In a bit of news that is amusing but, on reflection, really depressing:
You gotta love the detail of an elderly black man being charged with "racial harassment" by a white cop.Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation's most prominent African American scholars, was arrested last week at his home near Harvard University after trying to force open the locked front door.
According to a report by the police department in Cambridge, Mass., Gates accused police officers at the scene of being racist and said repeatedly, "This is what happens to black men in America." . . . .Gates, 58, was arrested Thursday by police looking into a possible break-in for disorderly conduct "after exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior" at his home, according to the police report. Officers said they tried to calm down Gates, who responded, "You don't know who you're messing with," according to the police report.
Ogletree said Gates was ordered to step out of his home. He refused and was followed inside by a police officer. After showing the officer his driver's license, which includes his address, Ogletree said Gates asked: "Why are you doing this? Is it because I'm a black man and you're a white officer? I don't understand why you don't believe this is my house." Ogletree said Gates was then arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and racial harassment.
Gates, whom I met when he taught at Yale, always struck me as a very nice, rather mild-mannered man who wanted his students to love him. He was also a darling of the academic establishment, because his approach to racial issues was so nuanced and free from anger. I remember hearing him say once that all the angst over what blacks wanted to be called was silly, and that made most sense was to be called "colored." And yet here he is in the classic confrontation of black men and white cops, bursting with resentment. Whenever I start to feel good about race relations in America, something like this happens to remind me how much anger and suspicion simmers just under the surface.
4 comments:
For what it's worth, here is a statement from Gates' lawyer: http://www.theroot.com/views/lawyers-statement-arrest-henry-louis-gates-jr
Hmmm, stupid blogger makes that hard to read. Try: http://bit.ly/TRG0a
This is a fascinating case. One element I'm curious about is the neighbor, or neighbors. What neighbor called the police, and why? Given that the picture seems to show the events took place during the day, why couldn't the neighbor who called the police see that in fact the person trying to get into the house was Gates? Which neighbor took the picture, and why did they take it? We can guess all sorts of motives here, but I'm curious about the real ones. (Sorry, I mistakenly deleted a previous version of this. Still trying to learn the system.)
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