Gates Episode Triggers Disturbing Reactions

I was disturbed by many aspects of the recent, controversial incident involving Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and the Cambridge, (MA.) Police Department - including the media coverage and the public reaction to it.

In the end, I believe the incident was elevated into a much more intense, racially charged, negative drama because of the intolerance that the Cambridge Police Department and others displayed toward Gates' angry reaction. The key detail, I believe, was the police's reaction to the content of Gates' venting -- i.e. That he felt he was the victim of racial discrimination.

Sergeant Jim Crowley, the arresting police officer, seemed to disregard these comments of Gates. Instead, he focused on Gates' belligerence to his authority and determined that Gates had yelled at him a bit too long and crossed an imaginary line that defined what amounted to "disorderly conduct." Crowley claims racial issues had no influence on his actions. Assuming that's true, did he have to handcuff Gates, despite his outburst, and take him to the police station for four hours? No way. It was within Crowley's discretion to respond as he saw fit. He could have walked away. So, when Cambridge cops said that Crowley went "by the book," they didn' t add that if he had walked away, he would've also "gone by the book."

I think the cops still don't "get it" because, even if one assumes that Crowley was not at all influenced by Gates' race, Crowley still could and should have shown at least some discretion by acknowledging Gates' sensibility on the racial context was different than his. (He could have apologized for the mistaken investigation, tried to meet him half-way and calmly tried to address his racial concerns) Reinforcing this point was the fact that Crowley, we learned, had led trainings on the topic of racial profiling. He knew the dynamics.

President Obama alluded to this part of the story on Friday, July 24th, when he attempted to ease tensions.

"What I'd like to do then is make sure that everybody steps back for a moment," Obama said, "recognizes that these are two decent people, not extrapolate too much from the facts, but, as I said at the press conference, be mindful of the fact that because of our history, because of the difficulties of the past, you know, African-Americans are sensitive to these issues.
"And even when you've got a police officer who has a fine track record on racial sensitivity, interactions between police officers and the African-American community can sometimes be fraught with misunderstanding."

Obama seems to be suggesting he thinks Crowley could have exercised more discretion toward Gates' race-related sensitivity and given Gates more "slack" given the racial dynamics in play.
The question lingers: Why does Obama, and all of us who agree with him, believe Gates' outburst - however excessive - could have been tolerated while so many other people - including an apparent majority of cops - believe Gates' loud complaints fully warranted his arrest for "disorderly conduct"? Why have so many white people been triggered to attack Gates for even introducing race? Some seem to resent that Gates even showed the nerve to assert himself so vigorously to a white cop questioning him. It seems the image - alone - of an angry black man yelling at a white cop disturbed many white people.

This disparity in tolerance - which has seemed to vary depending on if one is white or black - without question, is at the center of this episode. In fact, I think the public response to this incident suggests something more disturbing: That perhaps many, many people did NOT want to even hear Gates' complaints AT ALL about the racial issues. In addition, I sense people are not as open or sensitive about hearing about racial profiling as they should be. In summary, this incident was a depressing reminder that the state of race relations still has a LONG way to go. Not only did I see intolerance in "Comments" of readers at the end of newspaper articles, but I saw an expression of reactions that amounted to racism directed at Gates and Obama.

• Among several other points that caught my interest were these:
  
• While most have stressed that, of course, the Cambridge police acted appropriately to investigate a "possible break-in" at Gates' address on July 16th, few have dwelled on the unlikelihood of a break-in or burglary being attempted at mid-day, in broad daylight. A woman who didn't know Gates and was not his neighbor made the initial call to the police.
• While noting that Crowley denied race was a factor in the episode, Boston Globe columnist Adrian Walker, in an excellent July 24th piece, that, "of course" race was a part of this. "I don't believe for one second that Alan Dershowitz, in the same situation, would have ended up with a mug shot," wrote Walker. First, his neighbor probably wouldn't have called the police, even if she didn't recognize him. Second, Crowley probably would have gone away..."
• Walker, also, was one of the few journalists to get a comment from Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone, who decided to drop Cambridge's "disorderly conduct" charge against Gates. Walker, in the same column said that Leone believes that no one covered themselves in glory here. "Crowley got his back up," Leone said. "He's saying all he did was respond. I think both of them, privately, are saying, "I could have handled this better"
• Later on, the media and public response to President Obama's brief remarks, at his July 22nd press conference, on the Gates episode triggered an overwhelming response - much of it negative toward Obama for his choice of words when he said: "....the Cambridge police acted stupidly." I paid close attention to the media response to Obama and noticed they "pounced" on his mistake in his choice of words. I mean "pounced." They also criticized him for choosing to give such a strong opinion, when, by his own admission, he didn't have all the facts. Obama, uncharacteristically, chose unfortunate phrases and words to give context to why he was choosing to weigh in on this matter. However, he did express several important points - including his last tangent when he reminded the national audience of how racial profiling continues to be a serious problem for blacks and latinos who are arrested disproportionately. Interestingly, a segment of the public didn't seem to welcome Obama's "joining" this story; in fact, I sensed many people were uncomfortable with Obama stepping out of his normal approach to stay out of racial issues. It seemed Obama felt he did not want to avoid this one - and he said, on Friday, he was glad he had weighed in.
• When I found some incredibly negative comments -including venom-filled ones - directed at Obama in the "Comment" sections following newspaper stories, I found it depressing. It took me back to the 2008 presidential campaign, when Obama had to duck and overcome so many hurdles that related somehow to race relations. During the Rev. Wright controversy or the outcry over Obama's off-the-cuff remark about people getting bitter and "clinging to guns and religion" More than anything, it reminded me of how incredibly vulnerable and fragile I thought Obama was because of his race. It just seemed that people were more ready to pounce on any errors he made. I recall when he attempted a spontaneous joke - in a reply to a question at the end of a lengthy debate with Hillary Clinton. Obama said: "She's (Hillary) likeable enough..." He was trying to be funny, but his delivery didn't work as he hoped. To my amazement, I saw that line played and re-played to illustrate that Obama had a "cold side" or something to that effect on a number of occasions throughout the campaign. It had been a bad, little joke that lasted three seconds. So, Obama has to monitor himself all the time and, yes, I absolutely believe he is granted much less slack because he is black.

I hope, despite the hazards of his situation, that Obama does weigh in on another racial matter like the Gates episode because - without his injecting himself into it - yes, he would've avoided political fallout, but he would not have done something I've never experienced: As the President of the United States, he challenged the approach of police departments on matters of race and brought attention to the important issue of racial profiling -- whether people want to hear it or not. This was a moment when Obama, by dropping his normal predispositions or inhibitions about discussing certain racial matters, gave the American people a radically different, new, constructive perspective on a race relations topic.

I hope it can be a "teachable moment" even in a small way because we have a long, long way to go with race relations. This Gates episode illustrated that.