Massachusetts Officer Disappointed by Obama "Stupidly" Comment

The detainment of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. last week made waves and headlines throughout the country, but in the aftermath, a story remains. President Obama, responding to the incident, had this to say: "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, and that’s just a fact."

Gates, who could not enter his front door because it was stuck shut, had to force the rear door of the home open and was then charged with disorderly conduct after he was detained by police responding to a call about the incident. The charges against Gates have been dropped, and he is calling for an apology from Sgt. James Crowley, who arrested him. Crowley, however, has noted that he responded to the call he received appropriately, and that the comment by the president was disappointing.

Said Crowley, "I support the president of the United States 110 percent. I think he was way off base wading into a local issue without knowing all the facts as he himself stated before he made that comment. I guess a friend of mine would support my position too." Crowley went to describe Gates’ behavior during their confrontation, which certainly didn’t appear to be the actions of a rational and intelligent Harvard professor. Said Crowley, "There was a lot of yelling, there was references to my mother, something you wouldn’t expect from anybody that should be grateful that you’re there investigating a report of a crime in progress let alone a Harvard University professor." Gates un-professor-like behavior (stooping to the rather common approach of "referring to Crowley’s mother") and the fact that Crowley is well-liked points to another side of the story that is clearly being ignored by the sensationalist media and the clearly amped-up Gates. It’s just a shame that the president is also making judgments without knowing the facts – a process that is, of course, akin to that which leads people to unfairly judge others based on the color of their skin in the first place.