| One black Harvard professor. One white police | | | | white men. I bet the results would be startlingly |
| officer. Equals Two perspectives. That sums up | | | | different. |
| the controversy over the arrest of Henry Louis | | | | Blacks, Latinos And The The Judicial System |
| Gates, the renowned African American historian | | | | Despite the triumphant election of President |
| and Harvard University professor. | | | | Barack Obama, race still matters in the United |
| Breathing While Black | | | | States of America. Blacks have long been |
| Gates was arrested by Cambridge police officer | | | | suspicious of the police, no matter how |
| James Crowley, who is white and charged with | | | | professional a law enforcement agency can |
| disorderly conduct after a neighbor reported the | | | | behave. According to the US Department of |
| suspicious behavior of two black men with | | | | Justice, black men are six times more likely to |
| backpacks on the front porch or her neighbor's | | | | become incarcerated than whites. Blacks are five |
| home. One of the suspicious men ended up being | | | | times more likely to have a lifetime chance of |
| Gates, who was returning from a trip to China. | | | | going to prison. And now we can add the |
| The other his driver. It was unclear why Gates | | | | esteemed Professor Gates to that list of black |
| couldn't get enter his front door and needed to | | | | men who come in direct contact with law |
| get into his house from the back. That | | | | enforcement. |
| movement prompted the neighbor, who obviously | | | | It's a well known fact in the black community that |
| did not recognize Gates or know him to call the | | | | parents arm their black sons with the language of |
| police. When Sergeant Crowley arrived and | | | | survival when confronting the police. The |
| confronted Professor Gates, an argument ensued. | | | | consequences of doing otherwise could land them |
| Crowley asked and was given Gates state ID and | | | | in jail. My own son-in-law who has never been |
| Harvard University ID. The argument escalated | | | | arrested and is one of the most law-abiding young |
| inside of Gates' home and later, on his front | | | | men I know has been harassed by the police |
| porch, Gates was arrested and hauled off to jail. | | | | more than once. Being dark-skinned and six foot |
| In the coming days the case was front page | | | | three inches tall only adds to his stereotype of |
| national news, with President Barack Obama | | | | being the black criminal-type, and serves as a |
| weighing in with comments including "stupidity" on | | | | constant challenge as he navigates his way |
| how the Cambridge Police Department handled | | | | through life. |
| the case. As verbal shots were fired on both | | | | White Perspective |
| sides and realizing the mistake that had been | | | | Many whites are simply puzzled by the outcries of |
| made, the police department promptly dropped all | | | | racial injustice by the black community. They don't |
| charges against Professor Gates. | | | | understand why race becomes the trigger point |
| America's Junky Back Room | | | | when incidences like this one arise. As an African |
| But dialing back the rhetoric would not stop the | | | | American diversity professional who has studied |
| outrage and the cries of racism that were just | | | | race for 22 years, I emphasize with whites who |
| beginning. You see, America's race problem is like | | | | resent when race enters in the middle of a |
| a house that's spot cleaned when company | | | | confrontation, like this one of Professor Gates' |
| comes. You sweep all of the junk and clutter in | | | | arrest. There are indeed countless situations we |
| the back room, the basement, or the attic with | | | | face in our neighborhoods, our community groups |
| every intention of coming back later to sort and | | | | and on our jobs that have nothing to do with |
| purge, but you never get back to it. It's waiting | | | | race. |
| for you and looms large, especially when you | | | | However, the problem the country faces is still |
| need to use that back room. You open the door | | | | directed toward that back room in our society. |
| and realize that it's filled with the stuff from the | | | | The room filled with the pain and suffering our |
| last house guest's visit and you just don't know | | | | country has never really faced when it comes to |
| where to start. | | | | racial inequalities in America. And until we open the |
| Well America, it's time to start cleaning the junk | | | | door, confront our past and begin the open |
| room. We know there is a problem. And the two | | | | dialogue between ethnic groups about race, our |
| dominant opinions are too often at war with each | | | | country will always lag behind its true potential of |
| other. | | | | multicultural magnificence of the highest order. |
| 1 + 1 = 2 | | | | Teachable Moments And W.E.B DuBois |
| One black. One white. Two perspectives. | | | | President Obama has called this incident between |
| Professor Henry Louis Gates, the esteemed | | | | Professor Gates and Sergeant Crowley a |
| Harvard professor and PBS documentarian | | | | "teachable moment." Both men have been invited |
| handcuffed and booked after proving that he | | | | to the White House to discuss race and law |
| indeed owned the house in question. Yes, his | | | | enforcement issues with the President over a |
| choice of words were probably ill timed, and his | | | | couple of beers. May this serve as just another |
| anger probably got the best of him. | | | | reminder that our quest for a "post racial" |
| Officer Crowley probably started off the | | | | America can't happen until we open our junk |
| investigation correctly, but sometime while | | | | room doors, tackle the worst piles of junk first, |
| entering Gate's home and verbally challenging him | | | | and figure out how we can truly come to terms |
| he got angry and decided to show Gates who | | | | with our past, our tragedies and our triumphs |
| was in the power seat. | | | | around race. |
| Was This A Case of Racial Profiling? | | | | In his 1903 critically-acclaimed book, The Souls of |
| Some have said that this never was a racial | | | | Black Folk, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, another |
| episode. I completely disagree. Race became a | | | | Harvard-trained black civil rights advocate said |
| matter of record as soon as the neighbor called | | | | that the problem of the 20th century America |
| the police about two suspicious looking black men | | | | was the problem of the color line. Now 106 years |
| lurking around another neighbor's front door. I | | | | later, that race problem is still strangling our |
| would love to conduct a nationwide survey of the | | | | junked up back room. We need to open the door, |
| number of calls made to American police | | | | take a deep breath, and start cleaning. It's the |
| dispatchers and how often descriptions of black | | | | only way that our nation can heal, move on, and |
| and Latino men are included in the calls, versus | | | | make the "teachable moments" the lessons for |
| the absence of race when the caller is referencing | | | | our future. |