former lapd chief gates dead at 83

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5guLXIF0qpjrq1mUkyeHk8QmcRc9AD9F47KS00

Lightning rod from '92 riots gone in a wisp.

 

Re: chief gates dead at 83

Probably should say "former LAPD chief Daryl Gates." I thought this thread was about a highly placed Native-American ...

 

Re: chief gates dead at 83

Farewell racist abuser of power.

 

Re: chief gates dead at 83

I guess the dead don't deserve the upper case?

 

Re: chief gates dead at 83

I don't think Gates liked G's.

 

Re: chief gates dead at 83

Fantastic.

Especially the ones in Hyundais.

 

Re: chief gates dead at 83

Let's just say that while his tenure wasn't exactly marked with glory, calling him a "racist abuser of power" is off base. In an era when politicians and residents were extremely bothered by the gang problem, his police department did what leadership thought was right. The execution couldn't be any worse, but to call him a "racist abuser of power" instead of a "Beleagured police chief who didn't exactly think through quite a few things, and said a lot of stupid things," is an exaggeration.

Dudes will line up to throw stones in this thread, I get that. You likely only got the news about the part of his tenure that involved the Riots. I was no fan of Daryl Gates when he was chief. But the story goes a lot deeper than "racist abuser of power."

Just read the article linked in the first post on this thread. So much more to this guy than just his mistakes.

 

Re: chief gates dead at 83

Hey, he invented the SWAT team, which gave us a TV show, a movie and a hit theme song!

 

Re: chief gates dead at 83

His quotes are in the obit, Piotr, and they speak loudly. He's in a position where saying stupid things can't be dismissed ... and he knew it. He admitted later that many things he said were for effect. So far as I can tell, the only effect they had was to enflame minorities.

At best, he played to the crowd who was uncomfortable with the black community. At worst, his police department epitomized systematic abuse of people because of the color of their skin. Racial profiling, etc.

Racist abuser of power works for me.

 

Re: chief gates dead at 83

And it only handles part of the story.

The Los Angeles Times paints a much fuller picture:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-daryl-gates17-2010apr17,0,829169,full.story

Gates said some racist things. He also had some good ideas. He had some bad ideas. He embarrassed Los Angeles at times. He also did what some felt was necessary to combat the gang problem. Others felt those methods went too far. In its history, L.A. has also been shackled with police chiefs who weren't interested in trying to reduce gang-related crime. Gates might ultimately have failed, true.

Dismissing his entire tenure with the statement "Racist abuser of power" isn't an honest assessment.

 

Re: chief gates dead at 83

Bubbler, how old are you? Early 30's, right?

Not to defend any of Gates racial beliefs/feelings, but are you really surprised that an 83 year old man might not be as racially enlightened as you are?

Piotr, is right. There's no need to gloss over any of his failings, but it's also not fair to him to sum up his life and career with your short description.

 

Eh?