There’s also the class effect of Harvard Professor vs. Working-Class Cop.  Even without the racial effect, I can see how a power-tripping cop would be tempted to take the professor down a peg or two, especially once the “do you know who I am?” card is played.  Even (perhaps especially) a place like Cambridge will have townies who resent the university types and university types who condescend to the townies. 

I suspect the three issues (black vs. white, upper-class vs. working-class, university vs. townie) interacted in a toxic way that might not have happened (or not been as severe) if only one factor had been in play.

It’s a little unfair to criticize Gates for playing a “don’t you know who I am” card when the only legitimate purpose for the officer being there was to establish Gate’s identity.  What’s a black man doing in University-owned housing for high-ranking professors?  Well, don’t you know who this black man is?

Allow me to suggest that you are far higher than Grade Z on the celebrity list!  Certainly ot as famous as Kathy Griffin, who has herself pegged as D List, but I think you’re getting at least around M, and maybe even L.

I haven’t written anything on this unfortunate nevent, though most of the sites I peruse have been rather full of it.  Yours is the first article I have seen which hasn’t taken a one is wholly right and the other was wholly wrong perspective, but noted that both men were at least partially wrong.

Gates’s fame, however, extends beyond the Ivy. He’s hosted a number of well-reviewed programs on tv, he’s a well-traveled Certified Public Intellectual, and he’s a Friend of Oprah! So although I agree with your basic premise about class, I don’t think his expectation of renown outside of insular academia is quite as unreasonable as you do. Not that PBS is the same as, say, SNL, but, still.

Besides, he’s adorable in person. Delightful, charming, curious, courteous. I’m outraged heartbroken to see the photos of his arrest and mugshots, to see the outrage and heartbreak in his face.

There’s an interesting discussion, which frequently touches on the class issues involved, here: http://crookedtimber.org/2009/07/23/police-discretion-a-different-perspective It bo.th starts and continues with thoughtful (though in some respects, alarming at times) comments from a NYC police captain with a great deal of relevant experience. Note especially his (Brandon’s) discussion of class in comment #82.

One thing that needs to be understood is that Gatesgate involved a confrontation between TWO individuals EACH confident of his own privilege, because cops have a decided sense of privilege in their own exercise of discretion vis a vis civilians. Despite his obvious good faith and thoughtfulness, this comes through loud and clear in Brandon’s comments. Collisions between competing and incompatible claims of privilege are unlikely to be pretty.

You are so spot on about the insular narcissism that is allowed to flourish in the Ivy League, especially among the tenured faculty. Many that I have worked with did try to keep it in check (and I really did enjoy working with them very much), for the most part, but it was always there and colored interactions with administrative staff in many ways. I had the unfortunate experience of getting one director (tenured faculty member) when my old director left, who personified the worst of what you wrote here so eloquently about. I eventually had to leave because of the abuse, delusions of grandeur, and pathological narcissism, which everyone recognized, but wouldn’t do anything about, because this person was, well, tenured. Thank you so much for writing about this angle - I wish there were more such articles about this pernicious phenomenon and how it impacts the lives of those of us who have been subjected to it. I won’t even get into the racism of the Ivy League here, but it is definitely tied up with the class issues so prevalent there.

The construction of college/Ivy League as not the “real word” is very odd to me, especially in this context. What, exactly, about Gates’ life is not real? He is a human who sleeps eats and poops; he has an ego that gets tender when bruised. I don’t see how he’s any less real than any of us. Everyone has individual circumstances, and just because his situation is extraordinary does not make his life “unreal” or illegitimate.

I suspect the three issues (black vs. white, upper-class vs. working-class, university vs. townie) interacted in a toxic way that might not have happened (or not been as severe) if only one factor had been in play.

Exactly.

I don’t think his expectation of renown outside of insular academia is quite as unreasonable as you do. Not that PBS is the same as, say, SNL, but, still.

I’m not sure I’d agree on that, though I am well aware that Gates is quite well known outside of academia. I’m sure I could take a short drive outside of my university town here in NC and find plenty of people who don’t know who he is, black, white and all colors in between. And I’ve personally experienced academic rants from people clearly not aware that they are just an average unknown person outside of the gates.

It’s a little unfair to criticize Gates for playing a “don’t you know who I am” card when the only legitimate purpose for the officer being there was to establish Gate’s identity.

I didn’t say he shouldn’t have used that card; all I said is that people seem to avoid discussing that he had this privilege and did use it to his advantage, something your average minority in an urban hellhole doesn’t have to play. It doesn’t mean what the officer did was right. I’m not sure why people think these matters cannot coexist in this story?

“Yours is the first article I have seen which hasn’t taken a one is wholly right and the other was wholly wrong perspective, but noted that both men were at least partially wrong.”

Even here, Dana, there has previously been acknowlegement that Gates may have not conducted himself in the most dignified way.  But that is really not saying much of value.  Having a sense of entitlement is not illegal.  If it was, the 8 sickening years of the Bush Jr. Administration would not have been possible.

Of the two people involved in the confrontation between Gates and the cop, only one was employed by the government to maintain law and order and handle complex situations involving incomplete information and personal conflict without breaking the law.  And that person was not Professor Gates…

Collisions between competing and incompatible claims of privilege are unlikely to be pretty.

Exactly.  Each man had privilege to defend, and neither one was willing to back down.  Again, it was the responsibility of the cop to back down because, in theory, he’s the one who’s trained in conflict resolution, but that doesn’t seem to be the way cops are taught to operate these days.  It’s one of the reasons so many mentally ill people end up being killed or injured by the police every year—the techniques they’re taught to try and control people don’t work with someone who’s not rational, the cops get frustrated and do the same thing more and harder, and people get hurt.

I was waiting for an analysis of the “Don’t you know who I am?” thing.

Middle class & upper class Blacks, and Blacks in insulated positions often react quite negatively when they are treated like “regular negroes”.

We all need to work to eradicate unfair treatment where ever and when ever we find it.

I didn’t say he shouldn’t have used that card; all I said is that people seem to avoid discussing that he had this privilege and did use it to his advantage, something your average minority in an urban hellhole doesn’t have to play.

To be fair to Prof. Gates, I believe that he has made it clear in subsequent interviews that he does very much understand this, and that he feels (rightly, I would say) that precisely this gives him the obligation to speak out in a way that the average Joe in his situation would not be empowered to do. That seems like a good thing to me.

Again, it was the responsibility of the cop to back down because, in theory, he’s the one who’s trained in conflict resolution, but that doesn’t seem to be the way cops are taught to operate these days.

Absolutely, 100% agree. I wanted to convey that but you did it better.

I’d never heard of Prof. Gates before this incident.

Pam, I think you’re spot on in your analysis.  Over the past year I must have seen half a dozen Jim Rome “burns” about a professional athlete playing the “don’t you know who I am?” card to try to get out of being arrested.  It never works, and in fact it probably has a healthy chance of increasing the likelihood of getting taken down because it’s even more of a coup to take down a celebrity than an average Joe.

But even if all of that is true, it doesn’t negate the ultimate truth that what the cop did was wrong.  (And, as the President said, stupid)  It doesn’t matter how verbally abusive someone is, I’m pretty sure you can’t arrest someone for disorderly conduct unless they actually do something physical.  If he was throwing stuff and aggressively getting in the cop’s face that’d be one thing, but so far I haven’t seen any claims that that’s what happened.  Maybe there is blame to go around in a cultural sense; but Prof. Gates should not have had to feel that he needed to modify his behavior towards the police because he was black, especially not in his own home.  And until the police get it beaten into their collective heads that they aren’t allowed to go around demanding submission (not compliance or obedience, submission) from anyone, white black or plaid, this kind of thing (and worse) is going to continue to happen. 

It seems that the profession of policeman attracts an inordinate number of assholes who feel that the badge gives them the right (and the privilege) of demanding submission and meek docility from everyone.  It’s called a thankless job for a reason, officers.  You’re getting paid to take that abuse as well as to uphold the law.  I’ll vote for pay raises and paid psychotherapy and whatever else it takes to help you do your jobs in that hostile environment, but arresting people in their own homes when they haven’t committed a crime or for just giving you lip is not acceptable.

This is all “cops vs regular people” stuff.  I know, I know, cops have a hard and scary job.  But that doesn’t excuse their trying to make life hard and scary for other people they come in contact with. But a lot of them try.

One of my sons asked me years ago why black people don’t like cops.  I told him that in my experience, people like cops less the more they have experience interacting with them.  And I told him the story of the woman in a town where I used to live.  Her kids went to the same school as mine, and she called me up very distressed one evening.  Seems her (upper-middle class, privileged, white) sons had been walking home from a friend’s house, when a cop car pulled up next to them.  The police were bundling the older kid (about 10 years old) into their car, when the younger one (about eight) ran off between the houses and hid.  He got home, told his folks what had happened, and they called the police, who denied having her kid.  Long story short, her lawyer finally found the boy in a police station in another precinct.  This (well-off, white) family never really trusted the police again. And there is a whole population of people with the same kind of reason not to trust them.

I won’t say I never heard of a black person speaking from privilege (“Do you know who I am?”) but in this case I’m a whole lot more likely to think that Dr Gates didn’t actually say that.  Since he had just been asked to prove his identity, he might very well have said “But you *know* who I am!”—meaning, “you’ve *seen* my ID!”  Cops lie, you know.

If you’re white and go to an Ivy (or provide the superficial appearance of the type) you don’t have to ask “do you know who I am?” with a cop—they know. The fact that you have white skin buys you the time to let them know, because if you’re white they’ll likely hear you out (and hear your diction and vocabulary in the process), they’ll accept that the expensive wristwatch or shoes or car weren’t stolen or bought with the proceeds of drug deals, and (relevant to this case) that the house you’re trying to break into is because you’re locked out is indeed your own. Etc., etc.

That said, Mnemosyne has a point which I’d expand to blue collar vs. intellectual (or “town vs. gown”, as it used to be known). The fact is, a lot of cops (not all by a long shot, but a lot) don’t like intellectuals of any race (“college boys,” “smartasses,” “think they’re better than someone like me who protects them” etc.), and will flex their power abusively against one when the opportunity presents itself.

In the end, this is a law enforcement incident, and it should be viewed in the context of process. Once Gates had shown an ID matching the address to himself, and once the officer had ascertained that there was no-one in or nothing on the house disputing Gates’s right to be inside (e.g. an ex-wife with a restraining order inside or a foreclosure/eviction notice on the door), that should have been the end of the story. Gates may have escalated inappropriately by playing the stupid and arrogant “do you know who I am?” card, but the officer got the ball rolling by not handling the incident professionally from the beginning.

I don’t really buy that Gates was in any way responsible. Yeah, “don’t you know who I am” was a dumb thing to say (if he in fact said it), but when you’re scared and getting hassled, you use whatever resources you have - and I wouldn’t be schocked if those six words had gotten Gates out of this sort of trouble before.

And again, as Jesse and several commenters have said, the police report should not be taken as fact. It was written to try to destroy sympathy for Gates by a cop who knew it would be in the news.

Wow, that Ivy League Effect has washed out his healthy fear of the police. Yikes.

It just makes me so sad.  NO ONE should be afraid of the police.  That’s why I’m glad this case is getting such play—we need to address the fact that the police misconduct is unacceptable.

It is unacceptable to me that black people must cower before the police in a way that white people dont’, and that the police expect such grovelling from blacks.  That’s the main motivator in this story—after Crowley believes he’s talking to a resident, why doesn’t he leave?

He doesn’t leave b/c this black man insulted him and wouldn’t let him into the house.  This black man was not sufficiently cowed and subserviant.  So he engineered the situation so that he goaded the man outside “in the public” and then managed to go in the house for the cane.

He’s not sorry for his abuse of privilege.  This is why I keep saying he needs to be fired.  He failed in the execution of his job.  He, and all of the backup police he called, have not been properly trained.  He has exposed Cambridge to liability, b/c Prof. Gates is the member of a protected class.

If Gates had been smarter, or not as jet-lagged or tired, he would have stayed in his house and called the chief, name or not, and followed up to get Crowley’s name.  But he trusted the cop, even while berating him, to do his job and not make shit up.

As for Gates only talking about race…that’s his job.  He’s a professor of African-American studies and he’s going to see things through that filter first and foremost.  Doesn’t make him wrong, though I agree other factors are a part of it, too.

How fucked up is it that this man was arrested for behaving like he was a white man, and other black people call him out for assuming a privilege he’s not allowed?  Post-racial America?  Looks a lot like pre-Obama America.

What I understood by his “don’t you know who I am” was:

“I’m Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor.  I have the same rank in this town as Laurence Tribe.  If you lay a finger on me, then tomorrow morning every newspaper in the country is going to call you a racist, and after that me and Larry are going to sue you.”

Unfortunately for the cop (but happily for our national discourse) he really didn’t know who Gates was.

I don’t really buy that Gates was in any way responsible.

Whoa—where is it said anywhere in this post that he’s responsible for what happened to him? The cop was wrong, and it’s said numerous times above. The point of this is Gates’s statement (and he has not denied that he said it) and his exerting his form of privilege hasn’t been discussed regarding how it has played out in the fallout from the initial incident. After all, his status is the only reason we’re talking about this, since every day minorities are treated this badly, and more often much worse. During the incident itself, Gates initially playing that card was meaningless because in that moment the agitated cop knew he could trump that with a badge and a pair of cuffs. And he did. And he was wrong. And now he’s rightfully getting roughed up in the MSM, and this has generated a lot of scrutiny. I’m sure if this hothead cop had thought it through, he would have walked out after seeing the ID.

noted that both men were at least partially wrong.

Dana, how was Gates wrong?

Seriously.  The only way Gates is wrong, is in that he was not subservient enough to a cop who did not do his job.  He was angry at being harrassed in his own home and being called a burglar when the cops hadn’t found the person who had recently burgled the place.

When people say Gates should be quiet and subserviant, it’s merely a practical matter—and it’s WRONG.  The people should not be afraid of the police.  Crowley had absolutley no business arresting Gates, and the fact that he did and is apparently going to get away with it shows that this country is FUCKED UP.

You do not have to let a police officer into your home without a warrant.  Once Gates showed Crowley his DL and Harvard ID, IT WAS OVER.  If Crowley was concerned, he could have returned to his car and double-checked with the Harvard PD.  If there was a restraining order, he should have been informed by 911 in the first place, or again, could have double checked back at his car.

He kept calling for backup.  That’s a ridiculous misuse of resources—especially since in his own damn report he states that he believed he was speaking to a “resident”.

Crowley wrote the incident up to give him the best possible view, and even so, it shows that CROWLEY is in the wrong.  Crowley escalated a non-incident and exposed Cambridge to liability.

Where is Gates’ responsibility in this? 

There’s not one legal problem with any of Gates’ behavior.  There is the practical problem that Gates forgot he was black, or thought his status as a professor trumped his blackness, or thought that he was too tired and grumpy after his trip and just wasn’t going to take it that night.

Yeah, but it seems to me that you are still pretty much assuming that where Gate’s story and the Police story conflict, that Gates is the one who is lying.  I mean tenured academic superstar tenured Harvard professor acts like an entitled asshole, OK plausible. But cop lies to cover his ass when caught making an unjustified arrest. Equally plausible. What if the Gate’s did NOT say “Do you know who I am?” Does that change your analysis?

What I understood by his “don’t you know who I am” was:

“I’m Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor.  I have the same rank in this town as Laurence Tribe.  If you lay a finger on me, then tomorrow morning every newspaper in the country is going to call you a racist, and after that me and Larry are going to sue you.”

I understood it similarly, but more on the level of: “hey, Mr. Police Officer, you’re handling this the wrong way from a legal process viewpoint, and while I may at first seem to be the sort of black man who doesn’t know his rights, I am in fact the sort of tenured Harvard professor who does.”

In other words, a warning. Though between Gates’ jet lag and frustration, it probably came out as the celebrity version, which is more of a threat.

I just read the police report.  It seems Gates was arrested to get him off the phone - he was calling the police chief to make a complaint about Crowley.

Well, I know this, as soon as Dr. Gates was hauled in the supervisor knew his guy fucked up and turned him loose.

The point of this is Gates’s statement (and he has not denied that he said it) and his exerting his form of privilege hasn’t been discussed regarding how it has played out in the fallout from the initial incident.

Okay, I see your point, Pam, and you’re propably right that those six words have a lot to do with a lot of people being really unsympathetic to Gates, but I don’t know for sure. Any black person that this happens to and it actually gets into the news is by definition a person with status, so we don’t get to see the public reaction independant of class.

I’ll say from personal experience, I’ve seen people from all walks of life mistreated by police, and most ordinary people are likely to take the cop’s side, no matter what, so I’m still skeptical that class influenced the way this has played out in a big way. As the commenter you quoted said, it propably was a factor in giving Gates the confidence to speak up and yell at the cop, though.

The “Do you know who I am” card was used by Gates to telegraph to the officer that, for example, he could have him fired, or disciplined, etc. if he didn’t stop harassing Gates. In that context it was appropriate, since the cop was clearly in the wrong. The cop received that message, saw his supervisor was going to be contact and decided to play his badge as a trump card—and that was not only wrong, but a stupid tactical mistake of a hothead.

The cop had power in that moment, but he was not a match in the aftermath because Gates’s class privilege and celebrity was going to ensure the cop’s ass was going to be out in the wind. Rightfully so mind you, but my observation is that I see a whole lot of “Do you know who I am” over petty BS that does telegraph “I want special treatment” because that is what infects academia overall. That was not going on in this particular incident.

Our work ethic makes us all think that if you work hard enough, the “black tax”, the “white trash tax”,  the “latino tax”, the “jew tax” won’t matter. Because effort and self improvement can conquer anything.

We hate Sarah Palin because she is ignorant and proud of it. Her sense of entitlement comes with no effort whatsoever. Same for Bush but he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and we’ve seen people of his class BE entitled all our lives. Palin and Joe the Plumber add a new dimension:  the entitlement due to fame alone, with no particular effort from the part of the receiver, nor his parents.

So when I see Gates mistreated, it galls on me. And I’m not black. But he EARNED the respect he feels entitled to. Not only ANY black man should have been more respected by the cops, but someone - of any skin color - who studied so hard and achieved so much should earn at least the same respect a regular WASP male gets.

Sure the “ivy League” entitlement can be taken too far, but I don’t think being outraged at being arrested in your own house is taking it too far.

As for whether Gates has empathy for other blacks, it is irrelevant. If he doesn’t, it would make him a bad person, but his arrest is still wrong and stupid

Class is an interesting issue if you want to contrast cops and college professors.  Obviously, in this case, we’re talking a more classic college professors out-class cops situation, because Gates is a pre-eminent Harvard professor.  But I’m betting that the average salary of someone who teaches college versus the average salary of a cop is closer than you’d imagine. The average assistant professor salary is $52,000 a year, with the average full professor salary at $94,000 a year, after 20 years.  Cops start at an average of an average of $30,000-$45,000 and, after 20 years, average $48,000-$81,000.  However, I don’t know if these are accurate comparisons, because a lot of people who teach at colleges aren’t assistant or full time professors, but are stuck in the adjunct professor situation, which lowers the average salary of college professors significantly.  So a cop who can’t rise up in the ranks is comparable to a professor who has to do a lot of time in adjunct hell—-they’re both spinning their wheels.  In many cases, cops and college professors have closer income levels than you’d think.

I’m not saying that people are wrong to perceive a class difference between two, because college professors have a lot of social esteem and education cops likely don’t have.  Class is about social capital as well as income.  But I do think there’s an interesting story about declining fortunes for middle class professionals that probably helped contribute to our economic crisis, because a lot of people feel the need to live outside their means.

Agreed, with the rightness of pulling the “do you know who I am?” card.  That’s a bullshit move to get good service at a restaurant, but I think when you’re dealing with the cops, you are in survival mode, and you have a right to lean on every tool you’ve got.  I’ve used all sorts of cards to minimize contact with cops.  I will happily thicken my Texas accent, if I perceive that they’ll like that, for instance.  And it’s not wrong when it’s self-preservation.

Gate’s outrage was probably exacerbated by the fact that he had just spent 16 hours or so on planes coming back from Beijing and was beat.  He had spent time among unfailingly polite people, and had just confronted the assholes in US immigration and was experiencing a bit of culture shock at being back in a country where we treat each other so rudely and brutally.  The third world tawdriness of the airport and the drive back from the airport were probably grating on him, as they always do on me.

What I find unbelievable about all this is that it occurred in one of the liberal and enlightened precincts in the nation.  A place where most everyone would indeed be expected to know who Gates is. Who would imagine that Archie Bunker would be next door, ready to call the police, or that the Cambridge police would have Neanderthals like Crowley on the roster?

It is a sad state for affairs… No ne should be immediately in “survival mode” when contacted by the police. We are supposed to be innocent till proven guilty.

I think Gates episode illustrates how far our civil liberties have fallen during the reign of GW. we are all terrorists now, till proven innocent we are liable to be shot in the head by a cop. Any cop. Any one of us.

Living while black, female, or any minority has turned more dangerous in the past 8 years.

In many cases, cops and college professors have closer income levels than you’d think.

Cops are generally better off, in fact. Don’t forget that they retire at a fairly young age with a nice pension, which they collect while also getting paid on their next job. There are two retired cops at my lab, and they are a lot better off financially than I am. I’m not saying I begrudge them that- I most certainly don’t. But cops should not be thought of as some kind of disadvantaged group, when in fact they’re working-class aristocracy, with one of the very best jobs you can get with only a high-school diploma. Then add to that their professional sense of privilege, and you see that the Gates- Crowley contest of wills really involved two EQUALLY privileged individuals. There is a poor working class kid-v.s hoity-toity Hahavad prof angle in some of the commentary I’ve seen (to be clear I am NOT talking about Pam here) which irritates the hell out of me, because it’s bullshit.

<blockquote>...my observation is that I see a whole lot of “Do you know who I am” over petty BS that does telegraph “I want special treatment” because that is what infects academia overall. That was not going on in this particular incident.</blockqute>

Okay, I see what you’re getting at Pam. Yes, those words do telegraph entitlement.

I’ve got to say, I’ve never seen Academics behave like this, but then again, I don’t know any Ivy league academics. Some of my profs are big names in my fields, but those fields are pretty obscure.

A side-note: I think it’s important when we use the word class that we’re clear about what we’re talking about. There are (at least) three elements that make up varying definitions of class: Money, Status and ownership. Strict marxists would say that your relationship to the means of production is the only thing that matters in determining class, but that’s pretty murky in the modern world where even people with obviously working class jobs are likely to have some investments. Money alone doesn’t make sense, either - Lots of small business owners make less in a year than someone with one of the remaining good manufacturing jobs. Status is an element, but it’s not everything, because you can translate status into power in some instances (like Gates was able to in this incident, after the fact) but not in others (ie. status doesn’t put food on the table for an underpaid professor).

If Gates pulled rank on the cop, or tried to (and I’m not sure he did), I say good for him.  It’s true that what he called “a black man in America” doesn’t usually have that opportunity when a cop is mistreating him, but as Caren said above, why do we have to cower and grovel when faced with a blue uniform?  If it’s just practical survival politics for the street, then complying isn’t particularly virtuous, and refusing to comply isn’t wrong.  With or without extra privilege, no homeowner who presents ID (with his job and address on it) should ever be hassled by a cop in that situation.

Gates was brave to stand up for himself in a way that surprised the officer.  Maybe next time the Cambridge police won’t be so confident in expecting to get their boots licked when they show up at a 911 call.

Really interesting post, thanks.

I refuse to believe that Gates pulled the “Don’t you know who I am?” card.

It’s unlikely a cop would know a prominent scholar—however, it’s likely that Gates providing his I.D. and simply telling the police that he’s a Harvard prof could be twisted by the police into both race and class resentment.

I’m a short, middle-aged white woman with a little girl’s squeaky voice, and in my few brushes with the police (mostly, soliciting their help) they’ve often been hostile from the get go.

(Once, after having my wallet stolen and the teenager trying to cash one of my checks at a local checkcashing place, even asking in a hostile fashion, WHY the kid would try to cash it there, as tho I’d know the answer to that.)

Maybe next time the Cambridge police won’t be so confident in expecting to get their boots licked when they show up at a 911 call.

Don’t bet on it. Crowley’s been doing the media whore thing, threatening to sue for defamation (good luck with that), and generally proving that Obama was wrong- Crowley didn’t just act stupidly, he is stupid. And for this of course he’s getting the expected massive reinforcement from his buddies and from cop union officials across the country. Because God forbid that a civilian should EVER be allowed to get away with criticizing cops.

Anybody with eyes to see should realize by now that we have a serious problem with police training and culture in this country, if they didn’t realize that before.

There are (at least) three elements that make up varying definitions of class: Money, Status and ownership.

In this case (and in most cases where we’re discussing social class), status is the key, with net worth and ownership running behind. Put bluntly, when considering the Harvard professor and the Cambridge police officer, who’s considered by society to be the servant, and who’s considered the boss?

The complicating factors here are race (to be African-American is still considered to be a marker of servant status by all too many people) and the unusual public servant office of the police. All of that adds up to the high-profile mess we see here.

I think a fourth intersection needs to be added in because I’m seeing more than a whiff of anti-intellectualism here, as well.  How many ppl are gleefully tossing around the Ivy League thing?

I’ve been in and worked in academia most of my adult life, and I’ve not seen people play the Do You Know Who I Am card.  I grew up near affluent neighborhoods where I *did* see that especially among the much more wealthy (Rolling Hills Estates, CA: you want class arrogance, you got it…).

I was also married to a cop for a while.  Cops have their own entire brand of entitlement as well…the battered, beleaugered, misunderstood last-stances against the forces of evil, chaos, etc.  Oi.

Interesting that two days ago, CNN ran two opinion pieces disparaging Crowley and assuming racism was the major issue in this situation.  Today, after Obama’s [African-American] voice was heard on the topic, there are two or three more opinion pieces critizing Gates and much talk of the “class” factor, including this one:

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-303137

Make of it all what you will.  But the shift back towards NOT giving the minority victim the benefit of the doubt and the vitriolic dismissal of intellectuals* sure don’t surprise me in the least.

*Not that academia, as Pam points out, doesn’t have its share of Aquired Narcissicm Syndrome assholes.  I’ve almost strangled one or two of them myself.  But then, as someone who’s worked in the private, public, non-profit and academic milieus, I can’t say I didn’t see as many ANSa’s elsewhere.  CEOs are just as prone to it, IME, and the worst workplace tantrums/shows of disrespect/power-trips I’ve seen were in high tech.

How many ppl are gleefully tossing around the Ivy League thing?

It’s mentioned because of this particular circumstance, but it’s hardly related to anti-intellectualism as this phenomenon is seen in celebrities and politicians all the time. Think back to Larry Toe-Tapping Craig—he pulled his Senate business card out to present to the undercover cop he propositioned once he was busted, to indicate “don’t you know who you’re dealing with.” It’s about real and self-perceived power differential privilege granted by whatever universe the person has gained fame, fortune or power. In the Gates case, he rightfully pulled the card because the circumstances warranted it.

Thank you for posting this. I applaud you for being able to see mistakes where they’re made, not where the skin color is ideologically convenient. I think you’re dead on with your analysis of Gates’ psychology and where he was coming from.

Pulling the “don’t you know who I am” card is like practically daring the cop to arrest you. 

Cops tend to think in very hierarchical terms.  If you pull the “don’t you know who I am” card, he will feel he can’t back down because then you’ve gotten one over on him.  The cop has a deep need to be one-up all the time.

That said, I think Gates is the victim here and I don’t mean to blame the victim.

Why on earth is this happening?

My husband said that the Obama Presidency has re-defined what it means to be Black in America.

He said he KNEW it because there’s TV show about it.

Sigh…

Mnemosyne wrote:

Again, it was the responsibility of the cop to back down because, in theory, he’s the one who’s trained in conflict resolution, but that doesn’t seem to be the way cops are taught to operate these days.

Police officers are trained in conflict resolution between two (or more) other people.  They are also trained in getting immediate control over a situation.  Backing down is not highly valued.

Backing down is not highly valued.

And this incident demonstrated just how detrimental that attitude can be to good police work.

Here’s how class fits into this, rather legitimately:  the house is a nice house in an upper class neighborhood.  Gates is giving off class indicators that are consistent with being a resident of the house and largely inconsistent with being a burglar—e.g., nice clothes, educated speach patterns, etc.  But because he is a black man, those class indicators aren’t enough, and he’s treated as a suspect.

What if the Gate’s did NOT say “Do you know who I am?”

Didn’t Gates admit to it?  I still don’t believe he insulted Crowley’s mama.  Like MAJeff, I crack up whenever I think about it.

I don’t question at all whether the “don’t you know who I am” comment came pouring out of his mouth because he was aggravated. I’m in academia too, and I HAVE seen that happen. I was in an airport with a group, led by my (white) Berkeley prof, who was being given the run-around by an airport official, and he suddenly yelled “don’t you know who I am?”

it’s definitely an acquired entitlement narcissist thing, and let me tell you, it did NOT make sense to say it - of course someone in a foreign airport would not know who he was. It was just a weird reflexive entitled response. And let me tell you, boy was I embarrassed to be associated with him. It was a shocking and ugly moment.

Of course, I think cops should be used to attitude, and the cops were being belligerent and WRONG WRONG WRONG, but I did kind of laugh when I heard about that comment, because I know that whole “Male Professor Entitlement” thing. and no, I can’t ever imagine a female professor saying that in any situation.

lots of ego in this situation, for sure. The cops JUST as bad, and worse, because they did their jobs WRONG.

liviaclaudia, I hate to burst your bubble.  The worst “Ivy League Effect” offender I’ve ever met in academia (in fact, the only one in my personal experience) is an internationally respected female Henry James scholar.  She’s a horrendous person who regularly pulls stuff like that—and those moments are the least of her offenses, unfortunately.  Nor should it surprise anyone that female professors can be prone to it (whether as much as men, I won’t venture to guess), since female celebrities have ben known to iterate the “don’t you know who I am” bit, too.

well, bummer, but it wasn’t so much a “bubble” - I guess I was thinking that women are so used to being “put in their place” that they wouldn’t bother with that kind of thing.

But it’s a “fair cop” - you’re absolutely right - Narcissistic Personality Disorder crosses the gender lines, for freaking sure!!!!

yeah, I guess for those academics above who claim to never have seen this kind of thing, consider yourselves lucky!

According to the police report, which is assumed to be factual, Prof. Gates actually said “you don’t know who you’re messing with.”  Not quite the same as “do you know who I am;” it’s more like “you’ve just let yourself in for a whole lot of grief,” not “you can’t arrest me, I’m famous.”

What do you think caused more “alarm and surprise” among the passersby, Prof. Gates’ yelling, or the fact that a dozen cops were surrounding the place (presumably accompanied by several cars with flashing lights) while Prof. Gates was being hassled by Crowley?  I’m pretty sure I’d be “alarmed and surprised” if I saw a dozen cops arresting one black man who was yelling about it; I remember Rodney King and would wonder if that was happening again.  Maybe Crowley is the one who should face sanction for disturbing the peace…

Backing down is not highly valued.

Which I think you would have to admit was a big part of the problem here.  If the cop hadn’t decided that he had to prove to the professor that he did too have more power than him, he wouldn’t have wasted the city’s time and money and gotten himself into trouble over a bogus arrest.  He would have said “sorry for disturbing you” and walked away from the situation.  Instead, he decided to escalate it just because he could.

According to the police report, which is assumed to be factual, Prof. Gates actually said “you don’t know who you’re messing with.” Not quite the same as “do you know who I am;” it’s more like “you’ve just let yourself in for a whole lot of grief,” not “you can’t arrest me, I’m famous.”

Libeeralrob, I think I read that quote (if truthful) the same way you did. Like a mugger walking up to Clark Kent and not realizing he’s going to have his ass handed to him.

The President speaks at presser about conversation with Gates incident police officer. Full transcript:
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/12203/.

But cop lies to cover his ass when caught making an unjustified arrest. Equally plausible. What if the Gate’s did NOT say “Do you know who I am?” Does that change your analysis?

It actually doesn’t matter, b/c even if you take Crowley’s police report as the God’s Honest Truth, CROWLEY is still in the wrong.  He admits he believed he was talking to a resident, yet he still calls for backup and doesn’t leave.  He won’t give his name to the man—he claims he gave it twice, but that Gates talked over him so didn’t get it, and when requested again, he refused. Yes, he refused: he knew Gates didn’t know his name.  He refused to give his name—unless Gates came outside on the porch, where Crowley could arrest him.

Once he had Gates on the porch, he threatened him with handcuffs, which got an already irate “resident” more upset, since, you know, NO CRIME WAS BEING COMMITTED.  If there had been a burglary, Gates would have been the VICTIM. 

He then arrests him, refuses to handcuff him in front, but allows another officer to move the cuffs, and then goes into the house to get the cane.  He got to go into the house and snoop like he wanted to, b/c he engineered an arrest.

Crowley’s own report does not exonerate him.  Crowley’s own report, biased and slanted to make Crowley look as good as possible, damns him.  He knew that Gates was a resident and not a burglar, yet he continued to escalate the situation.

What really happened?  I do not believe Gates said “yo’ mama”.  I just don’t.  I find the “You *know* who I am” since I just gave you my ID to be a plausible suggestion, but even a “Don’t you know who I am?” after being given a Harvard ID still isn’t an arrestable offense.  Even if it was “You don’t know who you’re messing with” is appropriate—he’s a Harvard professor.  He’s not stupid.  He knows his rights.  He has connections.  Even if he is black.

It doesn’t matter if that “warning” pissed Crowley off or not; if he had two brain cells that weren’t racist, he would have walked away at that point.  There’s no incident and staying is only provoking and creating more trouble.  So what if he gave Gates his name, and Gates called the chief?  He was responding to a burglary call and was just doing his job up until right then.  Gates had no real complaint at that point, besides an understandable inconvenience.

Of course, there was no burglary.  Crowley understood this.  WHY DIDN’T HE LEAVE?  Gates’s behavior is secondary to the entire ordeal.  Gates only came outside of his house b/c Crowley wouldnt give him his name any other way, and had he remained in his house, Crowley couldn’t have arrested him.

At the very worst, a jet-lagged man broke rules of etiquette.  Crowley, on the other hand, broke the law.  He admits it in his report, which is the “Fair and Balanced” view of the incident.

Crowley’s behavior in the past few days makes me think he made all of it up, honestly.  He’s acting like a complete ass.

Like I said before, you don’t need to be black (tho it certainly makes things worse) to end up on the wrong side of the police stick.

A cop that thinks it’s okay to shoot up a car that didn’t stop for him.  A cop that thinks a phillips screwdriver from 50 yards is a threat.  A cop that needs to prove that they did something when they were policing a campground or party.

The police officer definitely needs to be dealt with.  But I dunno that Gates makes the right poster-face for all of police misactions.

I once told a man that it was ill-advised to have his social security number and driver’s license number on his pre-printed checks.  For this well-meaning advice against identity theft, I got an earful about how he was a police officer.

Ugh.

Jumpintroll, you’re several hours late in the news cycle (snce Obama and Crowley have had a friendly chat) and several tens of IQ points short. But hey, thanks for playing.

“This is an event where all the stars are perfectly aligned and Crowley should not shrink from the opportunity to teach the country a lesson about what a practiced liar Obama is.”

....um, right.  You bet jimbo.

To be fair, however, whether Crowley “shrinks” or not, if he plays his cards right he could be the next “Joe The Plumber”, maybe get a guest slot on Hannity or a radio show in Tulsa or something…

That, friends, comes from privilege of a different kind, one that has nothing to do with race. On Salon, I was relieved to see this given an apt name for this particular use of the power play, “Ivy League Effect,”

Pam, I really don’t understand much regarding the point of your post at all. The vibe I get from both you and “Phantom Negro” is, “How dare Gates step out of his role as a black man to instead act like an member of his own community with a sense of entitlement?”

You’re waving the word “privilege” around in this case as though it were a bad word. Because privilege is sort of a loaded word, I think the better term in this case is that Gates had power, and in this case, in his own home, Gates is using precisely the sort of power that he his entitled to: the sort that you use when people are illegitimately trying to screw with you.

I’m getting a big of a worrisome impression that liberals are perceived to be the “victim class,” and in this case, when the liberal acts in a way where he uses (or threatens to use) his power, this is somehow considered unacceptable, or at least suspicious.

On an academic note, most professors I know are pretty good people. Some of them can be arrogant dickheads with their colleagues and their students, but that’s because they can do it there, and they are a big deal within their own research communities. It’s rare to find a professor who tries to leverage his professional reputation outside of that sphere. I’d say it’s more common for people to react to the knowledge someone’s a professor with, “So you think you’re better than I am?”

Oh, FSM!

Saying, “Because he’s black, he should forget he’s a <s>college professor</s> human being, because the police are so damn dangerous, and it’s only his insane class privilege that made him stand up for his rights <s>show off his class privilege</s>.” is rather like saying “Because she’s female, she shouldn’t wear short skirts and hang out at the bar with the pool table, because men will rape her.”

Maybe common wisdom and fear do say that blacks and women should be wary of certain situations, but the criminals are the police who abuse authority and the men who rape. And the ones who say, “Actually, no, I’m going to challenge common wisdom” may get hurt, or they may break barriers and pioneer a freer society, where people don’t have to be prisoner to fears of abuse.
****

Abusing your coworkers with your authority is not the same as standing up to someone with a gun and taser and saying “You don’t know who you’re messing with.” Your own words about how crazy dangerous it was to argue show you know who had the real, immediate power in the situation.

Well, first off, being tired is no excuse for behavior. I can understand being short and rude, but it doesn’t excuse it.

I read the report, and i doubt the cop’s lying. sugar coating a bit sure, but not bald faced lying. For one, it’s not uncommon for multiple units to respond to the same call; I’ve been pulled over many times, and every time at least one other cruiser stops to see if the officer needs assistance (on one occasion, I was visited by the police chopper). It’s S.O.P. Also, when he finally did get an i.d. from him and discovered he was faculty at Harvard, he again followed S.O.P. and called the Harvard police (on a side note, when requesting identification, a state issued i.d. is the only form accepted completely when ascertaining identity and residence. This was explained by the officer who ticketed me for not having my license).

I wouldn’t be surprised if he did in fact immediately launch into a tirade about how racist the cop is for daring to show up at his residence in execution of his job. Calling Gates out to the front porch was also S.O.P.; it’s serves a similar purpose to ordering someone out of their car. The cop apparently went inside, and while he was led to BELIEVE Gates was a residence, he still had to make sure. When the cop was asked for his information, Gates apparently continued to shout over him. Twice.

The bit about the accoustics is plausible too, especially if it was a high-end one with hardwood everything and granite counter-tops. Because of Gates lack of verbal assault, refusal to listen and location, the officer stated he was leaving and if Gates had any questions he would have to go outside. Gates followed him out continuing on his rant, where gawkers and other responding officers had gathered. Since gates was apparently being disorderly in public, he was breaking the law and arrested.

It doesn’t surprise me that Gates said “You don’t know who you’re messing with!” (or something similar). It’s a comment commonly made by those who are generally considered (or consider themselves) better than your average joe, whether they’re wealthy, famous, well educated or in a position of authority like government, law enforcement or some corporate position. It seems like he was expressing not only class entitlement, but also race entitlement, as in the cop was questioning him so he must be racist. It’s an attitude I’ve come across, both personally and in media. And yes, I realize my fellow whities do it too, as do all other races.

Again, I don’t believe the report is a direct transcript of events. For example, I bet the cop (as they do in these situations) had his gun or tazer drawn, and ordered Gates to step away from the door.
This was probably what happened, which set off Gates.

Lastly, Obama has no damn business commenting on the situation.

Steve LaBonne on 07/24 wrote at 01:44 PM:  “Anybody with eyes to see should realize by now that we have a serious problem with police training and culture in this country, if they didn’t realize that before.”

You said it!  In any given encounter, police are usually barely in control of themselves and usually start out overaggressive and paranoid.  That’s because of the stress of the job, of course, but also and more importantly they are trained to try to keep citizens in any situation intimidated and back on their heels.  This encourages a militarized police attitude and presence that is out of character with democratic civilization and out of proportion to a huge majority of police-citizen encounters.

Combine that with the pandering that the fluff news media does with their mythical thin-blue-line homages and you have a paramilitary police problem that is not going away unless radical steps are taken in retraining police, including better screening and serious consequences for mistreatment of even one citizen.

It’s no wonder that people are dropping like flies due to taser and other police violence in encounters that previously would have been verbally defused and nuanced toward resolution, or involved two officers employing much less lethal physical holds.

I believe our police officers are becoming antisocial taser-cowards.

The thing that interests me here is that the police are doubling down.  I think they’re tired of being forced to pretend that they’re not enforcing a police state and want the situation out in the open.  They are in charge.  Period.  If you challenge them, even if you are the President of the United States, you lose.  Period.

This is part of the long, long pushback from eight years of Bush’s obsession with authority at all costs.  The culture seeps in.

The cop apparently went inside, and while he was led to BELIEVE Gates was a residence, he still had to make sure.

Yes, apparently the two forms of picture ID, the house keys and the code for the alarm weren’t enough to convince the cop that Prof. Gates actually lived there. 

It’s pretty sad that your defense of the officer is, “But he was too stupid to understand Gates was the resident even after Gates showed him all of the indicators!”

Look, the result he got was common for yelling at a police officer, black or not.

Even saying that does not mean I support the police officer’s action… They need to be trained better than they are, and we need to attract people who want to solve problems, not the crowd we currently attract as officers.

Mnemosyne, it would help if you attacked someone who was defending the officer, not someone saying the officer should have been trained better.

Pam, as you know, we live in a country where black males are routinely shot and killed by police officers.  Sometimes just for holding a wallet.  Sometimes for less reason than that.  So if Gates used the do you know who the hell you are dealing with card, I certainly don’t judge him or blame him for it.  After all, if he was just some black guy the cop might have shot him dead.  Now the cop thinks, huh, I don’t know who this guy is, he looks like a black guy to me, but what if he’s someone and people might notice if I pump a couple rounds into his uppity head? 

Lastly, Obama has no damn business commenting on the situation.

Excuse me?  Why?  Is our President not permitted to comment on situations and events that Idiot America consider to be “black issues”, because he’s black? 

I’d like to see people asking Lynn Sweet if she would have asked that question of George Bush or Bill Clinton.  Because she damned well wouldn’t have.  She asked it because President Obama is black. 

And he stepped up and answered it, and good on him.

You’re waving the word “privilege” around in this case as though it were a bad word. Because privilege is sort of a loaded word, I think the better term in this case is that Gates had power, and in this case, in his own home, Gates is using precisely the sort of power that he his entitled to: the sort that you use when people are illegitimately trying to screw with you.

Did you not read this thread, Tyro? I specifically said above that his use of his power and privilege as a public figure was appropriate in this case! Phantom Negro says otherwise. My point is that this card in my experience (I’m not guessing or making shit up) is played all the time by high-level, tenured academics against people they know have less power (or protection) than they do and throw their weight around mercilessly. And sometimes it extends beyond the gates of their social and professional universe.

Where I agree with PN is that Gates was affected by this incident not only because of race but by his class, which is indicated by his statement “you don’t know who you are messing with”. He certainly wasn’t coming from his perspective as a black man, because being black in the U.S. is not going to give anyone juice to get that officer fired, it’s Gates’s position in society as a well-known academic. I’m glad he had that card to pull in this case, but the card is about his position, not his blackness. That’s separate from anything one can say about the cop’s motivations - clearly he was too pissed at Gates yelling at him to do what he should have done and just walked out of the house—was it about race or class or both to the cop? It’s an interesting point to ponder and discuss—that doesn’t change the “who’s right/who’s wrong” in any way.  If this had happened in some urban hellhole, we wouldn’t even be talking about this story. Thankfully, we are, but people have fixated on the role race plays; it doesn’t diminish the fact that the cop was wrong to simply discuss the role class played in this story. People can’t seem to reconcile this for some reason.

It’s rare to find a professor who tries to leverage his professional reputation outside of that sphere.

I know many people who have dealt with well-known academics (in their fields, and I didn’t say all academics, btw, we’re talking about tenured profs) who have hair-raising horror stories of mistreatment of lower-paid staff, epic diva tantrums over minor things, abuse of power, many times without any repercussions from admin. And I’ve witnessed a few of my own. And as I’ve also stated before, the same phenomenon occurs in many spheres, with some well-known pols, movie stars, CEOs, etc. The common factor is that they are usually never called on it or suffer any consequences because they are perceived as “too important” to piss off (bring in grants, open a movie big, land some big contract, has connections to lawmakers, etc.). Once they see that they can get a pass, apparently at some point some of these folks think the same entitlement extends beyond that universe and that they deserve the same deference everywhere.

It’s a behavior that clearly has nothing to to with intellectual genius or academia alone; Phantom Negro was speaking about academia specifically because that is the universe he can speak to personally.

“Pam, as you know, we live in a country where black males are routinely shot and killed by police officers”

Yeah, hundreds a day. You dont really believe that do you?

Hm. I guess I misread you and thought you had more sympathy for Phantom Negro than you did. You sound a lot more concerned about explaining the “Ivy League Effect” (which is sounds like is the “successful, reasonably well-off upper middle class professional effect”) than about explaining Prof. Gates. 

I’m glad he had that card to pull in this case, but the card is about his position, not his blackness.

I’m kind of agreeing, but the card he was able to play was one of, “You think I’m going to be a subservient black man because I’m supposed to be afraid of the police, but you are going to quickly realize how wrong you are.”

I know many people who have dealt with well-known academics (in their fields, and I didn’t say all academics, btw, we’re talking about tenured profs) who have hair-raising horror stories of mistreatment of lower-paid staff, epic diva tantrums over minor things, abuse of power, many times without any repercussions from admin.

I supposed I’m counting their own university as “their sphere.” But this doesn’t separate them from from anyone else who finds themselves in any position of authority and gets a big head over it. You don’t see me warning someone who’s getting promoted to middle management of acquiring “accounting supervisor bastard fever.”

Let’s look at this from a different perspective, shall we? Let’s say Gates was not a Harvard Professor. Let’s say he owned a car dealership. Let’s say it was a huge car dealership in a small town. And let’s say the same thing happened with some junior officer. What do you think would have happened? Well, the owner of the dealership probably would have also have pulled the “you don’t know whom you’re dealing with,” ended up with the chief of police of the town dropping the charges as soon as he was dragged in, and then he probably would have had lunch with his high school friend the mayor at the local country club and demand that the police officer be fired. I suppose I could explain who in fact this was a well-known syndrome known as “The Successful Businessman in a Small Town Effect.”

Gates didn’t act like a hoity-toity Ivy League Professor. He didn’t act as what I suppose some people would claim is a stereotype of an “angry black man.” He acted as “a guy with a certain amount of local pull who doesn’t need to take any crap if he doesn’t need to.” This whole post comes across as “I know you would find it hard to believe that a mere professor would feel he is entitled to any sort of power or pull with the police, but let me explain to you why professors feel confident and have power that they can use and leverage!” Yes, well, so do doctors, lawyers, local businessmen, and politicians. Professors just make a lot less money.

Insofar as this is about class, it’s about the fact that some people appear shocked that an African-American professor has enough knowledge of and pull with “the system” than we would usually expect. I don’t see anything wrong with it. “Phantom Negro” seems to be going at great length to explain how “The Ivy League makes you think you’re much higher on the totem pole in the class hierarchy than you think you are, when Gates should have played the role of a proletarian victim oppressed by the system.” Fuck that shit. If this is what the “Ivy League Effect” is, then sign me up!

“Yeah, hundreds a day. You dont really believe that do you?”

Inflating the figures to mock the idea does not change the fact that too many black men and boys find themselves on the wrong end of a police weapon every year in America.  To pretend otherwise is living in a fool’s paradise…

Stripped of all the woulda coulda shoulda, this incident was a steel cage match between privileges. Two guys engaged in a power play, which for all the interesting issues it raises upon consideration was in the moment a simple dick measuring contest. And I think it kicks ass that Gates won. That people can’t recognize or deal with the class aspect isn’t surprising. Most Americans think of racism as something that is a specific act done to minorities, with no awareness of the existence or benefit of corresponding white privilege. Americans hate to talk about class or acknowledge its influence outside of purchasing power. I think it’s important to try and include the class element in the discussion because it could (hopefully) encourage people to recognize and think about the multiple privileges in play. But our public discourse is pretty far removed from that.

Yeah, hundreds a day. You dont really believe that do you?

Yes, you’re right, Casp.  When Amadou Diallo was shot 41 times for having his wallet in his hand, that was totally justified.  When Patrick Dorismond was shot for getting into an argument with an undercover police officer who was trying to sell him drugs, that was totally justified.  Shem Walker should have known that the drug dealer sitting on his stoop was really an undercover cop, so he deserved to be killed for trying to get the guy to move on.  Sean Bell shouldn’t have tried to walk away from a confrontation with undercover cops who didn’t identify themselves.

Is that about right?

Don’t forget Oscar Grant, executed in full view of a couple dozen cameras on a subway, then carefully guarded while he died.

You know, I’m also sort of reminded of the time that Condoleeza Rice snapped at a jewelry clerk for providing poor service. Now, most of us know better than to ever be mean to the service staff, but in this case, Rice was probably used to being assumed by the sales staff, as an African American woman, to being poor and thus not the sort of person who “should be” shopping for expensive jewelry and probably pulled a bit of upper middle class entitlement. A lot of people talking about this story at the time had an attitude of, “I hate to be defending Rice, but…” simply because she was probably in a position a lot more often where she’s had to face bad assumptions from the service staff than people like I have. And then, of course, I agree with the other commenters pointing out that even if Gates committed an etiquette violation, the police officer was still wrong.

I can up up with 1000 reasons why my reaction to the police would have been different than Gates’s, but then again, the last time I dealt with a police officer, he gave me his card and told me to call him if there were ever any loitering problems in the alley behind my apartment.

“he tossed down the ”don’t you know who I am” card (”you have no idea who you are messing with”). That, friends, comes from privilege of a different kind, one that has nothing to do with race.”

there’s something weird about how this post, and the one it cites, seem to both mock and scold Gates for his Ivy League attitude—as if to say “you don’t really have the power you think you have and what’s more you shouldn’t use it”—without acknowledging that THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES has named Gates as a friend!  “Don’t you know who I am” means “you can’t treat me the way cops treat n*****”—& guess what?  looks like Gates was right!  Gates’ remark (assuming he made it that way) has EVERYTHING to with race AS IT INTERLOCKS WITH CLASS; Pam’s post, I’d argue, has nothing to do with class, because it makes the mistake of thinking you can abstract class in a social analysis and separate it out from race; as if Gates, for a moment, could possess ONLY the predicate of class….—

the “Ivy League” effect surely exists; just as surely, it’s merely one version of the general effect of status (as Tyro has said)—powerful people will assert their status forcefully and often act like pricks in doing so,  what a surprise!—moreover, the whole premise of this post seems weird, and far from politically savvy, given how it fits perfectly with the standard right-populist attack on “elites”:  if a right-wing pundit wanted to attack the Hvd Af-Am department, wouldn’t they choose exactly these terms?

I don’t know if its been addressed yet, but when “Don’t you know who I am?” comes in during a law enforcement situation, there is a tendancy, even if everything has gone by the book to tack a charge on, if only to justify your reason for being there and interacting with that person as a police officer.  It has less to do with “putting someone in their place” and more to do with “How do I defend myself to my supervisor” cya in case of a complaint.

Its flawed thinking, and it isn’t right, but in a litigatious socity where far too many people are ready to try and get a cop in trouble for doing his or her job, its there.

This entire post—both PN’s excerpts and Pam’s commentary—reads like right-wing anti-intellectualism, and I’m honestly surprised not to see the phrase “ivory tower.”

It’s even worse that it’s based upon a rephrasing of a dubious quote whose primary source is a police report that has been shown to be rife with lies, fabrications, and errors.

FYI, Gates wrote an entire book about famous, successful black men—most of them much more famous and successful than himself—who were never able to escape the reality of being a black man in America.

This is really, really fucking stupid.