In this article, Radley Balko reminds us that the “national
conversation on race” which has been taking place following arrest of Professor
Gates needs to include the overlooked topics of free speech and police
misconduct.
Although the role of racial profiling and racism has been
incessantly analyzed, as it should, a discussion of the grounds of the
“disorderly conduct” charge has been noticeably absent. However, one could certainly argue that
President Obama’s now-infamous remarks that: “… the Cambridge police acted
stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in
their own home..." were targeted towards questioning the validity of the
disorderly conduct charge.
Instead of focusing on what Obama meant, Obama’s remarks have been ubiquitously truncated in
the media to him simply stating that the cops “acted stupidly” when he didn’t
know all the facts. But what gets lost is his explanation for which actions were stupid, which were: “arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were
in their own home.” The police were called, after all, about the possibility of
two men breaking into Professor Gates’ home. It did not take long for the
police to establish Professor Gates was in his own home.
The allegations of racism, hot tempers and harsh words that
were shared were unfortunate, especially given the media frenzy to follow. But
Balko reminds us that, “Verbally disrespecting a cop may well be rude, but in a
free society we can't allow it to become a crime, anymore than we can criminalize
criticism of the president, a senator, or the city council.”
There has been significant and substantive dialogue in the
past week and a half in our national conversation on race. But this national
conversation should include more than race. Another conversation should take
place on the rights of the arrested or policed, including their right to free
speech and to be free from police misconduct.