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Obama Eulogizes Ted Kennedy
President Barack Obama led the nation Saturday in mourning and remembering “the greatest legislator of our time,” celebrating the indelible impact of Edward M. Kennedy as a senator for nearly a half-century and leader of America’s most famous family during tragedy and triumph. Delivering an emotional, simple eulogy for Kennedy that capped a two-hour Roman…
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Professor Can Laugh at His Arrest Now
CHILMARK, Mass. (AP) — Henry Louis Gates, Jr. said Sunday he has been able to joke about his arrest by a white police officer that led to a national debate on race, but he also has received death threats and bomb threats. In his first public appearance since meeting with Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley…
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Gates Sends Flowers to 911 Caller
BOSTON (AP) — Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. has sent flowers and a note to the woman who unwittingly sparked a national debate on race by calling police to report what she thought might be a break-in at Gates’ home. Wendy Murphy, the lawyer for Lucia Whalen, called the flowers a “gesture of gratitude.”…
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Obama: Beer Meeting 'Thoughtful'
WASHINGTON (AP) — With mugs of beer and more-carefully chosen words, President Barack Obama tried to push himself and the nation beyond a political uproar, hailing a “friendly, thoughtful” conversation with the black professor and white policeman whose dispute had ignited a fierce debate over race in America. “I have always believed that what brings…
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Cheers! Here's to 'De-Escalation'
WASHINGTON (AP) — The chief White House spokesman says a Thursday meeting among the president, a Harvard University scholar and the policeman who arrested him will be “about having a beer and de-escalation.” Robert Gibbs says the session, weather permitting, is planned for a picnic table outside the Oval Office. According to Gibbs, “The president…
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The Gates Case: What Went Wrong
Henry Louis Gates Jr. felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he looked across the threshold of his home at Sgt. James Crowley. Looking back at Gates, Crowley worried about making it home safely to his wife and three children. Fear was the only thing the white police officer and…
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Gates Case: Should Obama Apologize?
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — A multiracial group of police officers stood with the white officer who arrested a black Harvard scholar and asked President Barack Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick apologize for comments union leaders called insulting. Officers say they resent any implication that race played a role in Sgt. James Crowley’s arrest of…
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Officer Says He Won't Apologize
NATICK, Mass. (AP) — A white police sergeant who arrested renowned black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. said Thursday he’s disappointed President Barack Obama said officers acted “stupidly,” despite acknowledging he didn’t know all the facts. Sgt. James Crowley responded to Gates’ home near Harvard University last week to investigate a report of a burglary…
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The Root's Editor-in-Chief Arrested
Henry Louis Gates Jr., the nation’s pre-eminent black scholar, is accusing Cambridge police of racism after he was arrested while trying to force open the locked front door of his home near Harvard University. Cambridge police were called to the home Thursday afternoon after a woman reported seeing a man “wedging his shoulder into the…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
