" ya, I’ll speak with your mama outside” is a translation, the original: Hahhahaha! “I talk atchyo mamma outside, cracka!”. Means an implication to mess up with your mother. (The white people use "nigger" to insult the black. The black use "cracka" to insult the white) If you favor the people, it is an insult about mothers. However, if you favor the professor, then it is not. People sue the black scholar, but the case was dropped. So, it is not an insult about mothers. Under the standard of what the normal people will react at the same situation - most people are believing, it is an insult about mothers, but legally, it is not.

According to the arresting officer, Gates yelled at the police and initially refused to show any identification. Gates allegedly yelled “this is what happens to a black man in America” and “you don’t know who you’re messing with” before he was arrested, and police said he was uncooperative. Naturally, Gates demanded the investigating officer’s name, and repeatedly called him a racist. When the policeman asked Gates to step out onto the porch to continue the discussion, the Harvard professor’s reply was: “Ya, I’ll speak with your mama outside”. This is a well known insult about mothers.