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View Full Version : Our friend Colin Powell weighs in on Gates v Crowley




Krugerrand
07-29-2009, 09:28 AM
Colin Powell: Skip Gates Could Have Avoided Arrest [<---link to full story]

Gen. Colin Powell says that Harvard Professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates could have avoided arrest and the ensuing controversy by just talking calmly to Cambridge, Mass., Police Sgt. James Crowley and coming outside his house.

"I'm saying Skip, perhaps in this instance, might have waited a while, come outside, talked to the officer and that might have been the end of it," Powell says in an interview with Larry King, airing Tuesday night on CNN.

The part that gets me is when he relates his encounter with "racial profiling"...

As an example of racial profiling in his own life, he refers to an incident at National Airport when he was President Reagan's national security adviser, which he wrote about in his autobiography, "My American Journey."

Powell recalled driving up in a limo, wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, for a planned meeting. The private plane terminal staff had been alerted to meet with Reagan's NSA.

After walking around the terminal for a long time, Powell finally approached the counter and asked about the meeting, to which the airport official responded, "Oh, YOU'RE General Powell." Powell recounts to King that "it was inconceivable to him that a black guy could be the national security adviser."

Two points ... one this isn't racial profiling. Racial profiling is a law enforcement thing ... not a meeting-somebody-at-the-airport thing. Secondly, is it at all possible that the airport official expected GENERAL Powell to be wearing a uniform rather than a suit? Why must we assume it was a racial thing? This worker probably doesn't know what a National Security Adviser is ... let alone have racial presumptions for the position. (disclaimer, I didn't read his book in which he may give more information to support his racial conclusions.)

Stary Hickory
07-29-2009, 10:17 AM
So one guy was amazed that a General was black...so what? It his opinion, and it's not something you can legislate against. These things happen, what if he had a biker biker haircut and tatoos? I sure the clerk would have said something similar. Or if he was a female.

erowe1
07-29-2009, 10:21 AM
I know this will sound insensitive. But if that's the best thing Powell could come up with to claim victimhood for racism, then we must not have much of a race problem here after all.

kahless
07-29-2009, 10:22 AM
Maybe he just did not recognize him since he was wearing a suit instead of a uniform. Oh I forgot, all us white people are racist therefore obvious feel a black man does not deserve to be in such a position. :rolleyes:

Krugerrand
07-29-2009, 10:31 AM
I know this will sound insensitive. But if that's the best thing Powell could come up with to claim victimhood for racism, then we must not have much of a race problem here after all.

Exactly!

Valli6
07-29-2009, 11:41 AM
I think the ease with which people become convinced that they are being racially profiled, is racist.

Brian4Liberty
07-29-2009, 12:20 PM
Maybe he just did not recognize him since he was wearing a suit instead of a uniform. Oh I forgot, all us white people are racist therefore obvious feel a black man does not deserve to be in such a position. :rolleyes:

Exactly. Harassment and discrimination are very often only in the head of the "victim".

BenIsForRon
07-29-2009, 12:59 PM
This whole situation reminds me of a Dave Chapelle joke:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=9110134

Dr.3D
07-29-2009, 01:03 PM
I think the ease with which people become convinced that they are being racially profiled, is racist.

I tend to agree with you on that.

max
07-29-2009, 02:18 PM
Hey Colon!

Did it ever occur to you that if you weren't a mulatto, you would not have been leap frogged over scores of senior officers to obtain your position in the first place????

Ever think of that...asshole!

The only reason you became a media created demi-God is BECAUSE you are black.
Furthermore...after that despeccable dog and pony show u put on at the UN....an act that led to the Iraq war and the death of countless people (many of whom with skin darker than yours)......you have ZERO credibility.

Eat shit Mr. Powell

SLSteven
07-29-2009, 04:53 PM
This whole situation reminds me of a Dave Chapelle joke:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=9110134

Excellent!