Henry Louis Gates arrest controversy

rdf:langString Henry Louis Gates arrest controversy

rdf:langString Arrest of Henry Louis Gates

rdf:langString Disorderly conduct charge dropped

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rdf:langString On the porch of a yellow-clapboard house stands a middle-aged African American man in polo shirt and slacks, in the middle of a statement, his mouth agape, his hands handcuffed to the front. Behind him stands a uniformed Caucasian policeman, lightly grasping the man's upper arm. Facing the pair is an officer to the right, his left hand held up in a "hold on" gesture. Another African American officer is in the foreground, below the level of the porch, with his arms akimbo and his back to the scene while he faces the general direction of the camera.

rdf:langString A pair of mugshots giving front and profile views of a middle-aged African American man with very short-trimmed dark hair very short-trimmed grey goatee and mustache, a neutrally nondescript or matter-of-fact expression on his face, wearing very lightweight wire-rimmed eyeglasses and an orange-and-white variegated-pinstripe polo shirt.

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rdf:langString Gates's booking photo taken the day of the arrest.

rdf:langString Professor Henry Louis Gates

rdf:langString and Sgt. James Crowley

rdf:langString Gates, arrested on the porch of his Cambridge home, with Sgt. Crowley and Sgt. Lashley .

rdf:langString August 2021

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rdf:langString Arrest of Henry Louis Gates.jpg

rdf:langString Henry Louis Gates, Jr. mugshot.jpg

rdf:langString Gates residence, Ware Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts

rdf:langString Off. Carlos Figueroa

rdf:langString Other unnamed officers

rdf:langString Resident Henry Louis Gates Jr.

rdf:langString Sgt. James Crowley

rdf:langString Sgt. Leon Lashley

rdf:langString On July 16, 2009, Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested at his Cambridge, Massachusetts home by local police officer Sgt. James Crowley, who was responding to a 911 caller's report of men breaking and entering the residence. The arrest initiated a series of events that unfolded under the spotlight of the international news media. The arrest occurred just after Gates returned home to Cambridge after a trip to China to research the ancestry of Yo-Yo Ma for Faces of America. Gates found the front door to his home jammed shut and, with the help of his driver, tried to force it open. A local witness reported their activity to the police as a potential burglary in progress. Accounts regarding the ensuing confrontation differ, but Gates was arrested by the responding officer, Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley, and charged with disorderly conduct. On July 21, the charges against Gates were dropped. The arrest generated a national debate about whether or not it represented an example of racial profiling by police. On July 22, President Barack Obama said about the incident, "I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home, and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately." Law enforcement organizations and members objected to Obama's comments and criticized his handling of the issue. In the aftermath, Obama stated that he regretted his comments and hoped that the situation could become a "teachable moment". On July 24, Obama invited both parties to the White House to discuss the issue over a beer, and on July 30, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden joined Crowley and Gates in a private, cordial meeting in a courtyard near the White House Rose Garden; this became known colloquially as the "Beer Summit". Years later, in his memoir A Promised Land, Obama wrote that according to the White House's polling, the incident caused a larger drop in white support for his presidency than any other single event.