i think officer lashley reiterated that yesterday. >> all right. and i'm going to let you go here now. last thing, if you can quickly. you understand your dad, his sentiment bet iter than anybody. i think that's dog in the background there. >> yes. sorry about that, actually. >> okay. no, no. that's fine. just tell us how hard of feelings does your dad have now towards the officer? so much has been said and done. is it hard for your dad? is it in him to forgive easily or is he harboring bad feelings towards the officer? >> my father has no feelings towards it's officer who called or sergeant crowley. i think those feelings my father has strongly, i think nobody's in a position to make a character critique of sergeant crowley. it's just an issue of race now. that what his attention is turn towards. >> elizabeth gates, thank you for taking time out of your schedule there in martha's vineyard and take care of toto back there. take care and reminder, if you missed "black in america 2" can you see it again in its entirety. running it tonight and tomorro

. >> reporter: sergeant crowley got support as well today from this man, sergeant leon lashley. lashley was one of the first officers to arrive at the home of professor gates when sergeant crowley arrested him for disorderly conduct. >> i support what sergeant crowley did. i support what he did. that's as simple as i can say it. i support what he did 100%. >> reporter: sergeant crowley did not speak at the press conference, but he did continue to defend himself in this interview with local station whdh. >> i'm not a monster, the bigot, the racist that he portrayed me to be. >> reporter: do you think, and discuss the group think it would have been best for sergeant crowley to simply walk away? >> he encountered a full lack of cooperation and he was fully within his discretion when that behavior persisted to make the arrest. we're not going to second guess it. >> reporter: sergeant crowley, in hindsight do you think you should have just walked away? this time, at least, he did just walk away. president obama's spokesman said today that it was actually sergeant crowley's idea for t

that sergeant's name is leon lashley. he was there when the president called, lou, and he said when sergeant crowley said, hey, the president is on the phone, nobody believed him. they thought he was joking. then they realized it was true and they said they were happy after that that the president spoke out and they hope some good comes to this and they hope to go to the white house and sit down and talk it out. >> it's a remarkable controversy. did you sense any bad feelings toward president obama for his remarks, because the police association, the police unions have called for an outright apology? what is the emotional sense that you have of what is happening with the cambridge police department right now? >> reporter: lou, there were absolutely some bad feelings. when i got here yesterday, you could feel it. the tension was in the air. the police commissioner told me that morale was very low. when i spoke to these guys today before the president called, they thought it was a rush to judgment and he should have waited

sergeant lashley also said that he supports sergeant crowley's actions 100%. he said that what sergeant crowley did was not the action of a rogue police officer. it is clear, officers here in cambridge, massachusetts, really want to move on. in fact over the phone call that president obama made to sergeant crowley, a coalition of police unions actually released a written statement. in which they said that sergeant crowley is profoundly grateful that the president took the time to try to resolve the situation. and the statement went on to say it is clear the president respects police officers. fredericka. >> thank you so much from cambridge. appreciate that. so four days now, you haven't been able to turn on the television without hearing about the arrest of this harvard professor and what took place involving the sergeant as well. so, here now is a sampling of the week. >> i would be prepared as a human being to forgive him. that would not deter me from using this as an educational opportunity for america. if this can happen to me in harvard square this can ha

and one sergeant leon lashley, one of those who responded along with sergeant crowley to the call of the break-in at professor gate' house. yesterday he told our don lemon that he supports sergeant crowley's actions 100%. >> what i had saw, i was there. this situation right here was not a racial motivated -- >> you know people, obviously are going to pay close attention because you're an african-american man, reporting with a white officer, that this was put out there, racially profiling, they're going to -- >> i hope they do. >> he was doing his job. >> reporter: we should tell you sergeants lashley says after the president spoke there were cheers, high fives. he says it was like the air had been let out of the bubble, and we should tell you of course, officers leer in massachusetts really just want to move on. after that phone call that president obama made to sergeants crowley, a coalition of police unions released a written statement saying that sergeant crowley is profoundly grateful the president took the time to try to resolve the situation. the statement goes on ton say it is

lashley. 26-year veteran of the cambridge police department, wolf, and wefr the words that he believes caused this controversy when he spoke out and when he stood up for his friend. i spoke to them right after that press conference they held on friday when they asked for an apology from the president. we'll play that for you later. that's coming from the black police sergeant who is on the scene and supporting sergeant crowley. >> it's obvious that he is very passionate about this, and you had a chance to break that story when you were up in cambridge. the feelings are still intense. as much as the white house would like this to all blow over and everybody starts singing together, it's not necessarily happening, at least not yet, is it? >> no, it's not. i think for the most part the people in the white house and people around the country believe that this part of the story is the president's own making because the police in cambridge dropped the case so they could move this along very quickly,

. >> sergeant leon lashley there. what do you think about what he said? do you believe what he said? do you think that he is speaking from the heart? >> i believe what he said. i mean, he gets paid by the cambridge police department so his allegiance lies with those who pay him and sergeant crowley. i wouldn't expect anything other than that. it takes a great deal to speak out when we see trans gregss take place in our community. that's not the only incident where african-american officers fail to speak out against situations that take place that are sometimes they are, sometimes they're not, race-based situations that take place. i wasn't surprised to see that or hear that. >> regardless of who the person in this case, were you to have been in the shoes of sergeant jim crowley, how would you have handled the situation? >> i can tell you that after 24 years of being a police officer, there are a lot of times i've been in those situations and other officers, too. i think the primary job of the police officer is to deescalate escalating situations. with the

. >> reporter: and sergeant leon lashley of the cambridge police department was on the scene the day his colleague, sergeant james crowley, arrested prominent african-american harvard professor henry gates on gates' own property. >> would it have been different had i shown up first? probably would have been different. >> reporter: but he says schae ports of actions crowley took that day. >> i, too, would have probably placed himeneder arrest if he was causing that much trouble. >> reporter: at this national conference of black law enforcement executives in virginia, the consensus, that what happened in cambridge can be a valuable training tool in navigating the complex issues surrounding law enforcement and minorities. while most steered clear of commenting specifically on the gates' case, one officer believes police deserve the benefit of the doubt. >> i would say that it's a tough job for law enforce nont make those decisions on the spot. i would say we need to look at all the possibilities that, of what could have happened. >> reporter: back here in cambridge in a written statemen

course, we have a hostage crisis which are privately for those who know trend of prices jimmy carter lashley gain in popularity because they thought it was unfair to criticize the president with a crisis at hand here and, of course, as it takes forever for anything to happen and nothing ever happens under his presidency that also kill some toward the end but i would say that when he had made a speech when he fired the cabinets and there is very clearly on the part of ronald reagan's tillers a sense that this is their moment, ronald reagan's pollster says i know of the moments when we can win this and came on july 15th because wicked frame this thing as an anti malaise candidacy. we could go out there and we could basically, jimmy carter, made him look weak, that's where the killer rabbits that comes in at that moment. and we can win this election so i really think this is the moment in which although there is still some time to go before we get to the defeats and that includes the hostage crisis this is the moment i think it becomes difficult for jimmy carter to bounce back from but he had a

. >> reporter: sergeant leon lashley was on the scene the day his colleague arrested harvard professor henry gates on gates' own property. >> would it have been different had i shown up first? i think it probably would have been different. >> reporter: but he says he supports the actions. >> i too would've placed him under arrest if it go too much further out of control. >> reporter: at this national conference of black law enforcement executives in virginia, the consensus, that what happened in cambridge can be a valuable training tool in navigating the complex issues surrounding law enforcement and minorities. while most steered clear of commenting specifically on the gates' case, one officer believes police deserve the benefit of the doubt. >> i would say that it's a tough job for law enforcement to make those decisions on the spot. i would say that we need to look at all of the possibilities, what could've happened. >> reporter: meanwhile here in cambridge in a written statement, a coalition of area police unions said that sergeant crowley was profoundly grateful president obama ha

. >> sergeant lashley, i know you are busy, appreciate your time. appreciate what you do. thank you. >> thank you. >> cambridge police sergeant talking about the bust, the presidential call and the beer at the white house. >> at the end of the conversation there was discussion about -- my conversation with sergeant crowley, there was discussion about he and i and professor gates having a beer here in the white house. we don't know if that is scheduled yet. but we may put that together. he also did say he wanted to find out if there is a way of getting the press off his lawn. i informed him that i can't get the press off my lawn. >> back now digging deep with professor boyce watkins and roland martin. does it make sense to have these two men get together at the white house over this? >> well, look, the president extends the invitation. i think what makes sense is that they actually get together because -- >> it does seem as if from the police officer's standpoint, according to his friend, the fellow officer, he's ready to move on. it seems as if professor gates or his repre

opportunities for black farmers and so they are organizing black farmers and, of course, moving beyond to lashleyze independent political parties to gain control. >> 80 percent african-american in 1966, what kind of participants -- participation in the lowndes county freedom organization was there? >> slow at first. there was a lot of fear and people -- it's funny because when the carmichael and it as an sec move into laos county in the beginning of 1966 the college is limit the decision not to talk about reading in the pan a political parties because they knew that folks would say how is this going to work. in other words, they knew that the democratic party was unnecessarily of them but they said what is an alternative that you're talking about and is it really possible but after developing a r9 months of movement experiences people said the democratic party's local democrats aren't going to let us in and they're doing these things. jonathan daniels a sncc volunteer is murdered in cold blood in august of 65 so reflecting on these movement experiences lead people slowly by dozens at first and th