Apparently, serious, longstanding racial issues can be solved by beer.
Apparently, speaking without knowing the facts can also be solved by beer.
To be frank, I find this unsatisfactory.
I don’t know what happened in the now famous arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates. I am inclined to think that he was unruly, and said things he should not have said. I am inclined to think that perhaps the officer had a different route he could have taken toward resolution.
I am pretty young and I don’t have a PhD and a Harvard professorship, but I know better than to smart off to police officers. I know, I know … I am not black. I have never been pulled over for DWB. But copping an attitude does not seem to be a good way to change race relations. It does not seem to be a good way to convince the cops that you are not a bad guy.
Here’s what else I know: The president should have stopped with “I don’t know all the facts.” His comments that reflected poorly on law enforcement officers should not be washed away with a beer.
I am not sure what Professor Gates should do. I am not sure what Officer Crowley should do.
I am sure that the president should do more than “calibrate” his words differently (whatever that means). He should actually apologize for what he said.
Wouldn’t that be a change?
1 comment:
I'm inclined to agree with you on your assessment of the actions of both Gates and Officer Crowley. I also agree that the President should have stopped with "I don't know all of the facts", even though I tend to agree with his conclusion. If he felt compelled to add to his statement, I would also have added that Professor Gates acted stupidly in trying to turn a general welfare call by the police into a racial profiling incident.
What I don't get is how this man can be a professor of race relations at a prestigious private university, yet he can't distinguish between an officer coming to his home to ensure that he and his home were safe and an officer intentionally antagonizing a person because of his skin color.
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