Racial Profiling, Crowley/Gates incident and the media

[Titantron]

This is Jesse Jackson on the Today Show today, July 28th.

Appearing on Tuesday’s CBS Early Show, Reverend Jesse Jackson continued to promote the idea that Harvard Professor Henry Gates was a victim of racial profiling, despite new evidence to the contrary: "This issue of Dr. Gates being a victim of excessive force and bad judgment is a much bigger subject...This one case could open up the issue of the pervasiveness of race profiling."
Co-host Harry Smith had asked Jackson about a scheduled meeting between Gates, Cambridge police officer Sergeant James Crowley, and President Obama: "Do you think there's any chance these three men can embark after this meeting is over having found common ground?" Jackson argued: "Well, they have the supreme arbiter in the President of the United States of America. It's a big subject for a small meeting." He went on to compare the Gates case to that of Rosa Parks: " If Rosa Parks and James Blake, the bus driver, had met at the White House and did not deal with the issue of denial of public accommodations, it would have been personal and not policy."
Immediately preceding the discussion with Jackson, correspondent Bianca Solorzano reported on the newly released 911 call by Gates’ neighbor Lucia Whelan, and pointed out that Whelan: "...describes the scene, but what she doesn't mention is the men's skin color." Solorzano went on to cite Whelan’s attorney, Wendy Murphy: "Now she's glad to have an opportunity to clear the air and make it very clear she is not a racist."
Instead of challenging Jackson’s assertion that Gates was subject to racial profiling, Smith tossed a softball for his follow up question: "I think about your face the night Barack Obama was elected and the tears that were streaming down your face, all that you have experienced in the fight for civil rights in this country. And I wonder sometimes, as you have seen all that you have seen, can this one – I think maybe that this incident shows that life is still even as complicated as it's always been?" Jackson again cited Rosa Parks: "Well you know, again, back to Rosa Parks, that one case raised the real debate about denial of public accommodations and what it meant and denial of the right to vote. This one case could open up the issue of the pervasiveness of race profiling."
Not content with sticking to the facts of the Gates case, Jackson proceeded to launch into a list of grievances: "I wish at some point the President would meet with the – Countrywide and with Wells Fargo, for example. Much of this subprime housing lending was driven by race profiling, not just the police profiling, but judges in the sentencing disparity, for example. And so, there is – this is a teachable moment if we, in fact, now address the issue of – race profiling is deadly, it's costly and it’s expensive, and really is bad for your health."
In his final question to Jackson, Smith wondered: ": Last but not least, will it always be this way, or will there be a time in America when we're color blind, when we’re class blind, when we're gender blind, when we're disability blind?" Jackson replied: "No one desires to be blind. We should be conscious and we should be – we should be caring. I think the real deal here is that we not have an explosive situation, President Obama has tried to reduce the temperature in the Dr. Gates and Crowley case." There was no mention of President Obama furthering divisions by commenting that Cambridge police had "acted stupidly" in the case.
The segment concluded with Jackson ranting:

I hope that this kicks off a real – a real concern about how to close what President Obama calls a ‘structural inequality.’ That means enforcing and funding civil rights law. It really means stopping race profiling as it comes to enforcing EEOC, contract compliance, affirmative action. And what makes this issue so explosive is that it is so pervasive, it is so illegal and so immoral and there must be a deterrence to, in fact, stop it. I hope it will get beyond the meeting with the President and Mr. – Dr. Gates and Crowley and get involved in this discussion, Dr. – the Attorney General's position about how cowardly we are on this question and the need – each agency of government has a real role to play in ending institutional, structural, expansive racial profiling.

[jlzinck]

Jesse Jackson- Race baiting *****.

I heard a reported on the radio yesterday relay the text of an interview Gates did on a CSpan Book show.

Paraphrasing here- Gates was (direct quote here) "horrified" to find out he was 50% white while researching his geneology.

He had a DNA test and again was "horrified" to find out that he wasm in fact, 56% white.

Now just imagine a "white looking" person had made these statements about be ing horrified about being a certain % black. They would be labeled racist.

Ship Gates is Jesse Jackson with a job.

[Titantron]

It was 57% and I read it too. Gates is a worthless Racist Pig. Gates, Sharpton, Jackson, and many others are the reason why people are less likely to believe that Racism still exists. Their definition of racism still exists in rare cases. The act of Crying racism against white people in itself is racist. The reality is that there is overt racism in America today. This case displays that for everyone to see. Gates is a racist. His racism is condoned by society on multiple levels. A large population of this country assumed and still assumes that Gates was a victim because Crowley is a white cop. thats racism. gates has been given a free pass by the media, while crowley is attacked for doing his job. Gates is given a podium to spew his racist BS as a reward for his racist views. Then the POTUS publicly backs a now nationally known racist.

[Yanksfan396]

Nothing an awkwardly set, highly televised, sit-down with a few beers can't settle. How weird would you feel if you made a routine arrest, then found yourself sitting at the White House lawn drinking beer with the United States President? I feel sorry for the officer.

[Aikman_TheGreat]

Nothing an awkwardly set, highly televised, sit-down with a few beers can't settle. How weird would you feel if you made a routine arrest, then found yourself sitting at the White House lawn drinking beer with the United States President? I feel sorry for the officer.

Not only that, but the guy that flipped on you and called you a racist. It'd feel like a set up

[Yanksfan396]

Exactly. Both accuse you of racism, then sit you down for "beer." I can't believe how much media attention this is getting. Now's the time to become a serial killer, guys!