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timhttp://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1186039&srvc=home&position=active
The Boston Herald is the Fox News of Boston-area journalism, for those who don't know. But their story on the Gates arrest did include a delicious, delicious factoid (which the other papers have removed by now): the neighbor who called the police on Gates, Lucia Whalen, works for the Harvard alumni magazine:
"Henry Louis Gates Jr., acclaimed Harvard University academic and black history documentarian, has been arrested following a bizarre front-porch tirade about racism police said 'alarmed' passers-by drawn to the uproar outside his Cambridge home.
'This is what happens to black men in America!' the allegedly 'loud and tumultuous' 58-year-old divorcee is accused of having bellowed to a crowd of about seven early Thursday afternoon as Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley sought to question him about a reported break-in attempt at his Ware Street address.
A witness, 40-year-old Lucia Whalen of Malden, had alerted the cops that a man was 'wedging his shoulder into the front door' at Gates’ house 'as to pry the door open,' police reported.
[snip]
Cambridge police declined to comment on whether racism was a factor in Gates’ arrest.
Their reports on the incident stated Gates’ alleged reaction to their presence 'served no legitimate purpose and caused citizens passing by this location to stop and take notice while appearing surprised and alarmed.'" [Racism theirs.]
Let's recap:
- Tenured Harvard professor tries to get into his own house.
- Woman calls the cops upon seeing a BL**K P*RS*N doing something suspicious, rather than asking her neighbor whether everything is OK.
- Said neighbor also happens to be a fellow Harvard employee.
If this metaphor were any richer, you would need a new liver after digesting it.
[Edited for clarity.]
The Boston Herald is the Fox News of Boston-area journalism, for those who don't know. But their story on the Gates arrest did include a delicious, delicious factoid (which the other papers have removed by now): the neighbor who called the police on Gates, Lucia Whalen, works for the Harvard alumni magazine:
"Henry Louis Gates Jr., acclaimed Harvard University academic and black history documentarian, has been arrested following a bizarre front-porch tirade about racism police said 'alarmed' passers-by drawn to the uproar outside his Cambridge home.
'This is what happens to black men in America!' the allegedly 'loud and tumultuous' 58-year-old divorcee is accused of having bellowed to a crowd of about seven early Thursday afternoon as Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley sought to question him about a reported break-in attempt at his Ware Street address.
A witness, 40-year-old Lucia Whalen of Malden, had alerted the cops that a man was 'wedging his shoulder into the front door' at Gates’ house 'as to pry the door open,' police reported.
[snip]
Cambridge police declined to comment on whether racism was a factor in Gates’ arrest.
Their reports on the incident stated Gates’ alleged reaction to their presence 'served no legitimate purpose and caused citizens passing by this location to stop and take notice while appearing surprised and alarmed.'" [Racism theirs.]
Let's recap:
- Tenured Harvard professor tries to get into his own house.
- Woman calls the cops upon seeing a BL**K P*RS*N doing something suspicious, rather than asking her neighbor whether everything is OK.
- Said neighbor also happens to be a fellow Harvard employee.
If this metaphor were any richer, you would need a new liver after digesting it.
[Edited for clarity.]