Being black and educated isn't enough

July 20th there was an article on Boston.com about Prof. Gates who was arrested in his own Cambridge residence. I can't link anyone there; I still can't figure out that magical process. Prof. Gates had returned home from a visit to China and he and his driver found that his door was jammed and he had a hard time getting in. A neighbor or passerby (it was unclear which) called in the sight of the two men manhandling the door to force their way in to the local police. OK, concerned citizen report. Big city, if it is a neighbor, probably doesn't know who lives next door. Cities can be like that. I get that. For me though it goes south from when the police arrive.

They find this emminent scholar all ready inside. He produces both his Harvard ID and an additional identification making it clear he is in his own home. He is understandably angry and makes angry comments to the police officer. To my way of thinking at this point the officer should have apologized, said he was following up on a citizen call and left. However it doesn't sound like that is what happened. Tempers flared on both sides and Gates was subsequently arrested for "tumultuous" behavior. He was held several hours, and released. Charges against him were later dropped.

If ever our country needed proof that electing a president who is a black man does not end racism, this incident would seem to prove that. I watched Greater Boston last night. They interviewed a police officer (not the arresting officer) a lawyer, a friend and colleague of Prof. Gates and Callie Crossley a black journalist.

The police officer appeared to me to be clearly uncomfortable. Although he was black, he could not speak against other police officers. The blue line. The code. All that. He did admit that speaking angrily without cursing to a police officer is not against the law. That is all that it is alleged that Prof. Gates did. No force other than his angry words were used. I wonder how the officer felt after the show aired. Walking the political line trying not to speak against a brother police officer, trying not to say something negative of a fellow black professional. IMHO he did no service to either, but I can sit here and say that as a white person who has not had to deal with discrimination in that same manner.

Callie said that she has a 17 year old nephew and there are frequent discussions with him on how to deal with the police when it happens, to prevent situations from escalating. She spoke of the frustration that builds from continually having to justify one's presence in a location over and over. That you don't mind the first time, but the next and the next is what grinds at you.

The lawyer commented on the fact that the fact that Gates lived in a upper middle class neighborhood likely contributed to the situation. There is still a perception that black people don't belong in upper middle class (read this more accurately as also predominantly white) neighborhoods. No, we haven't come so far, have we?