American Morning
We Listen – Your comments 7/27/2009
Editor's Note: The arrest last week of Harvard Professor H.L. Gates, Jr., remained at the forefront for American Morning’s Monday audience. Most debated the significance of the event; others asked for an end to the discussions. Still, some wanted more in-depth coverage of the dash cam tapes and any audio available from the arrest, suggesting that the full story has not yet been disclosed.
- Mr. John: Race is still definitely a problem in this country in a big way. If there was not still a problem the current discussion would not be taking place. Until we get RATIONAL instead EMOTIONAL about race this problem will remain with us.
- Doug: If you would check Prof. Gates' background and speeches he has given, you would see he is an angry racist. Please give blacks and Dumbocrats the same treatment you give Sarah. it is about the content of their character, not politics and or color of the skin. I know this will not be seen by your viewers, but I believe this is the way most Americans believe (not feel).
- Psdgwd: PLEASE let the Gates arrest issue drop.
- Linda R.: I turned on my TV, tuned to your show, as I do every day, and what do we see?? MORE of this junk about "Gatesgate"! With all our other problems (rogue Democrats undermining health care reform, N. Korea, 2 wars, A supreme court vote on the way, the economy, pending investigations of former Bush officials by Conyers, adventures of the "C street boys" and many, many, more things that REALLY matter), and you guys want to emulate the "fake" news channel FOX, by pounding this non-story to death!! Please stop this nonsense, or eventually you'll lose ALL your viewers to the internet.
- Dan: What possible reason would you have to ask what Lucia Whalen thinks of Obama's comments on the Gates/Crowley incident? Or, even worse, what her lawyer thinks? No reason, except to further fan the flames of this story. You people are the worst.
- Michael: Why can't you guys let the Henry Louis Gates-"Gate" go? Anybody that has taken the time to look beyond corporate news, already knows that Off. Crowley's arrest of Gates had no basis in Mass. law. But CNN is going to suck on this bone until it's burping marrow! Obama was right when he suggested that cable news is nothing but the WWF of punditry! You guys are as much the part of the problem within the body politic as anything else, where conflict has been reduced to a commodity.
- W72street: It really simple. Just invert Gates and the police officers race. Would Obama had called a black officer arresting a white professor stupid? If a white professor was insulting the black officer and was disturbing the peace, would Obama call the black officer doing his job a racist? Too many black people keep telling the rest of the country that we just don't understand being black. About the history etc. No, we do. We've heard it enough, we've seen it too. But maybe we expect too much from black people. There are many wealth black people. There are many famous black people. There are movie stars, rock stars, athletes, etc. There are CEO's and now a Black President. So when is enough. I'm jewfish. We were slaves too at one point. We were put to death by the millions in many wars. We move on, we just don't forget. Its time you do the same and stop hiding behind what was bad and focus on what is good
- Eric: Concerning the Gates arrest, what happened to the training from the much viewed dash cam tape of the irate motorist in a traffic stop swearing at the officer and tearing up the ticket in front of the officer? Is that tape still used for training and has the Cambridge police department viewed the tape?
What do you think of the continuing debate regarding the incident with Professor Gates? Is it time to move to another topic, or is this still relevant, as the first viewer states, remarking that “Until we get RATIONAL instead EMOTIONAL about race this problem will remain with us”? Is there more to this story than has been disclosed, as some viewers feel who are asking for release of the audio and video of the arrest? Is there a cover-up?
Armstrong has his sights set on a 2010 Tour de France win
Lance Armstrong already has his sights set on the 2010 Tour de France. The seven-time tour champ came up short this year, finishing third, more than five-minutes behind the winner, Alberto Contador of Spain. After the finish, Armstrong sat down with our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Commentary: Maine's lobstermen are not making enough money to survive
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/27/maine.lobster.art.jpg
caption="Some of the 32,000 lbs of Maine lobster served during the Port Of Los Angeles Lobster Festival sits October 05, 2001 in San Pedro, CA."]
After spending three days in Maine with lobster fishermen Mike Davis, Ryan Sheehan and Chris Andrews one thing is clear; these guys love their job. Awaking at 4:00am to meet them down on the docks in torrential rain, we pulled up and were greeted with smiling faces excited to get on the water. We all boarded the boat and huddled in the main cabin trying desperately to stay dry in the horrible conditions. As we motored our way out of Portland harbor, Mike was telling us about how he can’t imagine doing anything else, “Today might be a little different story, but when you wake up and it’s a beautiful, calm, sunny morning I can’t imagine not going out and hauling traps.”
As we approached the first buoys I ventured out onto the back deck where Ryan was prepping to haul up the traps. Standing next to the bait, which were huge drums of dead fish, Ryan could not tell me enough about how much he loved hauling traps. This is his first season back fishing; he was a plumber for 3 years until he got laid off last fall. He now views losing his plumbing job as a blessing in disguise as he told me he was miserable as a plumber.
Despite passion for their work, the lobstermen say they are just not making enough money to survive. Chris Andrews told me they need to be getting about 3 dollars a pound for their catch in order to turn a profit. The day we were on the boat, the price was approximately $2.60 a pound for lobster. When I asked Chris how they pay their bills he told me they either have to dip into their savings or use credit cards. As a result, some lobstermen have resorted to selling lobsters directly to customers on the side of the road or out of their houses in order to make ends meet. Lobster fishermen traditionally have sold to lobster dealers for a boat price who then distribute the lobsters for a higher price to consumers. When lobstermen sell directly to customers they are able to get more for their lobsters than if they sold to dealers.
Henry Louis Gates' 911 caller "didn't act on race, she acted on behavior."
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/27/am.intv.wendy.murphy.gates.art.jpg caption="The 911 caller's attorney, says Lucia Whalen is devastated she is being characterized as a racist."]
As the president tries to cool temperatures between the Cambridge police department and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, the woman who called the police and said there might be a robbery at the professor's home is now speaking out. Her name is Lucia Whalen and her lawyer says she never mentioned race when she called 911. So what exactly did she see and what did she tell police?
Lucia Whalen's attorney, Wendy Murphy spoke with CNN’s Alina Cho Monday.
Alina Cho: Lucia Whalen is said to be a 40-year-old woman of Portuguese descent and said to be personally devastated about this. What did she tell you about what she said in that 911 call?
Wendy Murphy: The thing that we're really emphasizing this morning is what she didn't say. There's no question she never reported seeing quote, unquote “two black men.” And the reason we're clarifying that is number one, it's been widely reported but number two, to falsely characterize Ms. Whalen as a racist, and she is really devastated by that characterization, she never said they were black, indeed, she couldn't tell their race at all.
Cho: But who in your estimation is classifying her as a racist?
Murphy: Well, if you read almost any mainstream news, you'll see some implication that this incident would never have happened, indeed the police never would have been called if the men had been white. That's an implication that the woman who called 911 was acting because she saw quote “two black men." But also if you look at many of the online reporting sites and some of the columnists, they're basically saying had she not been racist and acted in a racist manner in calling 911, had she not been a white woman fearful of the black men in the neighborhood, she wouldn't have thought they were committing a crime and so she is the racist spark that started this mess, and the absolute opposite is true. She didn't see their race, she didn't report their race, she didn't act on race. She acted on behavior. She works nearby, she doesn't live in the area, she was concerned because she knew there were recent break-ins in the area.
Cho: That is initially why she made the call, right, because she was aware of other recent robberies in the area, right?
Murphy: That's exactly right.
Cho: And am I correct in saying that she says she never saw two black men but what she saw were the backs of two men with backpacks. Can you confirm that?
Murphy: No, no, she did not report seeing two men with backpacks.
Cho: What did she say on that call?
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