Posted by Shyam Moondra
Today, President Barrack Obama is meeting over beer at the White House with his friend Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a Harvard professor, and Sgt. James Crowley of Cambridge (Mass.) Police Department to smooth over any misunderstandings resulting from the June 16th incident that ended up in Crowley arresting Gates for disorderly conduct, a charge that was later dropped.
On June 16, 2009, Gates (a black man) returned from a trip to China. He couldn't open the jammed door of his home so he and his car service driver (a black man) tried to push the door with their shoulders. A passerby, Lucia Whalen (a white woman), saw what was happening, so she made a 911 call to report this as a possible break-in attempt. A few minutes later, Crowley (a white man) came to investigate by which time Gates was already inside his home and the car driver had already left. Gates, a race relations expert, was angry at being asked to prove his identity in his own home and perceived this as a case of racial profiling. Crowley ended up arresting Gates for disorderly conduct and led him away in handcuffs. A few days later, Cambridge Police Department dropped the charge. Obama, when asked by a reporter at his press conference about the arrest of Gates, commented that he didn't have all the facts but he thought that the police acted "stupidly." That comment led to a huge political uproar drawing protest from law enforcement organizations and conservatives, drowning out Obama's message on his number one priority, the proposed health care plan. Obama returned to the White House briefing room and admitted that he could have worded his reaction better and revealed that he invited Gates and Crowley to meet over beer at the White House to talk about the incident and smooth over any misunderstandings.
Based on what we know, this is what I think about the persons involved in this whole thing:
· Obama: Being a black president, it is understandable that he is very sensitive to the issue of racial profiling, especially when one of his friends is involved. However, he was wrong to draw a conclusion (that the police acted stupidly) before he had all the facts. The choice of word ("stupidly") was not appropriate – it made him look un-presidential. However, once Obama realized that his remarks created a political backlash, at a time when he was trying to drive his message on his health care plan, he promptly met with the reporters to admit that he made a mistake. That was a gutsy move because presidents rarely admit that they made mistakes. Some people have questioned whether he should have commented at all on a local police incident. I think if it were proven that the incident involved race profiling then it would be appropriate for the president to talk about this. However, organizing a beer party at the White House seems like going too far – Obama has lot more important things to do than to try to smooth things over between Gates and Crowley. Well, now he has to deal with yet another controversy surrounding his choices of beer that will be served at today's meeting - domestic brewers are upset that the White House will be using beer manufactured by three foreign owned companies. I give Obama a "B."
· Gates: As an expert on race relations at Harvard, he saw his confrontation with Crowley as a case of race profiling. That thought led him to behave uncooperatively at a time when he should have been more understanding and he should have kept his cool. Crowley received a tip on a possible break-in, so he had no choice but to verify Gates' identity – that was proper police work. I give Gates a "C."
· Crowley: He may have acted by the book, but, clearly, he fumbled his job here. He should have been more patient and tolerant. He should have been mindful of the fact that Gates was angry because he was being asked to prove his identity in his own home (would not Crowley feel the same way, if he was in Gates shoes?). There is no indication that Gates was violent, so after he showed his identification cards, Crowley went too far in arresting Gates and hand-cuffing him for disorderly conduct – a charge that would not have stood a chance in a court of law (the police department was wise to drop the charge a few days later). You can't arrest a man because he is rude to the police. Would Crowley have arrested Gates, if Gates were a white man? Was Crowley simply showing off his police power or was he being racist? We will never know. Crowley wrote in his report that Whalen told him at the scene that she saw two black men – an assertion not supported by the 911 call transcript released by the Cambridge Police Department. I give Crowley a "D."
· Whalen: It's not clear if she did the right thing by reporting what she saw to the police in a 911 call. The call transcript indicates that she saw two pieces of luggage on the porch and she even speculated that the men could be living there and they may have been just trying to open the jammed door. The transcript also indicates that she didn't know if Gates was white or black or Hispanic, although she did say that one man (the car driver) looked like a Latino. The question I would have is if she would have done the same thing had she seen two white men trying to open the jammed door. We know how she would answer that question. Since we don't yet know much about her motivation in making the 911 call, I give her an "Incomplete."
