Quote:
Originally Posted by DrPhil
This was my initial response to the story. Gates was understandably angry and probably felt a "get the hell outta my house...do you know who the hell I am" attitude would fly with the officers.
Maybe it would have if he were white as long as he, as a white man, didn't put his hands on the officers. Who knows. I've seen white males with professional clout be extremely obnoxious with police officers, only for the officers to give them a pass because they are "somebody" in the community. It doesn't always happen but people are looking at patterns of behavior and not what happens 100% of the time.
As for the neighbor not recognizing him, that happens. I don't know the climate of that neighborhood and who the neighbor is. It is often the case that an unrecognizable Black male neighbor in a predominantly white neighborhood is more likely to be looked at suspiciously than an unrecognizable white male neighbor based on people's images of criminality. Again, this is based on patterns of behavior and not what happens 100% of the time.
As for racism, this is yet another incident that is way too introductory textbook for me to automatically call it racism. Either way, the actions of the neighbor and the actions of the officers can't necessarily be lumped together.
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I have definitely heard of officers giving white males under similar circumstances a "pass" and even bending over backwards to apologize. And in many instances those white men would often say things like, "I'll have your job for this." Sure enough, sometimes they do "have their job." And no one makes a fuss or looks at the situation sideways.
As for the climate of the neighborhood, I totally understand what you mean. Interestingly enough my aunt and uncle live in a very wealthy neighborhood in Florida. Their neighbors have called the cops on several occasions after seeing them in the yard or driving in the neighborhood. When they first moved in, some white neighbors stopped by to welcome them. When my aunt opened the door, they thought she was the maid and asked if the "lady of the house" was home. The list goes on. I suspect that really is the type neighborhood that we are dealing with here.