s skippy the bush kangaroo: another sign of the apocalypse - modo is making sense

skippy the bush kangaroo



Sunday, July 26, 2009

another sign of the apocalypse - modo is making sense

we can't believe we're about to write these words, but...we agree w/maureen dowd:

being obnoxious isn’t a crime.

as we reflect on the arc of civil rights dramas from jim crow to jim crowley, my friend john timoney, the police chief of miami, observes: “there’s a fine line between disorderly conduct and freedom of speech. it can get tough out there, but i tell my officers, ‘don’t make matters worse by throwing handcuffs on someone. bite your tongue and just leave.’ ”

as the daughter of a police detective, i always prefer to side with the police. but this time, i’m struggling.

no matter how odd or confrontational henry louis gates jr. was that afternoon, he should not have been arrested once sergeant crowley ascertained that the harvard professor was in his own home.
of course, we ourselves are not a daughter of a detective, but other than that, we are 1000% w/modo on this one.

it's one thing for the police to arrest someone that appears to be a threat, or is interferring w/police procedure. that makes sense.

but the police should not be allowed to arrest someone simply for disrespecting the badge. the badge does not give them the last word. it gives them the power to keep peace and protect the citizenry, not to win arguments and score macho points.

however many different versions you read about the incident, all agree that the officer was aware that prof. gates owned the house he was in, and was a member of the harvard faculty, not some indigent burglar.

no matter how offensive the professor's behavior appeared (and that in itself is up for question), he should not have been arrested in his own home for being indignant w/a civil servant, albeit one w/a badge and gun.

as modo says, being obnoxious is not a crime. if it were, we'd be in rikers right now.

(tip o'the kangaroo tail to balloon juice for the link!)

addendum: from the comments section on balloon juice, comrade jake puts it much more succinctly than we:

on friday npr had a segment where they interviewed two police chiefs. both clearly implied that the officer should have taken his lumps and walked away after establishing there was no break-in. good cops don’t let personal insults turn a lousy situation into an out-of-control spectacle.
double addendum: from the washpost:

"my suspicion is that this was not about race, this was about power," said richard weinblatt, director of the institute for public safety at central ohio technical college. "in the old days, we used to call this 'contempt of cop.' this person was charged with 'contempt of cop' because they kept pushing and pushing.
posted by skippy at 9:36 PM |

10 Comments:

I know I kid around here almost all the time...I understand that it must make me appear to be a bigger buffoon than I actually am...
(As If)...heh
BUT,...this is an issue that has been getting worse since I was a teen-age boy...
I have had cops bounce my head off the hood of their car, "accidentally" bash my head on the door frame ,bonk me with flashlights, and on several occasions pull guns on me....
And with no more provocation than me running my fucking mouth...
Don't misunderstand, I mean ALL I DID was ask questions, and insist on answers...
COPS don't like that and with rare exceptions won't put up with it..
THEY have guns, not us. They have badges not us...
It is very much a"Us against Them" mentality in police departments across the country and as such an officer cannot be expected to react properly in any case...
Because his/her "Proper" conduct is different from what the rest of us consider "proper"...
It is regrettable but it is the truth...
commented by Blogger Essaress ; Prior of the F.C.F.J., (C), 10:50 AM PDT  
we can't believe we're about to write these words, but...we agree w/maureen dowd

Blind squirrel.
commented by Anonymous Comrade PhysioProf, 10:54 AM PDT  
no, i'm a kangaroo!
commented by Blogger skippy, 11:34 AM PDT  
If being obnoxious was a crime, MoDo would have been taken away during the Clinton years...
commented by Blogger Jim Yeager, 12:27 PM PDT  
Statistically, she has to get one right once in a while.
commented by Blogger Batocchio, 12:56 PM PDT  
"being obnoxious isn’t a crime."

No, it just gives the clown an excuse to beat yer noggin flat and toss yer smart ass in jail...

"my suspicion is that this was not about race, this was about power,"

Exactly damn right...and it just underlines my point...
Oh, race was involved to be sure..it was the suspicious neighbor's racism...It was the police response to the neighbor's "information" reporting a break-in...
And That combined in the cop's mind to the point that when he was confronted by the Professor being understandably pissed-off...well the cop didn't have to take that shit...so he just used his power to prove his "correctness" to the angry black man...
Oh yes race was in this from the beginning...it just didn't go overtly racial..it was all on the DL...
EXCEPT for the man being carted off to jail....
For the crime of talking back.
commented by Blogger Essaress ; Prior of the F.C.F.J., (C), 1:31 PM PDT  
Add me to that list that public servant is not public thug. I came very close to the beaten to a pulp and "Resisting arrest" for not hanging up on my insurance agents face when a policeman walked over to ask my side of the story in a minor accident. If I had been Black then racism would have been my fist thought but he did not even have that excuse.
commented by Blogger Freedem, 7:39 PM PDT  
"here’s a fine line between disorderly conduct and freedom of speech"

No, there is a HUGE line, because speech is with VERY RARE exceptions NEVER "disorderly conduct," and the courts have so ruled very clearly, in Massachusetts no less.

Worth reading.
commented by Blogger Left I on the News, 5:02 PM PDT  
It's what I think also Left I....
commented by Blogger Essaress ; Prior of the F.C.F.J., (C), 6:32 PM PDT  
The problem has its root at the Authoritarianism that has been staining our national psyche for a few decades now. It's the same attitude that was so prominantly on display in Washington during the Bush Administration, it's the same attitude that makes corporate management think that not only should they recieve large bonuses for the work of their underlings, but that they deserve that money, all because these people are "in charge" and so therefore more right than those not in charge.
Then the attitudes filter down.
commented by Blogger daveawayfromhome, 9:09 PM PDT  

Add a comment