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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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26

Powell: Gates, Cops Both at Fault

Both sides overreacted; people should 'cooperate' with police

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(Newser) – Speaking to Larry King about Henry Louis Gates’ arrest, Colin Powell said he’d faced racial profiling “many times,” and suggested both the professor and the police were at fault in the incident, the Huffington Post reports. Gates “should have reflected on whether or not this was the time to make that big a deal,” Powell said, while police shouldn’t have taken things so far.

Powell advised “young people” to “cooperate” with police. “Don't make the situation more difficult.” When racially profiled, “you protest, you try to get things fixed, but it's kind of a better course of action to take it easy and don't let your anger make the current situation worse.” As for police, “I would have thought” at the point of arrest that “some adult supervision would have stepped in and said, OK, look, it is his house. Let's not take this any further.”

This image made from television and provided by CNN Larry King Live shows former Secretary of State Colin Powell, right, during an interview with Larry King on Tuesday July 28, 2009 in Washington.
This image made from television and provided by CNN Larry King Live shows former Secretary of State Colin Powell, right, during an interview with Larry King on Tuesday July 28, 2009 in Washington.   (AP Photo/Courtesy CNN Larry King Live)
This 1997 file photo released by Harvard University shows professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Mass.
This 1997 file photo released by Harvard University shows professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Mass.   (AP Photo/Jane Reed, File)
This image made from television and provided by CNN Larry King Live shows former Secretary of State Colin Powell, right, during an interview July 28, 2009.
This image made from television and provided by CNN Larry King Live shows former Secretary of State Colin Powell, right, during an interview July 28, 2009.   (AP Photo/Courtesy CNN Larry King Live)
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26 comments
VIEWING:
 
JonmarkP
Jul 29, 09 7:21 AM CDT
Gates has more balls than ten Colon Powells, and more brains than a hundred Colon Powells. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
-21
IN RESPONSE:
TuStepp
Jul 29, 09 7:50 AM CDT
Are you serious? Colin Powell is absolutely right in this situation. Gates just had to shut up and he could have filed a complaint at a later time if he really wanted to. Instead, he made himself look like an idiot! The cops were dumb about the situation as well.
Vote up! Vote down!
+13
IN RESPONSE:
Fondue
Jul 29, 09 8:10 AM CDT
Look, "I'll talk to yo' mama outside" is protected by the 1st Amendment. Unnecessary? Yes - maybe. However, still protected. Gates could have easily just shown the ID and asked Crowley to leave and we would not be having a national debate about race that is long overdue.
Vote up! Vote down!
+6
IN RESPONSE:
Reader65069154
Jul 29, 09 11:49 AM CDT
Once again, I have to ask, do you understand that just being the owner of a property does not give you the right to break into it? Just showing ID does not give you the right to tell the cops to go away in all cases.
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0
IN RESPONSE:
anchower
Jul 29, 09 6:58 PM CDT
"[J]ust being the owner of a property does not give you the right to break into it." Uh, yes it does. I can do whatever the fuck I want with my property, as long as I'm not hurting anyone else. That's what makes it MY property.
Vote up! Vote down!
+1

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