Word: blacks
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...Gates, an African American studies professor who has earned 50 honorary degrees for his work and is arguably Harvard's most renowned black scholar, was arrested last Thursday at his home for disorderly conduct. Police reports and statements from Gates' lawyer suggest that police officers, investigating a tip of a possible break-in at Gates' Cambridge home, got into a confrontation with the 58-year-old professor, who was returning home from a trip to China and forced his way through a jammed front door with a car driver's help...
...Nevertheless, Spencer H. Hardwick '11, president of the Black Students Association and also a Crimson news writer, said that "the situation clearly requires an investigation into the motives of the officers involved and the policies and procedures of the Cambridge Police Department" in order to "prevent further incidents of arbitrary and unfair treatment against innocent citizens." He said that his organization has opened a dialogue with the University administration to explore how the BSA could help address these issues. [CORRECTION APPENDED...
...Those actions definitely have a racial precedent," Uzoh said. "It's not uncommon, it has even happened to me in California." She added that in the past, she and her parents have been pulled over while driving for police questioning about how they obtained their vehicle. "Black men especially are sometimes questioned by police unnecessarily," Uzoh said...
...University has grappled with racial profiling issues a few times in recent years, although those cases involved the Harvard University Police Department, not the Cambridge Police Department. Last summer, HUPD officers, in a confrontation allegedly "laced with obscenities," approached a young black man attempting to remove a lock from a bicycle who turned out to be a Boston area high school student working at the University for the summer. The incident helped trigger a University task force review of community and police relations, and prompted HUPD to reach out to the community, drawing praise from black student organizations...
...framing his experience as part of a "racial narrative" in a biased criminal justice system and reprimanding the police officer for having a "broad imagination" in filing his report. Police accounts say that Gates was uncooperative and loud when questioned by police, yelling "[t]his is what happens to black men in America" and telling the police officer "[y]ou don't know who your [sic] messing with...