer simply trying to do their job and have absolutely no animosity about him doing it.
But Henry Gates is part of the "racial hatred industry" -- to him the white officer was a symbol, not a person. The officer was representative of the "oppressive racist white ruling class" -- and indeed, "didn't know who he was messing with". Were Henry Gates race baiting industry to die, he would no longer be famous -- his need for existence would cease to be. Gates was virtually REQUIRED to take umbrage at a white police officer in his home. To do otherwise would have been impossible.
Likewise for BO -- in his books he complains about the "driving while black" syndrome. All of us have been pulled over at one time or another for what we saw as "no reason". When we are white, it is just "getting pulled over" -- for black Americans it is "racial profiling" plain and simple and there is no amount of logic or statistics that will change their mind.
I found this column to be a lesson in "why we don't just all get along". We open with an assertion:
If race were the only issue, there would be much less hyperventilation about Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s unpleasant run-in with the criminal justice system. After all, it would hardly be the first time a black man had unjustly been hauled to jail by a white police officer. The debate -- really more of a shouting match -- is also about power and entitlement.
Would it be the first time a white man was unjustly hauled to jail by a black officer if the shoe were on the other foot? But, "it's about power and entitlement". Let's think about that for a bit -- do we not REGULARLY have all sort of white "celebrities" of various sorts in the news for everything from disorderly conduct, various driving problems, alchohol, drugs (even the very recreational pot use)?
Consider virtually any rock band? I try to pay as little attention as possible, but Brittany Spears, Mel Gibson, Rush Limbaugh (detained at Miami Airport for having Viagra without a prescription, along with his well known Oxycontin addiction). I'm sure I could go on, but so what? "Powerful whites" don't get arrested?. It seems VERY questionable based on evidence.
I'm talking about President Obama, obviously, but also Citigroup Chairman Richard Parsons, entertainment mogul Oprah Winfrey, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and many others -- a growing number of minorities with the kind of serious power that used to be reserved for whites only. In academia, the list begins with "Skip" Gates.
So we move forward with the orignial suspect assertion. The REAL PROBLEM is that the POLICEMAN was somehow "pissed off" BECAUSE this "big cheese" was black -- otherwise he would have "turned the other cheek". But wait, I thought we CELEBRATED the "powerful" falling under the normal rule of law like everyone else? Young George Bush got a DWI even though his Dad was hugely wealthy and powerful. The Bush twins got busted for underage drinking WHILE their father was President. Even Teddy Kennedy at least had to file a police report for killing his young secretary. Had any of these folks decided to start screaming at the officers involved, I'd be surprised if they would have gotten much in the way of press or other left-wing sympathy.
Apparently, there was something about the power relationship involved -- uppity, jet-setting black professor vs. regular-guy, working-class white cop -- that Crowley couldn't abide. Judging by the overheated commentary that followed, that same something, whatever it might be, also makes conservatives forget that they believe in individual rights and oppose intrusive state power.
That paragraph is pretty rich. What have we here? The "Law and Order Democrats"?? Are we asserting that it is usually CONSERVATIVES that are on the side of "to hell with authority, let's abuse the fuzz"?? Police stopping by to see if your home is being robbed is NOT "intrusive state power" ... it is sort of "minimal expected government service". Would one actually to be in favor of police NOT doing that, one would be in favor of anarchy. What we have here is a naked (and poor) attempt to equate a view that private citizens need to observe basic compliance with government authorities doing their jobs with some sort of "racism". One hopes that the formulation is disingenous, else the author borders on the insane.
And then the big finish. If Lawrence Summers were to have gotten into a similar shouting match, there would have been no arrest. The columnist is secure in there being no way to "prove" such a thing -- non-arrests don't make much in the way of stories. The assumption is however that Larry Summers would have decided to get into a shouting match with the officer. Most all of us have had occasion to deal with police under various and nearly always stressful circumstances. How many of us have gotten into shouting matches with them? I'd hazard to say very few, or none -- the fact is that Larry Summers would be VERY unlikely to do so, since what HE would see is an officer simply trying to do their job and have absolutely no animosity about him doing it.
Yet Gates' fit of pique somehow became cause for arrest. I can't prove that if the Big Cheese in question had been a famous, brilliant Harvard professor who happened to be white -- say, presidential adviser Larry Summers, who's on leave from the university -- the outcome would have been different. I'd put money on it, though. Anybody wanna bet?
But Henry Gates is part of the "racial hatred industry" -- to him the white officer was a symbol, not a person. The officer was representative of the "oppressive racist white ruling class" -- and indeed, "didn't know who he was messing with". Were Henry Gates race baiting industry to die, he would no longer be famous -- his need for existence would cease to be. Gates was virtually REQUIRED to take umbrage at a white police officer in his home. To do otherwise would have been impossible.
Likewise for BO -- in his books he complains about the "driving while black" syndrome. All of us have been pulled over at one time or another for what we saw as "no reason". When we are white, it is just "getting pulled over" -- for black Americans it is "racial profiling" plain and simple and there is no amount of logic or statistics that will change their mind.
