Four police officers and two men; one black, a noted Harvard professor, and one Jewish, a famous singer –each with a recent police encounter.<\/p>\n
Returning from a trip, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates found his front door jammed.\u00a0 He tried to force it open and then he and his chauffeur got in through the back door.\u00a0 According to Officer Figueroa’s police report, a neighbor called the police saying she saw “a man wedging his shoulder into the front door as if to pry the door open.”\u00a0 And contrary to media reports, she did not identify the men by their race.\u00a0 Further, Figueroa, the second officer on the scene, is also black.<\/p>\n
The first officer on the scene, Sgt. James Crowley, teaches a class on racial profiling and race relations, picked to do so by a former police commissioner who is black.\u00a0 Sgt. Crowley was responding to a possible “crime in progress” and found two men inside the house.\u00a0 Shortly thereafter, Figueroa arrived and witnessed the professor’s behavior.\u00a0\u00a0 According to his report, professor Gates was yelling at Sgt. Crowley, calling him a racist and saying, “This is what happens to black men in America” and “You don’t know who you’re messing with.”<\/p>\n
The encounter ended with the professor’s arrest.\u00a0 The next day President Obama issued a surprise summary judgment that the police “acted stupidly,” this following an admission that he did not know all the facts.<\/p>\n
Although overlooked by most media, the president is a friend of professor Gates’ which explains why Obama berated the police.\u00a0 The next day when the president felt the backlash of his statement, rather than apologizing to the police as he should have, he said, “I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning Sgt. Crowley.”\u00a0 Is that true or was the president intentionally degrading the sergeant?<\/p>\n
The second man is Bob Dylan, a famous singer who is Jewish.\u00a0 He was killing time before a concert in New Jersey and left his hotel to take a walk.\u00a0 The Associated Press reported “a resident said a man was wandering around a low-income, predominately minority neighborhood.”<\/p>\n
The resident called the police and a young officer arrived who had never heard of Bob Dylan.\u00a0 He asked Mr. Dylan his name, what he was doing, and for some identification.\u00a0 By then a second officer arrived, just as with professor Gates.<\/p>\n
Because Mr. Dylan did not have identification with him, the officers asked him to accompany them back to his hotel to verify his identity.\u00a0 He willingly complied even though he had not done anything to justify this attention.\u00a0 In contrast, in professor Gates’ case the police believed they might be responding to a crime.<\/p>\n
We have four police officers interacting with two men who reacted differently.\u00a0 Professor Gates shouted racism while Bob Dylan, a world famous singer, cooperated with the police.<\/p>\n
He did not shout, “Racism.”\u00a0 He did not shout, “This is how Jewish men are treated in America.”\u00a0 He did not shout, “You have no idea who you are messing with.”<\/p>\n
I agree with the president; this is a “teaching moment.”\u00a0 It’s just that the president missed the lesson.<\/p>\n
Who reacted racially, Sgt. Crowley or professor Gates?\u00a0 Who behaved appropriately, professor Gates or Bob Dylan?<\/p>\n
Perhaps professor Gates was unable to bury past hurts and still sees racism everywhere, even when it does not exist.\u00a0 Perhaps the professor’s past brought him to this encounter with an attitude that the officer did not have the right to question him?<\/p>\n
Was professor Gates modeling how to ease racial tensions or was he, perhaps unknowingly, acting racist?<\/p>\n
The real lessons to consider?\u00a0 Can past hurts lead to present misconceptions?\u00a0 Can people of any skin color be racist? Can shouting racism when none exists be racist?\u00a0 Can viewing today through the window of the past be unproductive?\u00a0 Can we move forward if we spend all our time looking backward? It’s worth some thought.<\/p>\n
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