From Reuters:
BOSTON (Reuters) – Disorderly conduct charges filed against one of the nation’s pre-eminent African-American scholars have been dropped, local media reported on Tuesday.
Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested on Thursday after what police described as “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior,” including accusing police of racism.
Boston’s WHDH-TV said all charges would be dropped, quoting unidentified sources.
Is the entire record of this dropped, or is his name still basically in "the system." How does this work?
Man, Rasheed Wallace must REALLY be missing the Pistons right about now….
"…nation’s pre-eminent African-American scholars …"Isn’t skip Gates one of the nations pre-eminent scholars who happens to be African American?
I dunno, Monie. maybe if his terrain were, say, economics. but, he’s bringing the African-diaspora to a tv/book/dvd near you.
rikyrah, I see your point but what if he was White? How would they have described him?
nation’s pre-eminent African-American scholars …"Isn’t skip Gates one of the nations pre-eminent scholars who happens to be African American?Monie—————————————————————————————————————————No. He’s known for being a black Harvard professor and not for his work in literary criticism at Harvard. His scholarship, whatever its merits, is hardly known by the majority of people who’ve heard of him. Though he is very good at milking his profile, in the academic establishment and mainstream media, as a polite alternative to the more media hungry black pseudo-radicals.
There are more black Harvard professors in jail than in college. lol.I wonder how he will spin his being "institutionalized" into gold? Did he have enough time in 72 hrs to convert to The Nation of Islam?Has he signed a deal with Dr. Dre?Will Oprah build him a home away from Cambridge police?I know. Solidad or worse Tavis Smiley will do a two hour show about the incident to kick off the re-release of a book he wrote and nobody bought.
From Prometheus 6:You know what else is so shocking about the way he was treated? Gates is 56% white. Genetically speaking…Like I said:1. show me the papers when we got rid of the ‘ONE DROP’ rule2. when White folks claim bi-racial Pookie that just robbed the corner store and shot two people, then I’ll buy all this ‘ multi-racial’, ‘bi-racial’ mess.
This was bad publicity for the police and local and state government. No one will ever know how much legitimacy the cop had because the actions were a bit exhibitionist behaviior on both of their parts. (i.e. for him, threatening the police of your stature, and for the police, clearly make an example of him in challenging to suppress Gate’s ego to put him in his place). They both are complicit in so much in being equal protagonists and equal antagonists in various parts of this scenario.But what I really sense is this incident is really TOO BLACK and was getting to be TOO BLACK for Gates. He does not methodize in drama-inducing events and has carefully designed his life to fit a structure of being a Black advocate that does not have to get himself dirty and deal with the daily reality of what most of us deal with. (I waited on him before at Tryst years ago and he completely did not give me eye contact and I think that is because I did not acknowledge his celebrity by announcing recognition of whom he was in that I was waiting on him. So I think that is why he did not acknowledge my worth of existence to be a fawning acolyte when I clearly was in awe in of him watching him dismiss me as invisible; probably also because it was in DC and not near Harvard to connote that by proximity I was not a Harvard student that then could warrant the least acknowledgement of rote connectedness in eye contact via solidarity. In DC he didn’t have to caretake me or any other person because our social capital, at least in that coffee shop, did not seem to matter. But it did because the rest of the staff, White and Black watched after I told them who sat in my section. Everyone watched from his arrival until he left to realize that what we saw on tv did not exist when the camera stopped rolling and that he was not that enthused by regular people unless they were the subject of his immediate research and with a camera rolling.)So from just watching him in action dealing with me…a pleblian not good enough to be a precious Ivy Elite that day, I saw something in how he treats people. And I know what it is like to be an intense thinker always with a million ideas of agency on your mind because I am that way. Still, I see people. I learned a bit about his character through his actions in how he treated me and it was symptomatic of what I consider the behaviors and characteristics of a class in his generation. They can be aloof and preoccupied with self-importance thinking they are saving the world but are being more stratifying with their behaviors to not consider others "good enough" for their kind to be on the same page of wanting to save the world too along with them. I’ve never talked about this except with one friend who admitted his father is an elitist and hangs with these very people and he too has acknowledged his father exhibiting the same candor that offends and embarrasses him. I never talked about it with anyone else because it hurt so much, it’s embarrassing, and I never wanted to paint Dr. Gates with my bias the way I honesty saw him that day. Others at the coffee shop that day watched him and too were quite amazed because none of us acknowledged his celebrity and watched his candor when the cameras are off and he does not have to be on-stage as the pre-eminent and gracious Doctor. I wanted to allow his good intentions to win favor over my actual experience in evidence of interacting with him and his espresso coffee guest, a equally as aloof Boomer Black female.From experience in knowing how I try to masterplan a method of operation for anticipating probable incidents in life, I can understand with Skip Gates that he could have masterminded that he would not be a victim in this type of incident and never really had contingency plan to deal with his embarrassment, uncertainty, disheveled surprise, oncoming anxiety, all the questions and need to have answers when he usely did/does, feeling powerless, feeling duped and tricked by the power establishment to really not have him completely insulated and safeguarded from having to face a Negro’s reality, realizing he was maybe being a prima donna when he could have just remained chill with someone wearing a gun and an asp, realizing his neighbors and others see him as Black at times, realizing some Whites don’t give a fuck about his preeminent ass or that he even is on their radar of acknowledgement, having to EXPLAIN what it feels like to be considered a Nigga to his neighbors and colleagues instead of the Exceptional Negro who has so far been "special", to explain to students that you have no real grit and grime fight in you because you never had to before when most things just fell into place for you because you were "chosen" and they are looking for you to want to fight as a regular Black man and not just because you are "special" because they are not and they know it, etc.
Boo Boo kitty, did it ever occur to you that the brother was having a bad day, or was tired or in a bad mood? Maybe he was concentrating on his companion, had a lot on his mind etc. How much eye contact do most folks give you when you wait their table? I mean if you had said you were an admirer and he dissed you and was rude that would be different but he probably thought you didn’t know who he was and maybe he was just not in the mood. I mean, it could be true that he is a prick but just b/c he didn’t carry on a long converstation or wasn’t very communicative to his waitress one time does not mean he is a jerk. I mean did he not tip you or something?
Probably the most obvious sign the judicial system and law enforcement is messed up is that the Department of Justice is blatantly lying about the racial composition of drug-related prison data:http://www.tremblethedevil.com/my_weblog/2009/04/even-without-lies-the-damage-is-already-done.html
@ BooBoo KittyI’m conflicted about the situation, but I like to stay open so I hear you………I really do. Brilliance is wasted if you can’t "see" people, especially if what you’re selling is "about" people.
Live Your Best Life. 
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