Enough already of Dr. Henry Louis “Skip” Gates and Cambridge Police Sargent James Crowley!Gates and Crowley both handled this situation “stupidly” (as President Obama so succinctly put it) and owe it to us all to end it ASAP. They both "took it there". The argument is superficial, nobody can win, but we all stand to lose.
I must admit, I was disappointed when the learned Professor did not manage to avoid being arrested; then I was disappointed when the learned Professor did not just end the story; now I am convinced the learned Professor is so highly pissed because he was treated like so many other black men (i.e., those he refers to in the "prison system"). Professor Gates was reminded Race Trumps Class even if you are the pre-eminent Harvard Scholar Henry Louis "Skip" Gates.
AND, lest we let Sargent Crowley off the hook for being as learned as he is. After all, he is a Sargent with the Cambridge, Massachusetts Police Department. As a police sergeant he is trained to be the bigger person, take the higher road, be more professional. The learned Sargent has spent the past five years teaching a class at the Lowell Police Academy to Cambridge and Lowell police cadets about how to avoid racial profiling. He knows just as well as Professor Gates, that this situation didn't need to escalate.
It's an unfortunate fact, that most, if not all black men expect to be hassled by the police at some point in their lives. Why would Henry Gates expect the “sky to fall from the heavens” before it ever happened to him? Does graduating from Harvard somehow put him above it all (this is sarcasm)? If only an advanced degree from an Ivy League school was all it took for black folks to escape racial profiling.
I don’t like the fact that Professor Gates is letting the issue of black folks dealing with racial profiling take the heat. Should he be mad as hell about what happened to him on Thursday? That's his prerogative. However, there are many, much more effective ways for a learned Professor, who produces documentaries for PBS, to speak out about racial profiling and the plight of black men in the prison system.
Unfortunately, even President Obama was pulled into the frey by a reporter, while taking questions at a press conference on health care. Seeing how the President knows Skip Gates and he knows a little bit about being black at Harvard, he dared to answer the question. Regardless of what the President’s answer was regarding Gates-Gate, somebody was bound to be offended.
Here we are, days later and the MSM continues to focus on Gates-Gate. It's time for the MSM to let Gates-Gate go. The plight of Skip Gates, pre-eminent black Harvard Professor, is more of a Cambridge story than a human interest story. Enough already.
Article of interest: Skip Gates Speaks, Please, Professor Gates!, Officer Says He Won't Apologize
3 comments:
Arresting Gates was uncalled for and the cuffs were just over the top. Both Gates and the police officer over reacted and continue to do so days later. To bad for the public at large, they appear intent on getting their 15 minutes.
We have three observations about the Harvard professor incident:
1. We find it interesting that the fact that this was the professor's home was evidently not established early on way before the dispute escalated;
2. We find it fascinating that the versions of two members of society, who most would ordinarily view as responsible and honest citizens (this obviously does not include politicians), would vary so dramatically from a factual point of view.
3. Finally, considering that the reading and viewing public were not present at the scene (and thus have no first hand knowledge), and that there is no video tape to our knowledge of the sequence of events and what was said, how so many have formed conclusions, and made assumptions, about who did what and who was wrong.
There are some things which Professor Gates might have considered upon the arrival of the police, no matter how incensed he may have been.
Both of these gentlemen (Gates and Crowley) could have deescalated this situation. They BOTH FAILED.
Racial profiling needs to be addressed, but not like this.
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