IT IS ALWAYS ABOUT RACE
When I was working in DC years ago I would often hear black co-workers say "It is always about race." Over the years I came to see that as truth. Certainly things have dramatically improved since the 1960's. Some may even have thought that the election of Barack Obama finally put the issue of race in America to rest.
Well, think again. All the old racial tensions linger just below the surface ready to flare up with the least bit of provocation. No further proof is needed than the recent incident involving the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. by Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley.
Mr. Gates was charged with disorderly conduct at the end of a series of events that began when he had trouble opening his front door upon his return from a vacation. (If you want to read the police report, check out The Smoking Gun web site.)
Suffice it to say that Mr. Gates and Officer Crowley both may have lost their cool, although I have to say that the original request for ID struck me as reasonable and Mr. Gates' response struck me as quite unreasonable. The one thing that does not seem to be the case is that Office Crowley acted "stupidly," despite what President Obama might think.
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That said, I also understand that black Americans see things a little differently when it comes to cops. Take a look at this picture from a CNN story about a confrontation between a white Oklahoma State Trooper and a black ambulance driver. Understand that this is what black America sees as the reality of life in America for the black man.
None of this excuses Mr. Gates' conduct, which certainly looked like racial profiling in reverse. (Ironically, Officer Crowley teaches new recruits about the dangers of racial profiling.) It just shows how far we still have to go before race is no longer an issue in America.
July 24, 2009
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Tags:
Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Race Relations
Barack Obama
