A Teachable Moment: Pride and Prejudice

There are two separate but related, aspects to the confrontation between Harvard professor, Henry Louis "Skip" Gates and Cambridge police officer, James "Jim" Crowley last week. On one hand, there is the very real -- and vile -- issue of police profiling, which far too many African-American and Latino men have experienced. On the other hand, there is the pride and prejudice of both men.

Pride and prejudice, it seems, had more to do with their confrontation than racial profiling.

Police profiling based literally on skin color is deeply ingrained in our culture, dating back to 1667 when, fearing slave revolts, the British Parliament enacted laws called Black Codes to "regulate" black people on British plantations in the New World. Old habits die hard and consciously or unconsciously the idea that people of color -- especially men of color -- are suspect, was woven in the fabric of our country and remains to this day.

The Black Codes eventually became known as Slave Codes in the American South and in effect, they criminalized Africans Americans who tried to act on their own behalf or in their own defense. Slave Codes, like the Black Codes that preceded them, made the mistreatment and even the murder of African Americans legal. As recently as the 20th century, the United States would not pass anti-lynching laws. African American soldiers returning from World War I were lynched in their uniforms, but President Woodrow Wilson of "make the world safe for democracy" fame would not support an anti-lynching law.

Jim Crow, States Rights, Home Rule, and lynching -- ironically all designed to legally place black people outside the protection of the law -- had their roots in the Black Codes of 1667 -- and have left us a shameful, indelible legacy where even now black people are too often assumed guilty until proven innocent. This legacy has damaged all Americans, whether they are enlightened professors or enlightened police officers.

The other issue at the heart of the confrontation between professor Gates and police officer Crowley is pride.

When I first heard about Gates' encounter with Crowley, I thought of a PBS series around ten years ago that featured Gates. At one reflective moment during the program, he spoke about the West Virginia town where he grew up and said that when he sees young African American men hanging out on the corners there today, they seem to him as different as if they were "from Mars." He went on to say that, in contrast, his world was now that of Harvard Yard.

I remember cringing when he made the comment about the young men seeming to him as if they were "from Mars" -- because, as one of my friends aptly put it, I couldn't imagine saying that about any fellow human being. We are all human, after all, and none of us knows the journey another has traveled. "There but for the grace of God go I," as the expression goes. Class prejudice among African Americans is real.

Gates' remarks about both the young men in West Virginia and his "world" of Harvard Yard were revealing.

In another segment of the program, professor Gates was in Ethiopia at the site where the Arc of the Covenant is reputed to be. The arc is considered to be so sacred that it is protected by a holy man and only he can see it. A guard stands outside. During the segment, Gates told the guard (or instructed his translator to tell him) that he was "Professor Henry Louis Gates of Harvard," as if that would make a difference to the guard. As interpreted by Gates' translator, the guard was polite in explaining that even so, he couldn't let the professor enter. The guard as translated in the subtitles, however, said, "He might be an important person where he is from, but..." I cannot remember the rest, but it was clear that the guard was not impressed.

Professor Gates perceives himself as an exceptional person and deservedly so. Officer Crowley, an 11 year veteran and role model to younger officers who was selected by his African American commissioner to teach racial sensitivity to police officers, no doubt, perceives himself as an exception to the stereotype of a racist cop and deservedly so. Each man expected the other to pay deference to the other's exceptionality. Gates expected Crowley to recognize who he was -- and Crowley expected Gates to recognize his authority as an officer of the law.

Gates "felt" like a black man being profiled. Crowley did not diffuse the situation but instead asserted his authority. Their confrontation was a clash of egos in which pride and prejudice -- on both sides -- came into play.

This is indeed a teachable moment for Gates, Crowley, President Obama and each of us.

Comments

[jade7243]

With regard to the story about Ethiopia, my remembrance is not that Skip Gates was trying to "show off" or "Big Man in Ethiopia" but that nothing would deter the people who guard the ark from their duty. As I recall, Gates went to great pains to describe how white mainstream religious experts claimed there was no way this artifact was connected with Jesus. Just goes to show, how a white woman (you) and a black woman (me) can watch the same thing and come away with two very different points of view.

Why is it that almost every white person describing this incident has described Gates as arrogant, egotistical, elite? -- Some have even gone so far as to use the "uppity" word. Maybe cultural upbringing makes the idea of Harvard scholar and African-American incongruent. Maybe arrogance and elitism, not tolerated in minorities, is celebrated in the majority culture, but only when display by the majority culture.

It pains me that in trying to rationalize this story, it's easier for so many to embrace the notion that pride, not prejudice, class bias, not bigotry, irrationality, not race are at the heart of this incident.

[dwedge]

Hey, it seems obvious that he was arrested for being "uppity". (think that's one of our 'unwritten laws). I firmly believe that both of these men were ideally suited not to have this confrontation, yet it happened. If we think race is 'no big deal' anymore, think if the pigmentation had been reversed. If it were a white homeowner taken to jail, those members of our most honorable House of Representatives who are now calling for Obama's apology to the police would be screaming long and loud about the police trampling the rights of an individual citizen -- those conservatives Republicans would be screaming loudest of all -- and they would be right. Crowley and Gates can sit down and perhaps figure out what went wrong -- the rest of us can only speculate. When all is said and done, maybe we should all be more polite to police officers who risk their lives to protect our property -- but a man who shows proper identification in his own home should not be taken to jail. This police officer, particularly with his background, should realize he misused his authority.

[JimR]

Why do people give Gates a free pass for his uncooperative, combative, abusive and obnoxious behavior?

[Solange]

Denise Dennis is African American.-­-and believe me, she gets it.--that'­s why she put police profiling in historical perspective to show how all Americans are affected by the US's racial history. It took courage for her to write this because there are many people, like you, both black and white, who prefer to see the Gates/Crowley incident only as they want to see it--based on their own life experience. It is much easier to simplify a complex situation and reduce it to race or racism rather than look at the complexity of the situation--class, pride, prejudice, fear, bruised feelings, as Denise does. In her article, she explains the roots of police profiling and that it is real--but she also understands that while race played a role in this situation--there is more to it than that. You--like many other people black and white, are basing the Gates/Crowley situation on your own experience--not on what happened at Gates' home and that is the problem. Both Gates and Crowley are individuals--we need to see them as such, not as stereotypes. There are many, many cases of the police unjustly profiling black men--and many of those cases are brutal--this, however, was not a case of police profiling.

[HSmith]

3. The radical fringe wants everything about President Obama, from birth certificates to pre-school, from friends to religious associations, marriage, political appointments and opinions to revolve around race, so that the voices of common sense folks with common sense values and issues can be drowned out by fake controversies, chaos and political unrest. If we empower the president's voice on common sense issues within this country, we will mute the divide and conquer tactics of these racists fringe elements in our society that surely benefit from political unrest and racial strife in the United States. The president spoke out about an obvious injustice to one of the most respected scholars in the country. It is our responsibility as citizens to back the common sense approach and determination that the president came to, repeatedly and loudly. In this democracy our president is a reflection of who we are and what we represent as a society. If we fail to speak up and support this president’s common sense approach on issues of injustice and policy in this country, the president we elected will have no voice, and neither will we.

H. Smith

[HSmith]

2. The president acknowledged an obvious injustice at a national press conference and expected common sense police officers, nurses , doctors , teachers, the media, politicians and everyday citizens to understand and support his outrage at the injustice and humiliation Professor Gates endured in his own home. Common sense values dictate that no one would want their dad or grandfather to be arrested in their own home for being rude to the police. But instead, this society debated and continues to debate whether Professor Gates should have been humiliated in such a manner by a professional police officer. President Obama is president of the United States, but he is also a member of a minority group of citizens in this country, and he has to navigate in ways someone who is not a member of a minority will never have to. As a member of a minority group, just as in the civil rights movement, President Obama's voice on injustice in this country, is and will only be as strong and as loud as the courage, strength and volume of the coalition of common folks who elected this president to office. Without common sense folks repeatedly speaking out loudly and confronting an obvious injustice, the president’s voice will be drowned out by the race baiting fringe groups, media and other institutions that know his voice is only as strong as yours.

[HSmith]

1. We Didn’t Just Fail To Support President Obama And Professor Gates; We Failed To Support The Common Sense Values We All Share As Americans.

The president of the United States made a straight forward common sense comment about the Gates’ arrest at a national press conference. I’m sure he assumed that there would be universal common sense understanding throughout the media and our society about the injustice of arresting a middle-aged man within his own home for being rude to a police officer. Sadly the media, law enforcement, political institutions and race baiting public in this society allowed this common sense evaluation to spiral out of control. The minority population in this country has always and will always need a coalition of proactive citizens with a similar sense of values in this society so injustices can be expressed without chaos, political unrest or violence. That has been the basis of every minority civil rights movement of our country.

[Geowar]

How can you make a straight forward, common sense argument about the arrest if you state up front that you don't have all the facts and then go on and pronounce one side as acting stupidly? All sides acted stupidly. Gates, for launching into a hissy fit when asked for ID. Would he have reacted the same way if a black officer was asking for ID? Crowley for arresting hjm after getting his ID and not letting Gates' "Don't you know who I am" BS fall off his back. And Obama for commenting on an issue he didn't have full knowledge of, regardless if Gates was a friend or not.

[jade7243]

The President at that moment had the same facts of the case as had been released to all of us. And frankly, he might have had more. The Justice Dept does report to him through Eric Holder.

And while you might not believe the arrest unwarranted, plenty of other learned and experienced person inside the justice system arrived at the same conclusion as the President. It is only those who believe a white cop can never be wrong -- especially when dealing with a black person -- that have problems with what the President said.

Finally, far too many people mistook the word "stupidly" for "stupid." There is a difference. The police department should have acted with more restraint. They didn't. These otherwise intelligent people acted stupidly and not smartly.

[DannyDanson]

"I remember cringing when he made the comment about the young men seeming to him as if they were "from Mars" -- because, as one of my friends aptly put it, I couldn't imagine saying that about any fellow human being. We are all human, after all, and none of us knows the journey another has traveled. "There but for the grace of God go I," as the expression goes. Class prejudice among African Americans is real."

This may be abstract to you but this attitude is commonplace in the black community, why for instance do black professionals move out of their original neighborhood instead of building it up when they become successful? I would posit that it is not because they dislike blacks for being black, or fear African Americans for being African Americans, they intuitively understand the realities of those neighborhoods and the condition of those impoverished underserved, disenfranchised communities, they are intimately aware of the economically motivated unregulated underground drug industry that exists theer and the social conditioning of the generations of African Americans who reside there.

W.E.B Dubois reffered to this concept in his book " The Two Souls of Black Folk" blacks live within two realities one which you co-inhabit with African Americans, and one you utilize to progress in the mainstream, many African Americans find it difficult to resolve one with the other, those black men look at Gates the same way as he saw them as Martians.

[jade7243]

W. E. B. Du Bois' book is correctly titled, "The Souls of Black Folks."

[jade7243]

I'm guessing Danny, because you mistitled Du Bois' book, and also because you referred to black professionals as "they" and not "we", that you are --to co-opt a phrase -- not one of "us."

Denise Dennis cringes at the "from Mars" comment, as you suggest, she doesn't get it. I know plenty of upwardly mobile white professionals who return to their hometowns and look at their high schools friends and acquaintances working on the line at factory, toiling on the farm or flipping burgers, and see them as if they are from Mars. They look at these once close friends who are oblivious to wide world and its opportunities awaiting them.

It's is not an uncommon feeling. Think of the person you or she knows whose entire life is spent within 50 miles of home.

[JamaicanOpinion]

I think that whether Gates is arrogant, opinionated or loud mouthed, he cannot be arrested for breaking into his own home. He did show the officer his id, therefore their was no chance he could have been breaking an entering. The arrest was done to show who was boss. If it had been me, I don't think I would have been arrested, I would have been shot, the officer would not have cared who I am. He cared about Gates rep and position, this is the reason he did not shoot him. I would have been very upset if it was me, in my home I am the boss not some intruding police man, because it is my home, like I say I would have been shot. I don't understand why so many white pundits can't see that, if someone comes into your home and disrespects you in that environment, a place you really don;t expect to be disrespected you will get upset and mouth off or hit them. This is true whether you are white or black, it's the cop and not President Obama or Prof.Gates that needs to apologize.

[JimR]

He was not arrested for breaking into his own home. After he finally showed ID that proved he lived there, the officer was radioing his findings in, and stepped out onto the porch. He left the home. Gates followed him out and provoked a confrontation. It is Gates who showed disrepect and was being loud and obnoxious and unruly.