Powell: Gates, Cops Both at Fault

Tapes show I'm not a racist, says woman who alerted police

(NEWSER) - The Massachusetts woman who called 911 on Henry Louis Gates and his chauffeur as they wrestled with the Harvard professor’s front door said today she never mentioned race to Sgt. James Crowley, the officer who arrested Gates. Lucia Whalen’s statement contradicts the police report filed by Crowley, which states that Whalen described “two black males with backpacks,” after he arrived in person, the New York Times reports. More»

Officer calls for more cars; 911 caller unsure on men's race

(NEWSER) - In audio from the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr, released today by Cambridge police, the arresting officer tells the dispatcher to “keep the cars coming” as he faces an “uncooperative” suspect, the Boston Herald reports. An earlier tape reveals the 911 call in the case, in which a Harvard magazine employee says another woman “had noticed two gentlemen” who “kind of had to barge in.” She notes, "They have suitcases." More»

(NEWSER) - The Cambridge cop who arrested Henry Louis Gates Jr. said yesterday that he won't be giving the Harvard professor the apology he demands. Sgt. James Crowley, whose run-in with Gates began when he responded to a neighbor's report of a break-in at the professor's home, denies the arrest had anything to do with Gates' race, though Gates accused him of racial profiling, touching off a huge controversy. "I am not a racist," he tells the Boston Globe. More»

Sgt. James Crowley's class instructs recruits not to 'single people out because of ethnic background'

(AP) - The white police sergeant criticized by President Barack Obama for arresting black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his Massachusetts home is a police-academy expert on racial profiling. Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley has taught a class on racial profiling for 5 years at the Lowell Police Academy after being hand-picked for the job by former police Commissioner Ronny Watson, who is black, the academy's director says. More»

Don't confuse it with poor blacks' struggle against racism, classism

(NEWSER) - Racial profiling may have played a role in the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., but fellow black scholar Boyce Watkins says there's no reason to feel sorry for Gates. At heart, the scene was likely “a battle of two egos,” Watkins writes in the Grio. “What is abundantly clear is that this is NOT the case of a poor black male being exploited by the racist, classist power structure.” More»