Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Welcome to the New "Post-Racial" America
So let me see if I got this straight --
World renowned Harvard professor and best-selling author Henry Louis Gates, Jr. comes home from a trip abroad to communist China where he was filming a video about America. His driver brings him to his home in Cambridge Massachusetts, and he notices his front door is jammed or otherwise locked. He cannot get in. He goes around back (as all of us would) and finds a way into his home. A concerned neighbor calls the police and the police show up. Gates produces his driver's license and Harvard ID and within a matter of minutes he is arrested for so-called "loud and tumultuous" behavior.
Welcome to post-racial America , black folks. This is the America of 2009, where we live in a Twighlight Zone of sorts. On the one hand, we have school kids in Philadelphia who cannot swim in a pool at a suburban country club (where, by the way, arrangements had been made for kids to do so in the summer) -- because according to the club president, they might change the "complexion" of the club.
And on the other hand, we have in Barack Obama the nation's first black president, who has an African/Arabic surname: "Hussein Obama." We have in Michelle Obama an accomplished, Ivy League educated, black first lady who is of a darker ebony complexion and allows her young daughters to sport ethnocentric hair braids to school and White House functions.
Then there is Judge Sonia Sotomayor. The nation's first presumed Latina Supreme Court Justice-to-be, who also hails from humble roots in the Bronx, is Ivy League educated, and whose awe inspiring American story evokes not pride, but suspicion and fear from Republican Senators and conservatives alike. Go figure.
Now we have Gates -- a 60-year-old baby boomer, Harvard professor, founder of theROOT.com and friend of Oprah. He is the epitome of black success in America. And yet, in an hour standing in his own home he was badgered about who he was and why he was there and was further reduced to a black male criminal at the hands of lesser educated, ignorant, local Boston police (need I say more) who I believe lied in the arrest report to cover their tracks. But this is nothing new really -- is it?
My point is this: All of this talk about a so-called "post-racial" America is bogus. There is no such thing. America's greatest sin is the issue of "race." And until we really talk about our individual and collective fears and biases out in the open, we will continue to see eruptions, anger, misunderstanding and humiliation perpetrated on others who are of a different hue.
In the final analysis, America has not changed at all. Yes, we have made progress -- of this there can be no doubt -- but it is what lurks underneath, it is what people feel they are rightfully entitled to (e.g., Pat Buchanan's very recent rant against Judge Sotomayor and protecting white men in America) that drives them to denigrate and deride others.
Professor Gates is someone who deserves better from America. He has played by the rules, been a good citizen, a model citizen in fact. Yet, at the end of the day, he was just another black man residing while black.
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Having a black president of the united states changes nothing?
What planet are you living on?
I'm sorry, but the U.S.A is the most non-racist country I've ever been and I've been all over the world.
Thank you Mrs. Nelson. I really appreciate your standing up to this onslaught of pro-police talk no matter what the circumstances.
Probably the most obvious sign the legal system is messed up is that the Department of Justice is blatantly lying about the racial composition of drug-related prison data:
http://www
I must confess this past election night, I knew that despite the poor choice of the Republican presidential candidate and the V.P. choice, the Obama would never be elected President of the U.S. In the back of my mind I knew this country was just not ready for a Black president and would somehow find a way to prevent him getting elected. I was stunned when the TV announced his victory. I could not believe that not only did the more qualified candidate win, but, an African American won and by a large margin.
My next couples of thoughts were how for the next four years how everyone that did not vote for him, and some, just because he is an AA would say and do everything possible to have his Presidency fail. You are correct in saying that the U.S. needs to have a real discussion on race, but, it will not happen in my life time. It you have that type of discussion then all those that benefited from racial inequality have to actually admit it and many huge corporations have profited, those that have relatives that participated in crimes against minorities must admit it.
You have to have discussions about Jim Crow. Discussion about the KKK. Discussion about separate but equal. Why am I not so convinced…well I just watch the senate hearing Sotomeyer. Can you imagine those angry non-minority senators suggesting that she is a racist? How disturbing those 4 days were.
These days, racism's favorite argument is that black people get all kinds of free rides with authority by pretending they were treated in a prejudicial manner; that they can get out of jail 'free' by pulling the race card; the propaganda's working too, if we go by the posts in these articles.
And not only is he using the race card to get out of free, which is what black people do according to our closet racists, he's also sinned the sin of being successful. This is an old racism argument; the idea that successful black people, according to Reconstruction-era political cartoons and literature, are egomaniacs and tyrants; the implication is that they have no right to be towards white people.
So we have a mix of racism and class resentment, and they both have deep cultural roots; that's not news. Gates is being penalized for his race and success, by that officer and by public opinion; they say it's easier to be forgiven for being wrong than for being right. Certainly, it's probably awfully hard for some people to forgive a successful black man for existing.
What's killing me is that people don't even think about what they're thinking or question themselves on this issue; they're just firing assumptions from the hip. I'd like those assumptions of authority and race, not to mention achievement, to be considered by Americans, and this is an opportunity to do it.
Or we could be Eric Holder's nation of cowards. Our choice.
I agree with you JHNY that we need to talk about the whole American journey
tell them, tell them.
Sophia Nelson ends her piece by writing that Gates deserved better from America because he "has played by the rules, been a good citizen, a model citizen in fact." This attitude is part of the problem. Gates is no better than any other citizen who works every day. He's not a model for anyone, he's just someone who went to college, earned a Ph.D., got a really "good" job, and fulfilled the expectations of the position he's been granted. That's not to say that he's no successful, but I can say the same for my all of my grandparents, minus the Ph.D. He's not "special," rather, he's made special by statements such as Nelson's, which assume that Gates is better because of his Ph.D. I have one, too. Can I receive the same privileges please? What this circumstance should do for Dr. Gates is show him what it means to be black in America, a fact I think he often forgets as he stands on high at Havard.
The Cambridge Police Dept has quickly and summarily dropped all charges against Professor Hentry Louis Gates, Jr. Obviously they really had no case against this well known educator and author. If a cop in Cambridge did not recognize this world famous individual, who by the way had just returned from a business trip to Communist China, then it doesn't speak very highly of that police department or the arresting officer. Perhaps a course in local Black History for this cop would be appropriate.
White men are arrested all the time while on their own property for being "loud and tumultuous" during the middle of the day. The jails are full of them.
Right.
Yea on Cops! Laughing.
This is correct. Its about racism and/or class. The matter dictates the situation. It's RACISM, CLASS, CULTURE OR RELIGION.
You can cooperate with the cops or not. He chose the latter and got off easy in my opinion. I think everyone I know (regardless of race) knows you cooperate with them or they can make your life miserable. He's not in jail... and if a white man was arrested for not cooperatin
It bothers me that this is even an issue. If I had to break into my own house... I'm not gonna be shocked it cops show up, and if they do... I'm going to apologize for wasting their time... not make their life difficult. He asked for what he got and he got off easy.
And LOL to the writer's: "America has not changed at all." My parents went to high school in a warzone of race issues. I went to high school with black friends and teammates. Then there is the small matter of our country electing a black president.
If you think Pat Buchanan is a racist, write about that... but leave these cops alone... they were doing their job.
Is it true that his house was broken into two weeks prior to this incident? The fact of the matter is Mr. Gates was not only hostile towards police, but he was acting out of control when if he would have calmly explained the situation, showed his ID, the police would have been on their way. The problem started with Gates and his behavior. I imagine if a caucasian male had acted the same way, the same result would have taken place. This was not a race issue, but Gates certainly took the opportunity to make it that way. It will be a great segment for his racial profiling documentary. I don't doubt that RP happens. There are good cops/bad cops...jus
So the police come to a house where a break in is reported. They want to see ID and the man inside starts screaming at them that they are r a c i s t s and he is being ra ci ally profiled..
I'm 100% positive that if Prof. Gates approached the police officers with calm and respect and said "Officers I am so sorry but I pushed in my own door, I live here, let me get some ID." then nobody would have heard about this situation.
Instead By the time police arrived, Gates was already inside. "Police say he refused to come outside to speak with an officer, who told him he was investigating a report of a break-in. "Why, because I'm a black man in America?" Gates said, according to a police report.
So I guess the next accusation will be that the woman who called the police because she witnessed two people breaking down the door is a racist? I guess the best thing to have been done would have been to ignore the situation.
And I'm positive that if he had been a drunk white man who came out on to his own lawn and started yelling at the cops, they would have laughed it off and told him to go back in his house. I know because I've seen it on "Cops". So which one of us is right?
Oh yeah, white people never get arrested in this country...
Are you kidding?
The only reason why the prof. was arrested was b/c he dared challenge the police by demanding his badge number, which is your right.
The fact the charges was dropped speaks volumes, but by all means stand up for these abusive police.
You simply can't treat people in authority they way he did and think it's ok. Does Mr. Gates allow his students to treat him with the same level of disrespect as he showed the police? Do Mr. Gate's children show him such ugliness? They show him, at the least, the basic respect due the possition he has earned. Mr. Gates failed to extend the same respect to the officer responding to a 911 call. Being of a certain skin color, education level, or who one socializes with does not entitle anyone to act in the way he did.
I am sure in hind sight the officer wishes he had simply chuckled at a cranky old man too puffed up with his own press clippings to be curtious and walked away.
This comment just magnifies the reasons why we still have such racial animus and misunderstanding in America. Not even worth responding to point for point--
Does it? It seems fairly sensible. In fact, it seems entirely probable that if the scenario TheKugan describes came to pass, the HuffPo would be ablaze with critiques of the police for failure to properly investigate. While it does seem that the officer overreacted, I fail to see why attempting to discover if there was in fact a burglary by asking Gates to ID himself is a problem. Or why Gates would be upset by the police attempting to protect his home by investigating reports of a crime.
This guy takes his screen name from the Highlander film. The Kurgan is the villian noted for being "infamous for their cruelty, and were known to "toss children into pits full of starved dogs, and watch them fight [for the] meat" for amusement" ...enough said.
while some may be sick of the "race card " being played. How about playing this card One race Human Race. If the arresting officer had bothered to check the mans credentials instead of assuming him to be a criminal this even would have been different. If instead the perception had been that this man is equal and deserving of my respect clearly he is not a burglar .this even would not have taken place.It's unfortunate and i ask you to think of how it feels to be mistreated upon the basis of skin color .IF you have never felt it you don't understand but some of us need to walk miles in others shoes to truly understand the malice of racism .Understand this ....I do not condone racism in any form it is bad for humanity .it is bad to generalize and culturally profile. Believe me some of us are just as sick of others trying to hide their irrationality behind racism .some of us are just plain sick of humans not coming to better agreements .there are no superior cultures. There is some good and some bad in every culture .We should be positive and look and hope for the good .Let's end the falsehood. One Race ...scienti
I like the way you think Beyondsight
Small correction: Gates was arrested by the Cambirdge Police Department not the Boston Police Department.
It's an ugly fact of human nature, and certainly of American life, that those who have been abused by others will earn the enduring resentment of their abusers (and their descendants) for having suffered at their hands. Then there are those whites whose forebears came to the US after the Civil War, who love the story of great-grandpa's hard work that vaulted the family to lower middle class status and often beyond, without ever recognizing the advantage his complexion had in the society of his day. Or now.
The pre-Civil War nation was built by slaves in the South-- by hand, and the cash derived from slave work in agriculture (cotton, sugar, tobacco, rice) formed the basis of the capital that financed the Republic. Blacks subsequent to the Civil War worked harder for less money for more years than any other ethnic or racial group here. Result? In many minds today, black people are lazy and prefer loafing to wage-earning, crime to respectability.
The land we occupy today was taken by force of arms from Native Americans, from sea to shining sea. The greatest energy expended in their direction today is the shouting of our politicians for border fences on lands that Native Americans walked on for 10,000 years before the arrival of the first Europeans.
Is this some of what the author thinks we need to talk about?
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