Commentary on my classmate's blog
15 years ago
Monday, July 27, 2009
President in cheif, or sitcom host?
It amazes me the time that our President spends on the leisurely things that happen in the U.S on everyday matters. As I'm reading about the "racist" Massachusetts cop that arrested a black Harvard professor earlier this week. As I read the article with the target audience of 32-40 average intelligence white angry male that believes there are better things to be focusing if you’re the President, I could only ask myself one question. Has it become fair game to pull out the race card for any matter now? I think the officer did exactly what he should have done in this matter. The police get a call of a possible break in, they respond; find a black male trying to push open a door and ask him to identify himself. The man refuses to I.D himself in anyway, and them starts giving the police a difficult time? WTF! I would have thought a professor of Harvard to be a smarter man, but I guess they don't teach how to speak to authorities with loaded guns in Harvard anymore... Or how the highest office in America to STFO a local matter, after 9/11 there are two things that I know you never mess with, one being the fire department, and the other officers of the law. So for the president of the United States to make a comment about an entire cities law enforcement to have "acted stupidly" throws himself under the bus on this one. I would have hoped that our President would have more important things to be concerned with, maybe the Middle East? Korea? Economy? Sad days loom for the U.S if our president can't focus on the bigger picture.
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A popular topic as of late has been the involvement of President Obama in an arrest of prominent Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates by a Sgt. James Crowley. According to reports, Crowley was following up a break-in possibility at Gates' house, but was met with resistant behavior from Gates when the professor refused to show his ID. Opinionated blogs seem to have split down the middle, one side accusing the sergeant of unfair and racist acts, the other standing behind him and affirming his actions as the right thing to do. One such classmate's blog stands firmly with the former, having posted a commentary entitled "President in chief, or sitcom host?"
ReplyDeleteThis post has further taken into account Obama's response to the arrest. The author verbally shakes their head at the president for focusing all his power on such a small, local issue, saying that "sad days loom ahead for the U.S. if [he] can't focus on the bigger picture." And this is true. Whether or not Gates is an acquaintance of Obama's, our president should be focused on more national issues, rather than a mere arrest. Considering the amount of news coverage this one situation has generated, it seems as though everything has been blown massively out of proportion.
Another question the author of the commentary raises is whether it's "fair game to pull out the race card for any matter now." And this is yet another provoking topic. Racial discrimination has gone back for centuries, and America has done its best to overcome the problem. But apparently we still live in a time where people will indeed pull out the race card, even if it doesn't apply. When Crowley told Gates he was looking into a break-in, Gates' response was "Why, because I'm a black man in America?" It's really quite sad that he managed to turn the whole scenario into a problem of discrimination, when he could have simply cooperated and given the police is ID, rather than a "difficult time."
Ultimately, I agree with the opinion the author of this blog post offered. President Obama should focus on the things he's actually supposed to be involved in, and Gates should cooperate with law officials in the future instead of accusing them of racism.
I'd like to start by saying that I respect your opinions however, I feel that you may not have all the facts. If your read the Police Report identifaction had been provided however, Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct in his own home. Neither of us were there so we are making our judgments based on what story we are reading. It is important that we read both sides and not just Officer Crowley's or Professor Gates's side. My personal take is that Mr. Gates's overreacted however, I feel that Officer Crowley also felt upset and arrested Mr. Gates's unfairly. I don't really know that race was the issue. If there would have a been a OLDER white man trying to force open the door would the neighbor have called the police? If an older white man had provided his ID and said, "Now get the hell out of my house!" Would they have arrested him? I respect members of law enforcement and appreciate what they do for the community, but if I have proven I am the owner of my house and there is no problem then they need to leave. It doesn't matter what I say or what I call them; It's my house, and I can say what I please in my house.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the President getting involved, this might seem like a small insignificant issue to you, but to me it is a very important issue. Racism exists in America and is something that needs to be addressed. How can making Iraq a democracy be more important than dealing with issues of Racism in our own country? I do agree that it seems President Obama jumped the gun without seeing both sides of the story and that is disappointing, but he is human and makes mistakes. How many mistakes have our past presidents made? The important thing is that he attempted to fix his mistake by taking time out of his day to address the issue personally and hopefully help America learn to deal with these issues the same way. Wouldn't it be great if all issues of racism or perceived racism could be figured out and resolved over a beer?