It's Time to Discard the Race Card
In 2009 can we please discard the “race-card”?
What is the “race-card”? Let’s start with what it IS NOT… The “Race-Card” label does not attach to ANY legitimate claims of discrimination, prejudice, or racism. One of the main reasons for discarding it is not only because the “race-card” involves false claims, but it’s time to pull “this” card from “the deck” for good because it’s continued use has desensitized people to the very labels of “racist” or “bigot”, it’s gotten to the point that people might call you “racist” just for disagreeing with the ideology of our President. It’s ridiculous and only hurts those with honest grievances of racial bigotry & discrimination.
The “Race-Card” is:
(1) A race-neutral;
(2) left-wing tactic that;
(3) Injects the issue of race and/or racism;
(4) Into a discussion; debate; confrontation; fight; issue; argument; or excuse;
(5) Under false claims or ignorant interpretation;
(6) For the purpose of: (a) Confusing the situation; and/or (b) Inciting unnecessary anger or violence; and/or (c) Defaming the party in opposition; and/or (d) Gaining national and/or local media attention; and/or (e) Insulting the other party (or parties); and/or (f) Political advantage; and/or (g) Reinforcing one’s own false belief (or a belief shared with others) that a certain individual or group of individuals are prejudice & discriminate specifically against members of the card-puller’s race.
Unless you’re someone who’s obsessed with race (or maybe a racist yourself) or filling out some government form, the issue of race doesn’t surface in everyday life.
Reasonable people in America do not even acknowledge or make an issue of “race” unless someone intentionally makes an issue of it. When was the last time you watched television and consciously acknowledged every time you saw an Asian person, a White person, a Black person, or a Hispanic person? When you meet a new person, do you mentally note their race or their name as you shake their hand? Unless you have some infatuation with race… you probably don’t even acknowledge it as having any relevance whatsoever to 99.9% of all situations. We’re Americans, let’s please drop the hyphens!
Where am I going with this? I’m heading towards the Sergeant Crowley – Professor Gates situation. I’ve heard the news stories, I’ve read other accounts, I’ve listened to the reaction from the President of the United States, and I’ve listened to the audio of the 911 phone call and the police radio transmission.
One point that illustrates exactly why the “race-card” is ridiculous and should be shut down for good is the fact that even the woman who called the police, prior to Professor Gates being confronted by Sergeant Crowley, did not know the race of the men that she called to report in the first place, nor did she seem to find it relevant in the slightest bit after being asked by the 911 operator. So this notion that “race” has anything to do with police protocol is absolutely asinine.
Do you know why the police were called? A CONCERNED neighbor (elderly woman) saw two men (did not know what race they were) breaking in and then witnessed them enter into the house. She then notified another woman (neighbor) who made the call to the police.
Let me ask you a question… If you don’t know your neighbor and you see two men breaking into their house across the street, do you (A) call the police (B) go over and ask the 2 men, who could potentially be armed criminals for all you know, “Excuse me, but what are you doing?”, or (C) just ignore it because, “Hey… it’s none of my business”?
The reasonable person choice would be (A) Call the Police. I wouldn’t choose (B) because that’s just ignorant and (C) is absolutely ridiculous.
Can you imagine, if you were in Professor Gates’ situation and you were locked out of your house and had to break in, you finally get inside and the next thing to happen is a police officer is at your door, because a neighbor was worried it might be a burglary. Consider what your state of mind might be for a second… Would you (A) get angry and become disorderly because it’s obvious that he’s only harassing you because you’re (white, black, purple, etc); (B) Run out the back door as quickly as possible to get away; or (C) Feel embarrassed, explain the situation, and cooperate with the law enforcement officer and maybe even thank your neighbor for keeping an eye out for your place?
Apparently, this wasn’t the professor’s first time to intentionally go out of his way to insult the police department, according to the New York Times:
“For most of his life, Professor Gates had gone out of his way to avoid confrontation with the police, even introducing himself at the station when he moved to Lexington, Mass., in the 1990s, in hopes that he, a black man driving a Mercedes, would not be pulled over constantly.”
Really??? A fully grown, highly intelligent, educated man, who also happens to be a distinguished Professor at one of the most prestigious schools in the world, made it a point to go into the police station so that he could introduce himself… BECAUSE he wanted to let them know that he actually owned his Mercedes, in hopes that he wouldn’t be pulled over all of the time for no other reason than he is a black American?
This is considered reasonable in a country where a black man has been elected President? Who does this with a straight face? We’re not a racist country.
The New York Times called this a “Clash of two worlds in the same city”. And… just so you know this wasn’t even an opinion piece they were running, allegedly… this is to be considered “objective journalism”.
The indisputable fact is that This WAS NOT a case of racial profiling.
1. No one even knew what race Professor Gates was until Sergeant Crowley met him at the house
2. If Professor Gates happened to be white… guess what? He would have still been confronted by Sergeant Crowley.
3. If a white Professor Gates started acting disorderly… guess what? Sergeant Crowley would have arrested him just the same.
This is clearly a case of “Elitism”, not ignorance, that prompted the Professor to play the “race-card”. My guess is that when Sergeant Crowley didn’t “know” who this distinguished professor at Harvard was, Professor Gates became enraged. He let his “elitism” get the best of him, surely a distinguished professor would understand that (1) Police Officers don’t have every name and every face of every distinguished professor in the local area memorized; (2) a University Identification card isn’t exactly the “most reliable” form of I.D. just saying….; (3) Seeing as how there had been 23 break ins in this same neighborhood this year alone… the officer had no reason to consider this situation anything less than a crime in progress; (4) Situations change quickly and YOU NEVER KNOW who a person really is or WHAT they might try and do, there are very few jobs as dangerous as that of a law enforcement officer’s; and (5) that the police officer had a duty to verify all the facts… period.
Then to top all of this off… the President of the United States had to get involved. This would be like the State Governor calling the manager of the local McDonald’s in your city to tell him that he acted stupidly for firing an employee who cursed out a customer that was looking at him “wrongly”. Yeah… The President of the United States of America, on National Television, chastised the entire Cambridge Police Department, and it gets worse… here are the words that The President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, in his official statement regarding a story that without his prestigious remarks would have probably never even made the headlines:
“The Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home”.
Really? This incident called for The President of the United States of America to make a statement? And, if we’re supposed to believe it does… THIS is what he utters? THEN, he comes back out later with what everyone reasonably expected to be an apology to the Cambridge Police Department and instead we heard
him say:
“I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted as well. My sense is you’ve got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved and the way they would have liked it to be resolved.”
To date… there has still been no apology made by the President to Sergeant Crowley or the Police Department.
If you are a victim of racism, discrimination, or bigotry, then you have every right to be upset, scream racist, sue for discrimination, and/or file grievances & take all actions that you can, everywhere possible. BUT the “Race-Card” is officially discarded from the deck. People who make false accusations & those who endorse and encourage such behavior need to be exposed and have their own reputations & credibility stripped from their person to the same extent that they intended to destroy the reputation of the victim having the “race-card” played on them in the first place. It should be a uniform understanding in all formats of media that these types of false accusations will not be tolerated & those who enjoy making such false claims should play that card at the risk of their own reputation.
I’m Jason Bradley, Thank you for reading.
© 2009 ExcellenceInAmerica.com – All Rights Reserved.
References:
‘Special Report’ Panel on Obama’s Handling of Harvard Professor’s Arrest from Fox News
Statement by the President July 24th, 2009
Trackbacks:
“Racial Harmony Through Beer Kicks Off Thursday” By Doug Powers
“Michelle vs. Michelle” Michelle Malkin.com
“Sticker Wars. The Myth of Hope & Change” Michelle Malkin
“The Don’t Taze Me Brok Moment of Henry Loius Gates” Michelle Malkin
“The Anti-Police Bigotry of the Left” Michelle Malkin
“Must See: Cambridge Cop Says She Wont Vote for Obama Again after Gatesgate” HotAir.com
Sorry, but you cannot discard the race card that quickly and easily — because it was played by Sgt. Crowley.
Ms. Whalen (the caller) never said the two guys were black. In fact, she said the smaller one MIGHT have been Hispanic. And, since the release of the tapes, Ms. Whaen has said that she NEVER spoke with Sgt Crowley upon his arrival at the scene. And Dispatch never said the potential suspects were two black guys.
So why did Crowley say this in his offficial report?:
"As I reached the door, a female voice called out to me. I turned and looked in the direction of the voice and observed a white female, later identified as Lucia Whalen. Whalen, who was standing n the sidewalk in front of the residence, held a wireless telephone in her hand and told me that it was she who called. She went on to tell me that she observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the porch at 17 Ware Street. "
No, she didn't, Sgt. Crowley. So why the lie?
Still doesn't explain why the President of the United States of America, Leader of the Free World, The Most Merciful Barack Obama, felt the need to throw his two cents in.
Anyway, doesn't matter who played the card… it is time to get rid of it.
Seems to me that Mr Gates played the race card immediately. You guys need to get your facts straight. He is the one who made the comment about being a "Black man in America". But then this is a built in response form every person of color in the country.
In my 'non-professional' opinion… sounds like Gates has some issues that need worked out. The guy went into the police station when he first moved into the town, with a staright face, to let them know that his Mercedes was owned legitimately by him, so he wouldn't constantly be pulled over… can you spell "schizophrenia"…?
Can you spell "DWB"? Driving While Black? College town police depts. are often infamous for abusing their college sub- community.
Should a President comment on a local matter? Normally, I'd so no, but then again, I'm not a black man who might just be sick and tired of this same old crap happening repeatedly, all across America. Maybe Obama saw this as an opportunity to make this a national conversation, for a change.
And somehow, all it does is get you guys to say Gates and Obama need to "get rid of the race card". How about addressing, just for a millisecond, the fact that Crowley may not have verbalized anything about race, but he clearly had race on his mind when he climbed those front steps to Gates' porch. NOBODY had told Crowley that he shoould keep an eye out for two black guys — but that's what Crowley was looking for. And he found one. And, when Crowley's semi-benign racism pissed off that black guy, Crowley showed he was a Big (White) Guy With A Badge and arrested Gates.
Giving the president too much credit. He acted like a high school kid who just had to get something off his chest. Highly doubt this had anything to do with making this a national conversation. Our president has a chip on his shoulder and it has a lot to do with race.
And guess what? America has a lot of racial issues to deal with. Ignoring them doesn't cut it.
Interesting post at Huffington Post, Diogenese would probably enjoy:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/28/powell-o...
You're right, Jason. I think it's a pretty good article. Just for the record, I don't think Gates handled himself well. He could have averted all of it by shutting up. Discretion is, sometimes, the better part of valor. But he wasn't obliged to, legally. What he did was not a crime.