Posted on 08/15/2009 2:01:39 PM PDT by pissant
Exactly one week after the highly-publicized arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates stirred a national discussion on race relations, legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan was detained by police officers in a "low-income, predominantly minority neighborhood" in Long Branch, New Jersey.
Makes one wonder why it took so long for this to get reported, and if news outlets that were convinced Gates's arrest was racially motivated will see the delicious irony in a white rock star being questioned by police just because he was "wandering around the neighborhood."
The Associated Press sure didn't (h/t Clarence Page):
Rock legend Bob Dylan was treated like a complete unknown by police in a New Jersey shore community when a resident called to report someone wandering around the neighborhood.
Dylan was in Long Branch, about a two-hour drive south of New York City, on July 23 as part of a tour with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp that was to play at a baseball stadium in nearby Lakewood.
A 24-year-old police officer apparently was unaware of who Dylan is and asked him for identification, Long Branch business administrator Howard Woolley said Friday. [...]
The incident began at 5 p.m. when a resident said a man was wandering around a low-income, predominantly minority neighborhood several blocks from the oceanfront looking at houses.
The police officer drove up to Dylan, who was wearing a blue jacket, and asked him his name. According to Woolley, the following exchange ensued:
"What is your name, sir?" the officer asked.
"Bob Dylan," Dylan said.
"OK, what are you doing here?" the officer asked.
"I'm on tour," the singer replied.
A second officer, also in his 20s, responded to assist the first officer. He, too, apparently was unfamiliar with Dylan, Woolley said. [...]
The officers asked Dylan, 68, to accompany them back to the Ocean Place Resort and Spa, where the performers were staying. Once there, tour staff vouched for Dylan.
Here's the money quote:
The officers thanked him for his cooperation.
"He couldn't have been any nicer to them," Woolley added.
In fact, according to ABCNews.com, Dylan was quite gracious:
"He was really nice, though, and he said he understood why I had to verify his identity and why I couldn't let him go," Buble said.
Hmmm. So, Dylan was detained a week after Gates, was cooperative, and the issue was quickly resolved.
And we're hearing about this NOW?
How might this have impacted the Gates-Sgt. James Crowley affair if it had been reported at the time it happened rather than over three weeks after the fact?
None of the news reports I've reviewed concerning the Dylan incident addressed why this matter was buried until now, nor did they mention how it might have related to the Gates-Crowley affair.
I guess when a white rock legend is detained by police for having the nerve to walk around a minority neighborhood, and cooperates fully with the authorities to quickly resolve the misunderstanding, it's not a teachable moment.
Oh man he really mst feel old tonight after he realized that her Grandmother might’ve instantly recognized him! ;)
OK so we know the neighborhood was black.
We know the suspicious guy was white.
We DO NOT know the race of the cops. It wouldn’t tell us anything conclusive, but it’s still relevant, and it’s conspicuous by omission.
Well, maybe back in the day.. but now I doubt that. Janis Joplin is another one I never could tolerate. Now Tom Waits, him I don’t mind..
[Including Thomas Pynchon?]
No, I was hot for a French folksinger friend of the Baez’s named Martine Habib though.
Bob Dylan Blowin’ In the Wind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ced8o50G9kg
Bob Dylan - Knockin’ on Heaven's Door (1976-Hard Rain)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GNearEuncU&feature=related
You’re just trying to score some free beer.
they are white
I had never heard of her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G3L3voLFJQ
Pretty voice, she sounds similar to Baez.
I’ll bet you 1000 to 1 the female cop was BLACK . An Obama supporter as well .
Even people from the WALLEY below have heard of Dylan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WVp8v2Kauc&feature=related
parsy, who’s veggies come from the Walley of the Jolly, ho ho ho Green Giant
Love Bandana Bob
I never used to like his voice but the more gnarly it became, it seems like the stories got better..........He is great. Another true story writer I like is Leonard Cohen.......
I put him behind George Gershwin, Hank Williams and Stephen Foster.
Hi Doll (((((Hugs)))))))
Bob Dylan-The Times They Are A-Changin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgECKj9LSH4
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside
And it is ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.
Thanks for that video.
I just saw Dylan perform The Times They Are A’Changin at the Wednesday & Friday night shows. Best thing about it was he played guitar on the songs. PRICELESS
That’s great:)
looks like you’re a fan.
The difference between having class and respect for cops and being a classless racist POS >>>
there was a time in America when an American citizen could walk on the public sidewalks without having to show his “papers” to the government as they had to do in communist countries.
It’s too bad conservatives don’t know when their civil rights are taken away from them. That’s why we’re all in trouble.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.