Y’know, I’ve been thinking about this Cambridge nonsense ‘n I’ve come to the conclusion that the Liberal among us are much more excised than the rest of us....
Now, it’s my personal belief that Professor Gates should’a said to the responding officers, “Thank you very much for coming but I live here and there’s no problem.” Of course, that is not an acceptable scenario for an activist proponent of (black) civil rights. Nosirreebob, what Professor Gates evidently saw was an opportunity to put a white policeman in his place, to send this white policeman to the back of the bus, so to speak....to educate him. Because as everybody knows, only whites are racist (or can be)....”S##t-fire” as my old daddy use’ta say, “Everybody knows that!”
Problem is, like so many other ‘white’ people in this country, I’m beginning to get really tired of being told that I’m a racist simply because I was born white. That said, I’m aware that there are racist white people (DUH!) but there are also racist people no matter what color skin they wear..(another duh)...and to deny that fact is akin to rewriting history....or to make an assumption that only one side can be right....as in the Prez’s statement that, “he didn’t have the facts of the case but the Cambridge police acted stupidly.”....Uh, I guess calling the Prez stupid for making a (bi-partisan adjective here) remark would be making an unfair assumption. Ah well, being white, I suppose, only allows me to see one side of the issue....
3 comments:
David, while no one except the participants knows *exactly* what precipitated Gates' claim of racism, I'm not particularly inclined to believe the interaction would have gone differently had Gates been white. I believe Gates inflamed the racial aspect here. As for Obama's comments, those were so reckless they shocked me -- this from a lawyer?? At least he didn't prevaricate...
I think it's really interesting that the only people who have a real sense of how our liberty is compromised daily are the far, far right -- certainly no one on the left speaks about it (or no one I know about). I think Gates knew what was happening was wrong, but couldn't frame it in a context beyond or outside of race. That a man could demonstrate his rightful presence in his home, and still end up in jail because the police didn't like his tone, is stomach-turning. While, as a practical matter, keeping your mouth shut is a good way to stay out of jail, it's a crappy way to preserve our freedom, and as we continue to buckle, more of it is eroded. We are the beneficiaries of the willingness of long-dead patriots to stand up to exactly this sort of thing.
While I think the guy is a kook, look at some of the videos on checkpointusa.org. It is an amazing thing to see law enforcement get backed down by someone who knows their rights. If we were all as diligent, we would live in a safer, more free country.
There is a reason I always sit next to you at dinner Mr. Smith, I am on an accelerated path to becoming a grumpy old white guy and enjoy the company... it is unfortunate that being an a-hole isn't against the law, so the arrest would have been better justified.
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