willydoe71

Actually Marily-Jean, you are incorrect. If you look up chapter 272, section 53 of the General Laws of Massachusetts, you will find - "Common night walkers, common street walkers, both male and female, common railers and brawlers, persons who with offensive and disorderly acts or language accost or annoy persons of the opposite sex, lewd, wanton and lascivious persons in speech or behavior, idle and disorderly persons, disturbers of the peace, keepers of noisy and disorderly houses, and persons guilty of indecent exposure may be punished by imprisonment in a jail or house of correction for not more than six months, or by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment." So you see, disorderly language OR actions. Therefore, yelling at the officer was in fact disorderly conduct. The charges were dropped because of the whole Obama factor. The idea of the cop being a racist for arresting Gates in the first place is absolutely ludicrous.

marilyn-jean

Yelling at a policeman is not disorderly conduct, which requires physical disorder, not just words. That's why the charges were dropped; the officer was clearly in the wrong in arresting the professor. Professor Gates was in his own home. Crowley should have just left once he knew Professor Gates was did not break in. For years now, black Americans have been targeted by police. That Crowley says he isn't a racist but could use such fowl language in a subsequent email, shows that he doesn't even realise that he IS a racist. Clearly the officer needs counseling to come to grips with his prejudice. It is also obvious that police officers blindly defend one another. They forget their job is to defend the public, not each other. If a police officer screws up, it should be admitted rather than excused.

brooklyn15

I WAS A POLICE OFFICER FOR 25 YEARS.WHEN EVER I HAD CONTACT WITH A BLACK PERSON,90% OT THE TIME THE FIRST WORDS OUT OF THIER MOUTHS WERE----YOUR STOPPING ME BECAUSE I'M BLACK. OBAMA IS AS BIG OF A RACIST AS GATES IS.

goodamerican

obama said, "that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately", i get stopped when i break the law and i pay my tickets if i feel i did something wrong, this year i was stopped by a hispanic officer giving erroneous tickets which i will fight in a court of law, but not with the officer in the street! obama does not speak for me and i am hispanic. i figure if these are men with education then they should know that it is not racial profiling!! it's just a black man trying to get someone in trouble. not all black people are racist, i have black friends and they are intelligent, smart and respectful, but i have felt racism come to me more from black people then any other race. let's get the facts straight before we point fingers.

peggydee

What a bunch of hooey. Both Gates and Obama have egos as big as the national debt. Gates clearly was disorderly and deserved arrest. I think that Obama planted the question of this situation so he could give national exposure to "abused blacks," and gain even greater popularity among all the little ACORNS.