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Recent Comments
BSN does not necessarily support or endorse view points expressed throughout this site. |
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Date: July 26th, 2009
Name: Wayne
Subject: Speaking Truth to Empower
Comment: The reported fact is sir that Dr. Gates WAS disorderly, and freedom of expression does and should have its limits when it comes to addressing positions of authority. I would welcome any of Dr. Gates students to accuse him of the things of which he accused Officer Crowley and not face reprecussions in student freedoms and their imminent grade. Would HE stand for such disrespect? Mr. Gates' conduct simply adds fuel to the flames of racial profiling and stereotyping.
Editor's Note: While Dr. Gates may have acted like a cad and insulted the police officer, that was still no reason to arrest him. Police can't make arrests for "punitive" purposes; arrests should be made for breaking the law.
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Date: July 25th, 2009
Name: Wes Campbell
Subject: Black Star News Editor Is A Crack Dealing Pimp!
Comment: ALL of the police supported Crowley --- Black officers were standing on the podium also! See Mayor Daley's comments about Obama jumping-in without knowing the facts. You too pard; go back to your street corner and pimp or push crack. Who gives a crap about your woe is me and mine attitude. Oh, hook YOUR racism around your belt.
Wes Campbell, Houston
Editor's Note: Your racist comments suggests that maybe you are indeed a crack dealer and pimp. Are you?
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ADVERTISEMENT
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Crowley And Dr. Gates: Police Can’t Have Blanket Powers |
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By Greg Fuller
July 25th, 2009
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Individual police officers cannot be the law unto themselves |
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[Comment: National News]
While race has dominated the discussion on the Professor Henry Louis Gates matter another factor which merits scrutiny is the level of discretion and latitude we grant individual police officers and the potential for easy abuse of that discretion.
Handcuffing and removing a citizen from his home because you don't like their attitude strikes me as overzealous and it is entirely too capricious a standard in a country where freedom of expression is sacrosanct.
Dr. Gates states that Sergeant James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department exaggerates the exchange between them. Whether that is or is not the case, we don't give up our freedom of expression just because the person we are addressing happens to be a police officer, especially so in the privacy of our home.
In life, often one person's statement of fact is another person's egregious insult. Elevating such encounters to an arresting offense is a misuse of the discretionary power we entrust to police.
I submit that we've gone too far in our granting of discretionary powers to police if perceived insults and affronts give police the latitude to use arrest powers in such situations.
It should be possible to have clearer guidelines and a higher threshold than a police officers opinion for an arresting offense.
Please feel free to post your comments directly or submit them to Milton@blackstarnews.com for publication.
“Speaking Truth To Empower.”
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