Racist comment from officer arresting Craig?

[oberliner]

From the audio transcripts:

"I expect this from the guy we get out of the 'hood."

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-craig31aug31,0,3675793.story?coll=la-home-center

What the heck is that supposed to mean?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. Boy, that's a stretch.

Obviously Larry Craig is a victim of The Man.

:spray:

[H2O Man]

4. The tortured attempts

to shift the blame are getting towards the bottom of the barrel.

[Major Hogwash]

11. After Craig resigns, Idaho will indeed scrap the bottom of the barrel to replace him.

With Jim Risch, Lieutenant Governor.
According to the radio stations here.

[rodeodance]

16. agreed

[HughMoran]

59. I have to agree here

The words "sad" and "pathetic" have crossed my mind on a few occasions lately...

[blondeatlast]

5. *snort*

:rofl:

[Buzz Clik]

2. Racist comment? What race?

Yeah.

[oberliner]

3. Who is "the guy we get out of the hood" ?

What is he referring to there?

[Buzz Clik]

12. Beats the shit outta me.

Goddam, this is tired crap.

[POAS]

62. Well isn't it obvious- - - - -

Everybody knows "those people" live in the hood!

I think I better add this- - - - :sarcasm:

[Owl]

6. No.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

7. No.

And it makes perfect sense.

Are you really having trouble discerning the context or are you just feigning confusion for sake of creating a false attack on the cop?

[BeFree]

21. Gawd

You know DU is getting weird when I can't argue with the OMCrime.

Bushco must be laughing their asses off; having driven another wedge into DU.

[mudesi]

22. Sure you can...

...because he's wrong on this.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

27. Sorry Lyny Skyny, But As Usual I'm Not.

But you can have fun continuing to convince yourself of whateverrrrrrrrr you want. :rofl:

Whatever makes you feel better pal! :hi:

[mudesi]

29. As usual?

:rofl:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

32. Oops. You're Right. My Bad. I Meant As Always.

But I can understand why you resent me for it. Must be frustrating to not be me. :P

[oberliner]

25. It just seems like a weird thing to say

The cop expects people from "the hood" not to be truthful?

Just rubbed me the wrong way when I read it.

[Ghost in the Machine]

44. Have you ever watched COPS or anything? Jesus H Jones....

I saw a guy getting frisked one night and they found some crack and a crack pipe in the guy's pocket. His reply? "uhh, dese ain' my pants... I borrowed 'em from my cousin"...

Yeah.. a "guy from the hood"... just like the hookers that get busted and say "that's my boyfriend, I'm not trickin'"... then they're stumped when the cop asks the boyfriend's name...

[Sukie1941]

8. Maybe it's true

Coming from a police officer. They live in real time seeing real life and not always the best sights or sounds. Like public restrooms. And other places.

More than one race or ethnicity can live in the "hood."

What does the "hood" mean to you?

[Fredda Weinberg]

9. Can we separate lifestyle from race?

Cops should fear gangsta

[musette_sf]

10. from a cursory viewing of "Cops" type TV

i would say that he meant:

"Good senator, you are lying to me in a manner consistent with those I have encountered in my work who are known to be chronic recidivists. You are denying the actions you took that I saw with my own eyes. This type of denial of what I plainly saw, is the type of denial I have previously encountered from such type of recidivists."

[blondeatlast]

14. Exactly!

:rofl:

[mudesi]

13. I'm going to say "probably"

The "hood" is generally understood to mean "black community", so yes, I would say this officer may have unintentionally exposed a little bit of bigotry there.

[Gabi Hayes]

57. maybe he meant 'hood' as a suffix, omitting the antecedent:

as in jewhood

or white hood

or....



it could happen

[havocmom]

15. Thinkin more he meant that as: local, average joe

and my apologies to any Joe out there who may take offense ;)

[Catherine Vincent]

17. Well we all know when someone says "the hood", it's code for where the black or hispanic folks live.

But mostly black.

[mudesi]

19. Precisely

When I first heard that line from the officer, I immediately cringed.

[RB TexLa]

24. And when interrogating a rich white powerful person I'm sure it's used to

get a reaction. Just as I'm sure "I'd expect this from some Bubba klansman," has been used to get a response in interrogations.

[Catherine Vincent]

26. I listened to the audio and one thing that sticks out for me is the arresting cop.

I didn't like his attitude.

[musette_sf]

33. respectfully disagree

in fact, when i listened to the audio, i commented to my DH that i thought the fellah did an awfully good job in making it NOT about sexual preference or any issue with such. the only attitude i detected, was perhaps some nervousness that the good Senator from the great state of Idaho was actually bald-ass lying to him, and was trying to get over on him. i suspect the good Senator may have successfully cowed other LE personnel in other such previous rendezvous-es.

[progdonkey]

37. I do think he lost his cool a bit...

but it's perfectly understandable, all the same. No matter how much of a professional you are in whatever job you have, it's got to be so unbelievably aggravating to have someone lie to your face, especially when you know that they know you know they're lying (sorry, I couldn't figure out how to write that less stupidly. ;-) ) It's not just Craig lying to this officer's superior and saying the officer is mistaken, but saying to the officer himself that he's a blind fool.

And I do completely agree with your comment about mentioning sexual preference. The officer clearly doesn't care what anyone's orientation is; Craig gave certain signals that gave the officer reason to believe a crime was being committed, so he arrested the suspect and charged him with disorderly conduct. He's not arresting anyone for being gay, but for soliciting sex in a public restroom--it could just have easily been a female cop working undercover as a prostitute on a street corner.

As far as the "hood" comment, I agree with some of the other posters who are saying it's more than likely just a shaming technique. Just like if a mother is scolding her daughter, and she says, "I'd have expected this sort of behavior from your brother, but not from you." It doesn't mean the mother hates her son, but that she's just taking advantage of sibling rivalry to shame her daughter.

If the officer were saying it to another officer and Craig wasn't in the room, that would be an entirely different matter, but when a comment like that is directed at someone, you really have no idea how much of it is because of the presumed prejudices of the target and not the speaker.

[Raejeanowl]

40. Operating On Different Realities

You bet it's maddening. Your example reminds me of a politician who regularly had (heterosexual) encounters in his office and wanted me to believe him instead of my lying eyes. And had me hunting down anonymous, tall young blondes spotted at community appearances, ostensibly because they carried their qualifications to work on his campaign on their sleeves.

And another who'd say to me, in a pointed, tape-recorder-ready voice, that he wouldn't ask me to do the assignment I'd just refused, because THAT WOULD BE WRONG, while handing the same illegal assignment right back to me cross his desk.

(Someone needs to write a book someday about the peculiar, amoral psychology of "entitlement" our brazenly fearless leaders develop.)

Getting back to your OP, police say a great deal (USED TO HAVE broad leeway) in the course of an interrogation that is attributable to psych tactics and nothing more. The racist implication about the officer's "hood" remark sounds like groundwork on the mounting of the counter-offensive.

[TomInTib]

39. I respectfully agree.

I probably would have blurted out something along the line of, "You gotta be f$%^king kidding me!".

And I also agree with uyour suspicion regarding prior incidents.

[DrunkenMaster]

60. Bullshite

I call me neighborhood "the hood" all the f**king time and it has NOTHING to do with race.

What a joke.

[Catherine Vincent]

61. Well I guess it depends on who is saying it.

In your case it has nothing to do with race but with most others it does.

[goodhue]

18. I think its just an interrogation technique

As an airport cop he has likely had little occasion to arrest folks in the inner city.
It actually did give me pause, but the guy is from International Falls for peats sake.

[Jed Dilligan]

20. Well, yes.

A plague on both their houses, I say.

[Strawman]

23. Yeah I noticed that too

it's obvious what he means.

I don't think it's relevant to Craig's innocence or guilt, but it was clearly a racist and classist remark.

[ecstatic]

28. Yep. nt

[quiet.american]

30. No, I don't think so.

(-- and I'm African-American, fwiw).

I took the comment to mean this is what he would expect from an average perp, not someone with the supposed stature of senator -- and not all perps out of the hood are non-white, in any case.

[Grandrose]

36. Yes...I think so!

I am African-American, too. I have never heard the term "hood" used but for blacks!
The countless misbehaving Republics are giving "hood" a step-up! :rofl:

[quiet.american]

46. Nah! :)

Here's the thing -- if he was racist, what would he have been more likely to do -- let Craig go with a wink (so to speak) and a warning (if that), or arrest him like he did.

I don't get "racist" from this guy.

[POAS]

63. That is also how I took it- - - -

He was saying the Senator was acting like any ordinary perp he might pick up on the street and not like a person of supposed Senatorial stature.

[TheCowsCameHome]

31. Oh, please.....................

maybe he mean underneath the hood of a car.

C'mon.............

[The_Casual_Observer]

34. craig plead GUILTY.

What the hell else is there to say about this thing?

[WI_DEM]

35. I'm surprised the Republicans haven't jumped on this comment about the country going down the tubes

I guess conservatives/republicans will make a case that he is some kind of Bush hater too with his crack, "No wonder the country is going down the tubes."

[GeorgeGist]

38. It means 'a punk '

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

53. Shhhhhh!!!!!! Tis Not Wise To Speak Such Obviousness To Some...

[BlooInBloo]

41. LOL!

[WTF cubed]

42. I'm sorry... When did gay become a "race?"

There are gay people from every race you can think of.

[pdxmom]

43. There's a 'hood in Minneapolis? N/T

[wellst0nev0ter]

47. North Side To Be Exact (eom)

[jobycom]

45. How else could that be interpreted? Of course it's racist.

It's racist that some people here think it isn't racist for a cop to say, in essence, "Now Senator, you are behaving like I would expect people from predominately black African American neighborhoods to act. Because, as you know, black people tend to lie a lot and do really seedy things in bathrooms." It's racist for posters upthread to justify that comment by saying "But black people on COPS really act that way, so it's not racist."

Doesn't mean squat about Larry Craig's guilt or innocence. It just points out that Martin Luther King's dream is still a dream.

[Ghost in the Machine]

48. "It's racist that some people here think it isn't racist "

You don't get to redefine what 'racism' is, sorry. There was no hatred in the statement, only facts that have been observed by the officer. People lie to cops. That's a fact.

How many 'hoods' have you ever been in? I've been in way too many in my day, from Overtown, Liberty City, Homestead and Naranja Lakes in Florida, to some of the worst ones in Atlanta, Douglasville and other surrounding areas. I've been in the campesinos in Homestead and Florida City. I've been in the apartment complexes in Atlanta that are full of migrants and immigrants. Ever been down Cleveland Avenue?

Now, you know what the 'hood' is where I live now? It's the 3 different low rent apartment complexes in town that take Section 8. But guess what! They're ALL WHITE AMERICANS! The town I live in has a grand total of TWO african american families. That doesn't stop the places from being called "the projects" or "the hood". Oh, and out of 94 counties in Tennessee, there's only 3 smaller than this one... but our middle school and high school have a dress code... to keep down 'gang activity' :rofl: I think they need to worry more about the Cornbread Mafia around here than Bloods or Crips..

[jobycom]

50. I'm not the one redefining racism on this thread. no text.

[Ghost in the Machine]

58. I'm sorry, did someone hack your account and type these words??

"How else could that be interpreted? Of course it's racist.
It's racist that some people here think it isn't racist for a cop to say, in essence, "Now Senator, you are behaving like I would expect people from predominately black African American neighborhoods to act. Because, as you know, black people tend to lie a lot and do really seedy things in bathrooms." It's racist for posters upthread to justify that comment by saying "But black people on COPS really act that way, so it's not racist."

Of course you're trying to redefine racism, how else could it be interpreted???

[sendero]

65. The word police..

... are alive and well at DU and they are always looking to point out how less-progressive-than-thou anyone who disagrees with their assessment of what is "good speak" and "bad speak".

[wellst0nev0ter]

49. Hey, White "Liberals" Can Get As Defensive As Anyone

And the more that expose themselves the better.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

51. ROFLMAO!!!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Oh my, the things some choose to believe.

[jobycom]

54. Exactly. nt

[baldguy]

52. The objective of an interrogation is to get the subject to answer questions.

This wasn't just two guys shootin' the shit - this was police officer interrogating a prisoner suspected of a crime. He'll say anything to get the suspect to submit.

One technique is to get the prisoner to identify with his interrogator- talk the same way, share likes & dislikes, jokes & attitudes, and finally prejudices.

Now, what do you think would be the quickest way to great a rich, old, lily white Republican male to identify with you?

[jobycom]

55. Maybe he should have given him the blow job, then.

Might have bonded well after that. :shrug:

[KingFlorez]

56. Not at all

There isn't anything racist about what he said, he didn't target any specific group of people.

[undeterred]

64. Just what kind of "hood" do they have in Idaho?

[cgrindley]

66. For fuck's sakes, NO.

It means that Craig was acting like a punk. The cop expected that sort of behavior from a punk. Not from a US senator.