American Morning
Powell: Both Gates, police could have handled things better
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/29/art.powell.afp.gi.jpg caption="Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said he has been subject to racial profiling."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday that he has been the victim of racial profiling but believes Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. could have been more patient with the police officer who arrested him.
Watch what Powell would advise Gates » 
At the same time, Powell also faulted the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Police Department for escalating the situation beyond a reasonable level.
"I think Skip [Gates], 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 said in an interview with CNN's Larry King.
"I think he should have reflected on whether or not this was the time to make that big a deal.
"I think in this case the situation was made much more difficult on the part of the Cambridge Police Department," Powell said. "Once they felt they had to bring Dr. Gates out of the house and to handcuff him, I would've thought at that point, some adult supervision would have stepped in and said 'OK look, it is his house. Let's not take this any further, take the handcuffs off, good night Dr. Gates.' "
Gates, a top African-American scholar, was arrested July 16 for disorderly conduct outside his Cambridge, Massachusetts, home after police responded to a report of a possible burglary. The charge was later dropped.
Powell said that under the circumstances, Gates may not have been in the appropriate frame of mind to best handle the situation.
"He was just home from China, just home from New York. All he wanted to do was get to bed. His door was jammed and so he was in a mood where he said something," Powell said.
He recalled a lesson he was taught as a child: "When you're faced with an officer who is trying to do his job and get to the bottom of something, this is not the time to get in an argument with him.
Newly released tapes: 911 caller in Gates arrest never referred to 'black suspects'
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/27/am.intv.wendy.murphy.gates.art.jpg caption="Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested after a break-in was reported to police."]
(CNN) - The woman who made the 911 call that led to the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. never referred to black suspects when she called authorities for what she thought was a potential break-in.
Police in Cambridge, Massachusetts, released the 911 phone call Monday. In the call, Lucia Whalen reports seeing "two larger men, one looked kind of Hispanic, but I'm not really sure, and the other one entered, and I didn't see what he looked like at all."
"I just saw it from a distance, and this older woman was worried, thinking somebody's breaking in someone's house and they've been barging in," Whalen says. "She interrupted me, and that's when I noticed. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have noticed it at all, to be honest with you. So I was just calling because she was a concerned neighbor, I guess."
Attorney Wendy Murphy, who represents Whalen, also categorically rejected part of the police report that said Whalen talked with Sgt. James Crowley, the arresting officer, at the scene.
"Let me be clear: She never had a conversation with Sgt. Crowley at the scene," Murphy told CNN by phone. "And she never said to any police officer or to anybody 'two black men.' She never used the word 'black.' Period."
She added, "I'm not sure what the police explanation will be. Frankly, I don't care. Her only goal is to make it clear she never described them as black. She never saw their race. ... All she reported was behavior, not skin color."
Calls to the Cambridge Police Department about the issue have not been returned. Police Commissioner Robert Haas told reporters at a news conference Monday that the 911 tape and police transmission from that day "speak for themselves, and I would ask that you form your own opinion." He added that police always ask themselves: "If I had to do it over again, what would I have done differently?"
NFL reinstates Michael Vick on conditional basis
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/28/michael.vick.art.jpg caption="Michael Vick will be considered for full reinstatement based on his progress by the sixth week."]
(CNN) - Nearly two years after he pleaded guilty to a federal charge of bankrolling a dogfighting operation at a home he owned in Virginia, Michael Vick was reinstated to the National Football League on a conditional basis, according to an NFL statement Monday.
Vick "will be considered for full reinstatement and to play in regular-season games by Week 6 based on the progress he makes in his transition plan," the statement said. Week 6 of the NFL season is in October.
Vick may participate in practices, workouts and meetings and may play in his club's final two preseason games under the conditions of his reinstatement, the league said.
Vick, in a statement, thanked the league's commissioner and former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, who has served as his mentor.
"I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to Commissioner [Roger] Goodell for allowing me to be readmitted to the National Football League," Vick said in a statement. "I fully understand that playing football in the NFL is a privilege, not a right, and I am truly thankful for the opportunity I have been given."
Vick, 29, was freed from federal prison at Leavenworth, Kansas, on May 20 and returned to his home to serve the last two months of his 23-month sentence in home confinement.
Vick also said in his statement that he is re-evaluating his life after the "terrible mistakes" he made.
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?
Legal loophole allows Rhode Island minors to strip
A shocking legal loophole discovered by authorities in Rhode Island.
While teens can't pump gas or climb ladders on the job because of protections in workplace laws, there is nothing on the books keeping 16- and 17-year-olds from stripping – as long as they're home by 11:30 on school nights.
Authorities discovered this loophole during a police investigation into a 16-year-old runaway found working at a strip club in Providence.
Rhode Island State Representative Joanne Giannini is working to change the law. She spoke to Kiran Chetry on CNN’s “American Morning” Friday.
Kiran Chetry: You heard about the case of the 16-year-old – how did this all come to the attention of police and legislators?
Joanne Giannini: Well, there was a newspaper article about a 16-year-old young girl from Boston who was found by local police and a rescue worker and she had told them she was stripping in a club and turns out she was 16-years-old. And, basically, they couldn't charge the perpetrators because there's no law banning minors from working in adult entertainment zones.
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Commentary: Vick could come back as early as week 1
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/28/am.intv.ryan.smith.vick.art.jpg
caption="Smith says Vick's impact as a humane spokesperson could be far-reaching"]
Michael Vick is back in the game. Now he needs to find an NFL team that will let him play. The former star quarterback, who just finished serving 18 months in prison for running a dog fighting ring, received a conditional reinstatement Monday from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. A ruling on Vick’s full reinstatement is not expected until October but he could be cleared before then.
Ryan Smith is sports attorney and BET talk show host and spoke to CNN’s Kiran Chetry Tuesday.
Kiran Chetry: Were you surprised that Roger Goodell said Vick could come back in?
Ryan Smith: Not at all. He had to give him some sort of second chance. Playing in the NFL is privilege, not a right but there has to be some sort of forgiveness. He served 18 months. Goodell is thinking let's let him back in, at a time frame that’s not immediate after he served his sentence but after a little bit of time.
Chetry: When we talk about conditional what does he have to do, what obligation does he have to meet to be fully reinstated?
Smith: Well Michael Vick submitted a plan to the commissioner about what he’s willing to do to show that not only that he has remorse but also that he's going be an active good citizen and spokesman on the behalf of dogs. He's going to work with the humane society possibly to be a spokesman for them because his voice as a convicted felon of these kinds of crimes has a greater impact than someone just coming out and saying ‘don't abuse jobs.’ Look at what he lost, he could say, this is why you should not hurt dogs.
Chetry: Just to remind people who may have forgotten the federal conspiracy charge against Vick for his role in the dog fighting venture which was on his property. It included executing eight dogs who underperformed. One of them, he got the okay to wet the dog down and electrocute them. In one case they hung the dogs, in one case he drowned them, and in another case they slammed the dog's body against the wall. If you and I faced prison time for that, would we get our old jobs back?
Smith: We would never get our jobs back. That makes it surprising in the overall scheme of things. That's why the commissioner is taking this approach. Look at it this way, the NFL doesn't just want people to come and play in their league and be good players, they want good citizens. So what he's trying to say, look, I don't want to take everything away from him. He served 18 months in jail. He did his time but I’m not going to let him right back in unless he shows me complete remorse. Not only is he going to be somebody who’s going to say ‘I’m sorry’, but he's going to be somebody to fight for the rights of dogs and make sure it doesn't happen again.
Chetry: The other interesting thing is you said that Roger Goodell said in his statement that the playing for the NFL is a privilege, its not a right. But he also said that a player is held to a standard of conduct higher than that generally expected in society and is held accountable when the standard isn't met. In this case, it seems, yes, he served his time but that wasn't being held to a higher standard. The dog-fighting ring is not anything that's acceptable to society but he's getting his job back.
Smith: Yes because most people would not get their jobs back but I think what he’s trying to show is if he cuts the player off now then NFL players might look and say, you know what, this is unfair. I served my time. You're trying to hold me to a standard that's higher but I'm in the public eye all the time. Maybe if I can show remorse, maybe if I can go out there and do things that the normal citizen can't do because of my stature maybe I should be let back in.
Chetry: He cleared that first hurdle. The next hurdle is finding a team that will take him on. What's the likelihood of this?
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