Sixteen students from eight countries heard an unexpected verdict from a New Haven cop on the controversy surrounding the recent arrest of leading black intellectual Henry Louis Gates.
“It’s not a racial arrest. It’s an arrest,” said Shafiq Abdussabur, weighing in on the national debate surrounding Gates’ arrest on July 16 by a white police officer in Cambridge, Mass.. The incident, in which the Harvard professor was arrested for disorderly conduct during an investigation of a possible burglary, has touched off a heated national conversation about the state of race relations and policing in the U.S. Today President Obama plans to knock down beers at the White House with the professor and the arresting officer in an effort to quell the controversy.
“The guy [Gates] talked himself right into a pair of handcuffs,” said Abdussabur. “You can’t blame the officer.”
What made the comment unexpected: Abdussabur, who heads a black police organization, just published a book that’s critical of racial profiling.
Abdussabur made his statements Tuesday in a classroom in Yale’s Harkness Hall, where he delivered a two-hour lecture on race, policing, and urban gun violence in the U.S. In the audience were 16 international college students who are spending six weeks at the university as part of an English language program.
Abdussabur recently published a book entitled “A Black Man’s Guide To Law Enforcement In America.” (Read an Advocate story about that book here.)
“My bottom line is that policing in the U.S. is an extension of politics through the use of force,” Abdussabur told the students on Tuesday. Police officers are empowered by the government to solve problems, not to engage in debate over issues like race and status in America, Abdussabur said.
“American law enforcement is not designed to be scholars behind a gun,” he said. As a “paramilitary organization,” a police force “can’t afford to have a bunch of independent thinkers.”
When the officer showed up at Gates’ home, Abdussabur argued, he had an obligation to follow his training and conduct a full investigation. “All America’s up in arms that this was racial profiling,” Abdussabur said. “But the government has given officers powers to continue an investigation until they are satisfied.”
“Let’s just say that this was Henry Louis Gates’ twin brother, holding everybody in the house hostage,” Abdussabur continued. The officer would have to make sure that Gates was who he said he was.
“This was not racial profiling,” Abdussabur said.
It’s understandable that Gates was upset, Abdussabur acknowledged. “He gets back from China, where he was probably treated as the creme de la creme.” He was jet lagged. Then he has to deal with the questions of a police officer in his own home.
“My thing is that the officer was doing what all officers are trained to do,” Abdussabur said later. “At that time the officer did what he felt was right.”
It’s a mistake to see arrests as personal encounters, Abdussabur said. “When I arrest you, it’s not between me and you, it’s between you and the state,” he said.
President Obama made a mistake when he criticized the arresting officer for acting “stupidly,” Abdussabur said. Similarly, the mayor of Cambridge was wrong to say that the arrest “should not have happened.”
“When did the mayor become the chief of police?” Abdussabur asked.
Gates’ arrest has become the subject of such a large debate in part because, since the election of the first black president, the country is primed to take on the matter of race in America, Abdussabur said.
“There’s a strong need in this country to once and for all deal with the issue of race,” Abdussabur said. “People have been waiting for that door to open and now that it’s open they want to rip the door off.”
But Gates’ arrest is not the appropriate focal point for this discussion, Abdussabur said. “Energy needs to be put in a better place, because it’s just charging people up.”
After his lecture, Abdussabur had some suggestions for what President Obama should do if he’s “really serious about addressing the problem of race.” Police departments need more money for training officers, especially in how to deal with diverse populations, Abdussabur said. “That’s how we’re going to solve it.”
Abdussabur said later that the “outcomes” of the incident do suggest “elements of racial profiling. But just to jump on the cop and say he was a racist and locking up [Gates] because he was a black man — he was locking him up because he was running his mouth!”
“When you’re engaging the police,” Abdussabur said, “that’s not time for a debate. Even if you’re being racially profiled. That’s what my book talks about. You’ve got to navigate your way around that. You’re going to get stopped because you’re black. You’ve got to be swift enough on your feet” to pick the right time to raise the issue.
Russia Reacts
Student Regina Sevostiyanova (pictured) said that the Gates arrest has drawn a lot of attention in her native Russia.
“It’s so interesting,” she said. Russian media are following the story closely, she said, including broadcasting Obama’s remarks on the matter.
Sevostiyanova said that she agrees with Abdussabur that the officer had not done anything wrong. “I feel closer to his opinion,” she said, pointing at Abdussabur. Furthermore, “Obama should not have said the words he did.”
Turkish students Sinan Sevim (at right in photo) and Omer Usanmaz (at center) said that they found Abdussabur’s lecture informative. “We learned how it works here,” Sevim said.
He contrasted American police with Turkish officers. “In Turkey it is not so strict,” he said.
“We’re not that scared of the cops,” said Usanmaz. Here in the U.S., Usanmaz said, he feels nervous when he sees police officers.
Finally, someone with half a brain talking about this overblown situation.