Normally I wouldn’t comment on a subject that concerns racial matters. Political correctness frowns on such things in public discourse. However, since president Obama has chosen to insert himself into the fray, I may as well add my two cents. Besides, there hasn’t been much of anything else in the national news this past week. I’m referring to the Gates incident. You’ve probably heard about it.
A Harvard professor, a black man, was arrested outside his home. Henry Louis “Skip“ Gates Jr. returned from a trip and couldn’t get into his house in Cambridge, Mass. --so he broke in. Some woman saw him and called the police, reporting a possible burglary. The lead officer approached Gates, according to the police report Sgt. James Crowley, asked the professor to step outside. Gates refused to do so and demanded to see the cop's ID. That got things off to a bad start. Crowley asked Gates for his ID, and the professor reportedly gave the cop an earful of abuse. After it was established that Gates owned the house, he continued to verbally abuse the officer and accuse him of racism and racial profiling. It isn’t clear what was said after that but he said repeatedly, "This is what happens to black men in America." At some point the cop had heard enough and arrested Gates for disorderly conduct. Officers said they tried to calm down Gates, who responded: "You don't know who you're messing with," according to the police report.
Opinions as to what should have happen seem to be divided between black and white, liberal and conservative, and those who know something about the police and those who don’t. I’m certain that if I was breaking into my own house and a cop showed up and asked for my ID, I would produce it at once, explain why I was breaking in, and then thank him for protecting my property. After all, he probably wouldn’t know me. Sassing him would be the last thing I, or anyone with his head screwed on would do. Of course, I’m not a big shot like professor Gates, who is clearly overly proud of himself. The Gates matter will be eventually settled by local politics.
A Harvard professor, a black man, was arrested outside his home. Henry Louis “Skip“ Gates Jr. returned from a trip and couldn’t get into his house in Cambridge, Mass. --so he broke in. Some woman saw him and called the police, reporting a possible burglary. The lead officer approached Gates, according to the police report Sgt. James Crowley, asked the professor to step outside. Gates refused to do so and demanded to see the cop's ID. That got things off to a bad start. Crowley asked Gates for his ID, and the professor reportedly gave the cop an earful of abuse. After it was established that Gates owned the house, he continued to verbally abuse the officer and accuse him of racism and racial profiling. It isn’t clear what was said after that but he said repeatedly, "This is what happens to black men in America." At some point the cop had heard enough and arrested Gates for disorderly conduct. Officers said they tried to calm down Gates, who responded: "You don't know who you're messing with," according to the police report.
Opinions as to what should have happen seem to be divided between black and white, liberal and conservative, and those who know something about the police and those who don’t. I’m certain that if I was breaking into my own house and a cop showed up and asked for my ID, I would produce it at once, explain why I was breaking in, and then thank him for protecting my property. After all, he probably wouldn’t know me. Sassing him would be the last thing I, or anyone with his head screwed on would do. Of course, I’m not a big shot like professor Gates, who is clearly overly proud of himself. The Gates matter will be eventually settled by local politics.
That should have been the end of it, but at the end of president Obama’s last press conference—that’s when he commandeered all television networks to pitch his government takeover of the medical industry, he was asked about the Gates incident. As chief arbiter of all things black, he weighed in on the matter and made a number of remarks that blew the episode way out of proportion to its actual importance.
Here’s what the president said, “I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it’s fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry; No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they [sic] were in their own home; and, No. 3, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That’s just a fact.”
Let’s examine his remarks. “No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry.” Who is us? Does that mean everyone or just black people? Most of us would never get into a situation like that because most people who keep their egos under control would never challenge a police officer for doing his job. “No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they [sic] were in their own home.” Gates wasn’t arrested for being in his own home, he was arrested for loud and vociferous language and creating a breach of the peace. “No. 3, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That’s just a fact.” He is talking about racial profiling, which incidentally, I think is good police work. It has nothing to do with the Gates incident. The cop was answering a call, not patrolling and stopping black and brown people.
The president doesn’t seem to understand the limits of his job—he isn’t king. This clearly isn’t a presidential matter. If he wants to comment in private, that’s fine, but to go on national television and condemn a small police department for doing its job is clearly wrong. Perhaps he should take a course on presidential decorum.
