The Gates Incident: Racial Profiling in Black and White

On the surface, what happened to noted Harvard University professor and scholar Henry Louis Gates would seem like a clear cut case of racial profiling: He was arrested in his home by a white police officer after someone called the police in Cambridge, MA (a suburb of Boston where Harvard is located) saying that two black men were trying to break into a house.

Being an African American male, and having been racially profiled a number of times, including being handcuffed across the street form my house because I “fit the description” of some stalker, I certainly understood Gates’ view; he felt that he was being unnecessarily mistreated and disrespected in his own home.

At the same time, the whole thing has seemingly turned into a he-said, he-said affair; Gates saying that police sergeant James Crowley, who arrested him, had walked into his house without permission and refused to give him his name and badge number, while Crowley stated that Gates was the one being argumentative, provoking and escalating the situation.

After reading stories about this from MSNBC and AOL, I say that both sides were at fault in this particular case.

While it was completely understandable that Gates reacted the way he did, as a black man and a leading scholar on race relations, he could have done a better job of keeping his cool, as it is common knowledge in the African American community that black men, regardless of status, are often seen as suspects and criminals by the (predominantly white) authorities.

If Gates has kept calm and not been agressive – as Crowley has claimed – then the arrest would not have happened.

On the other hand, Gates claimed that Crowley was uncooperative with him by not providing his name and badge number when asked and, in his eyes, was generally being disrespectful.

It seems to me that if Crowley had asked permission to enter Gates’ home – which according to Gates he didn’t – and had simply left when Gates’ IDs were produced, everything would have been squashed.

What it all comes down to is a question that must be asked…

If Henry Louis Gates were white, would he have been arrested and – allegedly – treated the way he was?

Many whites, I imagine, would answer yes.

I disagree.

What white communities, by and large, don’t understand (though I know there are plenty of whites that do) is that there has been a long history of black harassment and mistreatment by white police forces and that many cities, especially the Boston area where Gates resides, have been notorious for racism and racial prejudice among the ranks of white cops.