Powell on Gates: "I've been racially profiled many times" -- HuffPo article

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/28/powell-on-gates-ive-been_n_246577.html


He goes on to say: "Do you get angry? Yes. Do you manifest that anger? 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."

This is the point I was trying to make. Someone posted an article about how Obama was profiled at a restaurant where they thought he was the help. Did he flip out? Er...no. You can even use subtle sarcasm sometimes if you happen to think of it. Obama could've said: "You know, I was gonna ask you the same thing!"

I got into it with a White guy at the laundromat a couple of years ago. This guy walked in, went to the back (where the attendants and owners keep their stuff) and I asked him if he worked there (I need something). He replied: "Do I LOOK like I work here?" I retorted that I don't know what a person who works at a laundry looks like and that it was a snobbish reply and on we went. I cannot stand defensive people. They are always accusing you of insulting them. I am not trying to link this to Gates, per se, but agreeing with Colin that it's better to keep your cool. Plus, it shows class.

THAT's when he should have resigned.

He let the military community down.

Whatever -- he kept his cool.

Someone whose lies helped usher in the deaths of thousands of Americans and countless Iraqis is "classy"?

I'd hate to meet your idea of a bastard.

I said that it's classy to keep one's cool, even if they are effing with you. One of the reasons that asshats eff with people is to get them to lose it and then it proves their faulty premise.

I was/am disgusted in Powell since he did his little Powerpoint show before the Iraq illegal invasion. It doesn't mean he's wrong 100% of the time. You know what they say about a broken clock, after all...

on Ignore. It looks kind of funky, so...

:shrug:

but it was kind of faded.

This, maybe?

:sarcasm:

a co-conspirator.

no sale.

by not arguing?:shrug:

This is by no means limited to Gatescrowleyobamagate. I posted another story about a man pushing the mother of his child, she lost balance, and the baby fell three stories to his death (5.5 weeks oldx( ) The father was obviously agitated about something and lost his cool. Tragedies happen when we lose our cool. We may be in the right or wrong, but it's important to have equanimity.

My SO always says that the person with the gun is the boss. He is referring to incidences where a person is carjacked or another type of armed robbery. When people try and save their cars, it usually doesn't go well, even if they are being wronged.

... the criticisms, and the basis for such criticism, are NEITHER equivalent NOR comparable. In no way is it a "competition." While one might quibble with Gates' discretion, Gates' ire is no excuse for the behavior of Crowley. It is NOT a crime to show irritation at being confronted by a cop, uninvited, in your own home!

I find the frequently-referenced role of Crowley in "diversity training" to be suspiciously ironic. If this cop is such a fucking 'expert' in racial diversity, then why the FUCK didn't he comprehend the somewhat common reaction of African-Americans to being confronted, paticularly in Gates' own home??? Quite frankly, I'm caused to suspect that Crowley 'teaches' diversity ... with the objective of GAMING the rules. The presentation of such a subject in a way that offers a CYA "How To" would be corruptly cynical. It'd be like suggesting that cops carry a 'throw-down' in a course on use of deadly force.

and my disengagement from both the mental health and the criminal justice systems.

And that is all the classes and seminars and other "programs" that are out there as a waste of tax money. Mandated for some good reason and sound great on paper but when you actually attend those classes, on your own steam or via court order, they're cr@p.

... to blame one's own negative behavior on the negative behavior of another person. The drunken husband blames is drinking on his wife's nagging and the nagging wife blames her harangues on his drinking. That's the overly simplistic paradigm. Far too often we buy into the notion that we can somehow 'control' the behavior of another ... but abdicate control over our own behavior. As a recovering control freak, it's a dysfunction I'm far too familiar with.

To look at the behavior and say it's "understandable" isn't to approve ... indeed, we seek to "undertstand" all manner of abnormal psychology.

Thanks!

I don't think the "mama" guy should be compared to Powell in any way.

But in any case, I find it interesting that people are saying tonight that Powell is a 'dangerous criminal,' etc. and yet when he said something recently that was deemed pro-dem, people were gushing. Me? I don't buy that he was duped by Bu$hCo, but I agree with him about dealing with racial profiling.

And the answer to racial profiling is not to be good.

Probably a college professor.

:shrug:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6168678&mesg_id=6172098

That's just one example of this one's work.

I guess. It doesn't matter where I go, people always ask me if I work there and can I help them,lol.
I don't know what it is. Many times it is just handing people something off of a shelf or directing them to a certain area of the store--which I do if I am able.
I'm a fat, middle-aged white woman with a kind face. What can I say?:D

Like or dislike Colin Powell, and I am no fan..

he was profiled while he was national security adviser in the Reagan administration, which shows that no office is too high. At the end of the day, he is still black and subject to being profiled.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/28/powell.palin/index.html?eref=rss_topstories