Looking for Understanding on Racism

The recent flap over Professor Gates being arrested in Cambridge, MA, has sparked another outburst of talk about the question of “racism” in America.  It seems to me as I listen to the Sunday morning pundits that many got the relationship between the people and the police correct when they agreed that it is better to be calm and polite when one is involved in a situation involving the law than it is to be agitated and abusive.  I personally can attest that life goes easier when one cooperates with police.  And, as law-abiding citizens we want our police force to be courteous and prudent in dealing with situations.  That African Americans and minorities are treated differently by the police is an issue that I cannot address personally, but I take umbrage that every encounter between minority people and the police is fraught with abuse on the part of police.

That Professor Gates was agitated and abusive has been documented by the other police officers on the scene.  However, the cry of racisim seems still to be the chatter on the mainstream airways.  White people, I fear, seem never to be able to have an encounter with African American people when the differences do not produce the outcry that White people are just naturally racists.  This is a great insult to all White people and should not be accepted, nor shoud White discontent on this subject be only the province of the likes of extreme right wing pundits.  When I heard Professor Dyson today say that minority people are imprisoned at higher rates than Whites, I concur; however, that is neither the fault of Sgt. Crowley nor does it have anything to do with abusive speech on the part of Dr. Gates.   

While the great questions of race relations rage on, it may surprise Dr. Dyson that the differences between Whites and African Americans and Latinos and other minorities in the working classes is far less important and far more evolved.  Saying that a police union would not support a Black officer in a case involving White perpetrators–on the basis of race alone–is just not where the unions and the workers of today are.  Those of us who work in the inner cities of this country work with folk of every stripe; we come to understand that our jobs, our security, our dignity transcend race.  That racism and classism and discrimination does exist in all aspects of American life is a truth.  However, when one’s job depends on getting along with everyone in the ’shop’ or on the ‘floor’ or ’in the building’ one is less likely to see differences than to try to work things out with one’s peers. 

Had Sgt. Crowley not done his job in accordance with established protocol, he would not be able to count on the support of his union, his superiors, and his peers.  Those of us who have been involved with the police know all too well that the officers we meet in situations know their jobs, are trained to do their jobs, and respect their office as well as the need of the civilians they are assisting or detaining.  The fact that all police situations are not conducted in an atmosphere of professionalism is a sad commentary on human nature; that the Gates/Crowley incident may heighten awareness of the scope of an officer’s duty toward civilians is a good thing. The sad thing is to intimate in any way that Sgt. Crowley is a racist because he had an encounter with a subject who expressed negative feelings toward White police people.  Is it ever possible that African American people fail to see beyond color?