The Biggest Racist in the US?

[Michael Rossi]

My vote goes to Professor Gates who immediately accused a police officer of racial profiling when that police officer responded to a report of a break-in of his own house. Was it really too much to ask that Prof. Gates provide identification and cooperate with the investigation when the officer was there TO PROTECT PROFESSOR GATES AND HIS BELONGINGS? GIVE ME A BREAK!!!

Anytime I have an incident with my rentals or when the alarm goes off at my home, I am very appreciative to have the police show up and investigate. It shows that they are trying to do their job and are trying to protect my family and my belongings. Needless to say, I don't harass the police and call them names when they are trying to help me!!! I guess the professor just isn't that smart! You can read Professor Gates Racist Rant on www.theroot.com - in his own words.

My runner-up vote goes to President Obama, who immediately assumed that this police officer was a racist, even when he admittedly didn't know the facts!

Mike

[J Scott]

Here's the thing that should bother everyone who claims to love living under the freedoms this country provides -- regardless of your views on race, and regardless of what happened in this specific case, citizens have every right to yell at police officers, to insult police officers, have every right to call an officer racist, have every right to ask for police identification, and have every right to threaten legal action against the officer and the department -- and according to our Constitution and the laws of the Massachusetts, the police DO NOT HAVE ANY right to arrest citizens for those things.

(Go Google it...I'll wait)

This officer already made it clear that Gates did not threaten with his words and did not make any threatening motions. Additionally, Gates was still on private property, and no warrant was being executed.

Therefore, there was no grounds for the arrest of Gates. Yet, the police felt the need to overstep their authority and arrest him (and subsequently release him without charge).

It seems that most of the people on this thread have spent many other posts in this forum complaining about the loss of their rights to our government -- let's see those same people will complain about how Gates' rights were taken away from him when he was arrested for insulting officers.

While I'm all for respecting police officers, the fact is that we don't live in a police state, and I have NO REQUIREMENT to respect police officers. They work for me, and they are not above the law. Arresting someone for no reason is an abuse of authority, and any police officer that does it should be held accountable.

Obama was correct that officers acted stupidly, but not for the reason he thought he was saying it. Officers acted stupidly because they overstepped their bounds and arrested someone who was simply asserting his Constitutional rights (and I think we all know that Gates knows the laws well enough to know that he wasn't doing anything illegal).

I'm just curious if people really care about the Constitution (and about this country turning into a police state) the way they claim. If so, let's hear some outrage about that.

Btw, I'm sure there are people who will say, "The police have a tough job and they need to do what they need to do to avoid getting hurt," but remember that the Constitution of this great country doesn't distinguish between someone who has a dangerous job and someone who doesn't.

When our Constitutional rights are infringed, we should be outraged, regardless of whether it's done by a cop, a legislator, or the President.