On Gates, Obama, and Race
The story of the arrest of Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has been around all week. Yesterday Obama weighed in:
“Now, I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry. Number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That’s just a fact.
And it’s those pesky facts that are really at issue here, isn’t it? The Cambridge police didn’t arrest Gates for breaking into his own home — he was arrested for disorderly conduct — how he responded to the police making sure he WASN’T breaking into the house.
Of course, his account and that of the police officers involved is different, and therein lies the problem. We don’t know how it unfolded. We weren’t there.
And as for the long history of blacks and Hispanics being stopped disproportionately by the police — it goes hand-in-hand with blacks and Hispanics committing a disproportionate amount of crime. For those who think racial profiling is the most horrible thing since Auschwitz, how about applying a little comparative logic to the notion?
Racial profiling is a valid and useful tool for law enforcement, as long as it is used and not abused. Being against racial profiling is like vilifying a parent for sending their child to a particular school because it has a higher rate of students who are successful after graduation. Or, more aptly, crying foul because someone rules out purchasing a new home in a particular neighborhood because it has a high crime rate, trashy streets and a hooker on every corner.
Discrimination is not, by definition, a negative word. It’s just been hijacked for that use by racemongers who have to rely on name-calling to shut up those who speak the truth.
All that said, let’s end on a humorous note, shall we?
Now that’s funny right there. I don’t care who ya are.
There is some truth to what you have stated, and people, of all races, want their communities protected from criminals, but Republicans have alienated, on many issues, Blacks, Hispanics, moderates, Independents, and young adults. The Republicans need to find a way to get more of these votes.
Blacks and Hispanics will eventually be 40% of the population. 95% of Blacks, 70% of Hispanics, and 67% of young adults voted Democrat last election.
The majority of moderates and Independents also voted Democrat.
The only age group the Republicans won was the over 65 year old age group, and the Republicans lost ground in 37 states, and gained ground in only 13 states, and those states were mostly sparsly populated Applachian and south central states.
A typical Republican these days is old, rural, and southern. Not a good demographic for a multi-ethnic, mostly metropolitan population in America.