As far as Gates was concerned there was no problem and he had done nothing "wrong" ... there was no "there there" ... but this policeman is asking him to "step outside" ... Gates doesn't want to go outside. Gates explains who he is ... The policeman asks for identification ...

The police report somehow elides over what happened next .... according to Gates, when Gates when to get his ID the policeman followed him into the kitchen ... (the police report does mention the policeman exiting the residence and has other details confirming the policeman was in the house).

If I turned around in my home and found a policeman had followed me in without asking permission, I likely would feel that my "space" had been violated.

In context, Gates' upset makes better sense. He had not felt he "needed" to prove his identity ... He had done NOTHING, yet this policeman was ordering him around ...

The policeman may not have meant his actions/words to be racist but apparently that's how they were felt to Mr. Gates.

on the porch to "talk it over" (allegedly because the acoutics made radio talking/listening difficult) ... as soon as Gates was outside, Gates was arrested to disorderly conduct ... because a small "crowd" had gathered ... the police seemed to blame Gates' disorderly conduct, rather than presence of several police vehicles ... which had continued arriving as Gates and the policeman were arguing and the policeman talked on the radio ...

A simple "sorry for the misunderstanding" early on probably would have diffused this situation ... and a tiny understanding that Mr. Gates being angry, upset and even ascribing the "misunderstanding" not a misunderstanding but part of a pattern of racist harrassment was not unreasonable or "disorderly."

This stinks of the whole "arrested for resisting arrest" ploy --- roust minorities and then arrest them when they are less than cooperative and submissive -- it's a classic.

My mother and father and brothers all felt the same way ... my neighbors and peers in my little community also considered the police in general a threat, nosy, intrusive ... I cannot remember anyone EVER calling the police about anything, even a neighbor's psychotic break (this was before 911) ...

Now middle-aged, my antipathy is much diminished ... however, I would guess that once Gates proved his identity, he both wanted and fully expected the police to GO AWAY and leave him to get on with his evening ... when they didn't, I suspect his alarm bells went off ... mine would and I'm a middle-aged white lady about his age...

If you "like" the police (and many many people do, though not as much as firefighters), you might well not react that way. I completely understand why Gates got pissed off. Yes, I'm also doubtful I would have been arrested, this little middle-age white lady.

even THREATENED with arrest ... Cops have guns and they have the power to handcuff you, force you into a car, and take you with them ... and when they decide that to do that, any resistance becomes "resisting arrest" which is considered a crime in and of itself ...

As a result, once arrested, the police HAD TO decide not to prosecute -- it was at their "discretion" ...

A middle-aged man in his own home arrested after showing identification? Nothing to be glad about.

It's like the poor slob who ends up late for work (docked pay and having a tardy placed in his or file) because some cop decides that they look out-of-place or is just "curious" ...

Once in a life time -- I had that happen 30 years ago, at 2 am, on a freeway in California -- it's still intrustive, upsetting and disruptive .... a month or two later, a young woman was raped and killed by a highway patrolman very near where I was pulled over ... I've always wondered.

The cops have the power to pull you over -- they have the right and the equipment to handcuff, taser and even beat you -- there's nothing to be glad about when people who are literally "minding their own business" are subjected to that threat.

lots of men seem to care enough about that legally-binding specified "penalty" to at least not get caught...

In real life, if he cheats -- very likely -- LW won't throw him out on his ear ... there will be counseling and tears and promises ... but if he knows he's totally screwed if infidelity is the "grounds for divorce" ... he might take it more seriously than otherwise ...

the bitch with infidelity -- as I understand it -- is that you screw around, you discover you DON'T feel tarnished, guilty, or less in love with your wife, and that there's no Scarlet letter on your forehead ... if you dare to mention it to someone other than your wife, you're not ostricized or outed ...

Being "afraid" you'll cheat is pretty wimpy ... imho ... get a prenup.

with an extraordinary economy and lyricism that somehow managed to create a three-dimensional image ... truly remarkable (and creative) writing.

not only his biography but this chronicle of poverty, a poverty that resonated with so many people of Irish descent and others. The struggle of people much more "that could be me" than those in most books, providing pungent reply to those "why do they live like that?" questions as well as the more judgmental "why don't they do something to get out of that hole?" The bone weary exhaustion and endless anxiety of struggling to simply keep the children fed (and hopefully shod when school starts) -- a daily challenge, outcome far from certain, an almost impossible goal. Not so long ago. Not so far away. Still, a childhood before television and global media. Providing as it were a journalistic update to Jacob Riis' (May 3, 1849 - May 26, 1914) photographs.

Thank you, Mr. McCourt.