Henry Louis Gates Jr., renown Harvard University scholar and director of Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, was arrested yesterday at his own home in what appears to be a clear case of racial profiling. Guess who is on his way to the scene?
If you guessed Al Sharpton, you’re a winner! You won’t receive a damned thing, but you can still feel good about yourself for getting it right!
How in the Hell does Al Sharpton end up on the scene at every high profile racial discrimination incident? I’m starting to believe Sharpton has a bat signal in the shape of his perm that shines in the sky whenever a racist act occurs. From there, he checks to see if the racism was newsworthy, then jumps in the Almobile and travels to make his presence known.
I want one of those Al Sharpton bat perm signals. I’d abuse it, by signaling Al over little stuff. Al would travel from NY to DC following the signal, just to hear me say something like “Some old white lady held her purse closer when I got on the elevator with her.” I think you need to have at least an arrest to get through to Sharpton directly. No arrest, violent crime or pre-existing fame, and you’re straight out of luck…
Back to the original subject of this entry…I feel bad for Henry Louis Gates, having to explain himself for simply entering his own home, which resulted in his arrest for disorderly conduct thanks to the ensuing argument with the arresting officer. It just goes to show that although our country is making some progress, the battle against race-based discrimination is far from over.
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That whole situation has that “When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong… Read More” feel to it. I know he was probably upset because he locked himself out then had to deal with the cops because of his neighbor but he could have handled it better. Verify that that’s your house first THEN lay them and your neighbor out for assuming you were a robber.
I think that sometimes when people get in a higher status and tax bracket start thinking they are above all of that. Honestly, I think we “uppity” negroes need these episodes to bring us back to reality.
Hopefully, something positive will come out of this. Maybe this will create a stronger advocate in him against racial profiling and may cause him and his colleagues to come up with a better race relations training program for the police than what they have now. But then again, I’m always optimistic that when the hero blows up or gets shot at in a movie, they’ll show up alive and well by the last scene…okay, after the credits roll.
Dr. Gates’ front door was stuck, possibly tampered with while he was out of town. He was treated like a suspect instead of a possible crime victim.
How can you tell the charge against him was bogus? He was arrested for “tumultuous behavior.”
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/tumultuous-behavior-crime-wave-in-cambridge/
I couldn’t really concentrate on reading your blog at work. You are trying to get me fired with that banner on the top! I have tears running down my face laughing!!!!
Of course they are deferring to the police we have spent a lot of time constructing the Black man as a criminal the fact that he is a Harvard professor is probably just some sort of aberration.