Maybe Something Good Can Come Out Of This

Redefining Racism Boston Police Officer Style

Justin Barrett is the thirty six year old Boston police officer who was put on administrative leave, pending a termination hearing, for sending an email anonymously to the Boston Globe in which he referred to Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. as a banana eating jungle monkey.  According to an article in the Boston Globe, Mr. Barrett wrote the email containing the racist reference in reaction to all the media coverage of Mr. Gates’s arrest by Cambridge police officer James Crowley.  Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis immediately stripped Mr. Barrett of his gun and badge, and scheduled a disciplinary hearing where Mr. Barrett will receive legal representation from the police officer’s union.  Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino called Mr. Barrett a cancer and said he is gone from the Boston police force.

In an interview that WCVB-TV, Mr. Barrett says he is only guilty of using a poor choice of words and that he did not mean to offend anyone.  Mr. Barrett went on to say that the words he used were to characterize Mr. Gates’ behavior and not to describe him as a person and didn’t mean anything in a racist kind of way.  Mr. Barrett claims he treats everyone with dignity and respect.  We are supposed to believe that Mr. Barrett didn’t mean anything derogatory and it was just a coincidence that he used a widespread racist term for black people.  We are supposed to believe that Mr. Barrett would use terms like jungle monkey on people regardless of color and it’s just another unfortunate circumstance that he was caught using it on Mr. Gates, a black man.

In typical caught red handed committing acts of racism but deny being a racist fashion, despite everything we have seen and read about this saga riddled with racism, Mr. Barrett and his lawyer said they will fight all the charges.  They contend that people are trying to make this issue about race when it’s not about race.  I guess we are supposed to believe that white people get called jungle monkeys on a regular basis as well.

In a letter to union members posted on their website, police union officials denounced Mr. Barrett’s statements but asked that the facts be determined before a rush to judgment is made.  In a letter signed by top officials at the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, the official union’s position is that it has a duty to assure that the contractual and due process rights of each and every member are protected although it strongly denounces Mr. Barrett’s statements as being offensive and hurtful.  Making sure Mr. Barrett’s is well protected and free to make racist statements with impunity does little to keep future incidents of race based hatred from happening.

So this is just the latest chapter in the perpetual book of people coming to the defense of people who lapse into racist rants.  We will make every excuse under the sun for the white comedian who stands on stage and uses a string of racial slurs against black people for interrupting his act.  We make excuses for the white television personality who is taped using racial slurs to pressure his son to dump his black girlfriend.  We made excuses for the radio personality who uses racial slurs to degrade a group of predominantly black female athletes.  We will defend the politician who forgets he’s on camera and shamelessly uses a racial slur against the lone minority in the audience.  We will protect the bureaucrat who uses public property to distribute racist emails depicting the first black President as a spook in the dark with glowing, bulging eyes.  We will protect the cop that feels compelled to pull black people off their property for being angry.  Why not protect the cop who uses the anonymity of the internet to refer to a distinguished, black Harvard professor as a banana eating jungle monkey.  These people claim that they aren’t racist.  They just play the role of the racists in real life.

On the other side of this racist issue, we have white people painting the first black President of the United States as an angry racist against white people.  Why is the President so angry with white people?  It is because the President is guilty of being black.  But what really nailed this home for a lot of people is the fact that President Barack Obama said that the Cambridge police department behaved stupidly.  Now that’s a racist rant if I ever heard one.  Any time a black person says anything derogatory about a white person or an institution steeped in Eurocentric history it must be racist, plain and simple.

And let’s not forget the first Hispanic nominee for Supreme Court justice.  Because of one line in a speech made eight years ago Sonia Sotomayor is a racist who is looking to right the wrongs of white people despite the fact that there is no history of such a supposition.  The fact that Ms. Sotomayor, along with a couple other appeals court judges ruled against firefighters who felt entitled to promotions after taking a test with racially skewed results is not proof of some racist bend in her character.  And simply because the Supreme Court narrowly overruled her judgment in a five to four split is not proof of racism.

But what we do have proof of is a move to make reverse racism the focus on our collective conscious.  Racism towards black people is being redefined as nothing serious.  Dude was just having a bad day and that’s why he sent an email calling a black man a banana eating jungle monkey or a macaca or making the suggestion that a black man should be strung up from the nearest tree.  He may have said it but it by no means indicates a flaw in his character.  These things happen.  Now if a black man says Boston police are stupid?  That’s just what you can expect from a racist banana eating jungle monkey.

Suspicion Of Racism Is Not A Crime

“…The issue is that we have a black man who is a racist.” – Joe

A visitor to my blog has the opinion of the Henry Louis Gates, Jr. arrest that reflects the thinking of many in the dominant community of America. My visitor believes that the real issue between Officer James Crowley and Mr. Gates is not the fact that we see an American citizen being pulled off of his own property for being angry. The real problem for my visitor is that Mr. Gates is a racist. What is the sure fire sign that Mr. Gates is a racist? The problem is the fact that Mr. Gates made a comment to Mr. Crowley that the only reason he was being harassed was because a white woman called the police on him. The fact that we may have a situation where a black man makes the assumption that a white woman called the police is the real issue in this sad scenario.

Black people run the gamut of humanity just like anyone else. There are black people who are jerks just like there are white people who are jerks. There are black people who are prejudice just as there are white people who are prejudice. Anybody who knows anything about human nature should know that prejudice is not a human trait reserved only for white people. In America, we don’t arrest people for being prejudice. In fact, Americas courts usually bend over backwards to protect people’s right to freedom of speech. As long as people’s freedom of expression don’t infringe on the rights of others we have demonstrated time and time again a tolerance for people’s expression of anger.

If the occasional klan rally is any indication, America has a healthy tolerance for blatant racist. When white people want a high profile public forum and a megaphone to express and promote their hate of minorities, people from the gay and lesbian community, and people of differing religions and cultures, we tolerate this special form of racism and recognize people’s right to it.  We condone this behavior by allowing racists to parade our streets and stand on public places to give their hate rallies.

However, the moment some of us think that a black man might be racist then we have a real issue. Obviously some of us feel that black people don’t have the right to any form of hate. When we see the black man exercising his right to freedom of expression, we suddenly have an issue. We applaud the police clamping down on this man who obviously doesn’t know his place in our social makeup. This form of discrimination is just as insidious as its cross burning counterpart. Freedom of expression is just another one of those separate but unequal gaps in our community that falls along racial lines.

An assumption was made that Mr. Gates is racist because he assumed that it was a white woman who called the police about a potential crime. However, Mr. Gates didn’t just pull a white woman out his ass. In the police report filed by Mr. Crowley, it was stated that just as Mr. Crowley was going to the front door of Mr. Gates’ house, he stopped to speak with a white woman who was holding a cell phone in her hand. The police report said that Mr. Gates was looking out the window while Mr. Crowley was talking to the white woman. It would be a reasonable assumption that if Mr. Gates saw the white woman talking to the police officer that she would have been the one calling the police on Mr. Gates. That’s not racism. That’s observation and deduction. It is possible that the white woman was not the one that initially called the police. Even a reasonable assumption can be wrong.

Some people want to label Mr. Gates a racist because they believed he was a black man who had simply assumed that it was a white woman who called the police without getting any facts. The black man making racial assumptions was the only real issue in this entire ordeal. The fact that Mr. Gates made an assumption that it was a woman who called the police doesn’t make him a sexist. The only assumption that was wrong was the assumption of whiteness.

If it would have been considered racist that the black Mr. Gates only assumed it was a white person who called the fuzz, is it racist for people to assume that the black Mr. Gates had assumed that the caller was white? After all, wouldn’t one assumption of color be just as racist as the other? Would it not be fair to say that if some of us were willing to make the primary issue in this ordeal the racism of a black man based on an assumption that he jumped the gun without all the facts, then wouldn’t the fact that he did have his facts in order dispel that assumption of his racism? Not only should it absolve him of being a racist, it should call into question the racism of some people who were only too ready to point an accusing finger of racism at a black man being arrested from his own home.

Working Through The Pain

I don’t know when it happened and I don’t know how.  But a couple of years ago I had seriously injured my right shoulder.  My shoulder would hurt from doing little, simple things like jumping down like from the bed of a truck to the ground.  If I let my right arm hang and do whatever the resulting jolt of pain would make it feel like someone was trying to pull my shoulder out of its socket.  The pain would be severe.  I could avoid the pain if I actually my shoulder muscles and kept my arm close to my body before sudden movements.  I would look like a stroke victim but the pain would be avoided.  If I used my right arm to pull open heavy doors my arm would pulse with eye watering pain.  Lifting heavy objects wasn’t a problem.  In that respect my right was as good as my left.  But extending my right arm and sudden movements had to be avoided and I’m right handed.

I will never forget the day I found a flying bug in the house.  The locals called them stink bugs and they were very prolific for the time of year.  One had managed to get in the house and I was going to get it before it could release its foul spray.  I rolled up the paper and moved in for the kill.  I slowly moved across the room and raised my bug killing arm, the right one.  I swung as if I was A. Rod on hypodermic delivered “vitamins”.   To say that my arm felt like it was on white flame, plasma fire doesn’t do the pain justice.  It was as if all the nerves in my teeth were being scrubbed with eighty grit sandpaper and all that pain was being focused to my shoulder.  I screamed like I’ve never screamed in my life.  My legs buckled and I lost my balance.  Tears welled up in my eyes.  The only thing I could think to do was to roll over on to my shoulder and use gravity to put pressure on my arm to put it back in its socket.  Everybody in the house came running.  I’m not sure but I think somebody came in the room with a bat thinking I was being attacked.  It took about fifteen minutes for the pain to go away.  And to top it all off I missed that freaking bug.  I wasn’t even close.

I was told to go to the doctor.  I had something that started with a B and sounded like bronchitis but escapes me at the moment.  Somebody knew some woman who had the same symptoms I exhibited.  That woman had to go the rest of her life getting occasional pain shots.  It was suggested that if I wanted the pain to go away I was going to have to get some cortisone injections.  The thought of getting pain shots for the rest of my life bothered me.  I wasn’t working at the time and I didn’t have anything that remotely resembled medical coverage.  A doctor’s visit was going to be an unwelcome expense.  But what was my main concern was having a preexisting condition as part of my medical record.  A doctor’s visit wasn’t totally out of the question.  But it was on the back burner.  I decided to try and work it out.  I had to get into a gym.

The apartment complex I stayed in had a workout center off the swimming pool with one of those multi station workout machines along with a complete range of dumbbells, a couple of treadmills, an ellipse machine, and an exercise bike.  When I would try to do something like a military press, where you’re sitting upright and lifting a barbell off the chest and straight up, it proved extremely difficult to perform.  Compared to my left shoulder my range of motion of my right arm was severely impacted.  When I would lift dumbbell weights in front of the mirror my right shoulder went through a series of distortions trying to keep up with the left.  It was quite disturbing.  While my left side was strong enough to do certain exercises with a thirty five pound dumbbell, my right side, supposedly the dominant side, was limited to about twenty five pounds.  I was mortified.  I used to do these exercises with twice that weight.  But a bum shoulder’s got to start somewhere.  After eight months I got stronger.  But working out in that little room at the complex my shoulder never completely healed itself.

I left that apartment complex and moved to an area that was much more convenient for me getting back into working out at the local Bally’s health and spa.  However, I stopped working out for a while.  After months of going without a job I had lost interest in working out.  Without a job and virtually penniless I couldn’t even afford the gas to go back and forth to the gym.  Even if I could afford it my head wasn’t straight and I had no energy.  I’m pretty sure it was depression.  I heard months of unemployment can do that to a person.

But when I started my new job it was like life bloomed again.  Suddenly, I had to go back to the gym just to be able to get back into my professional clothing.  I’m going to have to work off at least a couple of inches.  But regardless, going back to the Bally’s was like going back to an old friend.

About a couple months after I started working out at the gym with the peace of mind of a job, I suddenly realized that my shoulder restored itself.  I made a workout program that had me doing legs one day and chest, back, and shoulders another day.  Initially I thought I had lost some strength again.  I couldn’t even lift the weight I used back at my old apartment complex.  However, with a full gym at my disposal I was sure it would only be a matter of time before I was back to what I used to lift at the apartment.  And I thought it would be a month or two after that before I’m back to a comfortable body size or weight or strength that I will be happy with.  But that one morning I was working out and I realized that the stiffness and pain associated with extending my right arm was gone was like Christmas.  The distortions the right side of my body went through to keep up with the left were gone as well.  But the real test came when I simulated the jump from the bed of a truck.  I stood on the fourth step from the bottom and jumped to the landing.  No pain, big gain!

And I didn’t need any drugs.  When I made that swing to kill that bug and my pain receptors went bizerk I would not have refused one of those pain killing Star Trek hypo sprays out of a starship doctor’s futuristic black bag of tricks.  If I had medical coverage at the time I probably would’ve ran to the doctor as soon as I stopped seeing stars.  I would have gladly taken a cortisone shot and would have praised my doctor each and every subsequent visit to get another one.  But that wasn’t a very attractive option at the time and I had to do something a little different.  It took a few years, but I’m happy to put whatever was causing me so much pain off for at least another few years.  In the mean time I’ll keep going to the gym and do my best to keep arthritis at bay.  Where’s that freaking stink bug now?

Care For Healthcare Reform

Another Case Of Racism Subtle Enough To Warrant Study

It has been said that President Barack Obama threw his friend, Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., under the proverbial bus for taking a more neutral stance in the controversy surrounding Mr. Gates’ arrest.  The Cambridge police officer who arrested Mr. Gates, James Crowley, says he did nothing wrong when he arrested Mr. Gates and refuses to back down.  But the most interesting thing is that his stance is very similar to Mr. Gates’ claim that he did nothing wrong and had no reason to back down either.  The only difference is that Mr. Gates went to jail for his defiance.  Mr. Crowley was the one who took him there.

Initially, Mr. Obama supported his friend and referred to the Cambridge police department as acting stupidly.  However, in a sure fire sign that he regretted his choice of words, Mr. Obama is not actively working to mediate a truce between Mr. Crowley and Mr. Gates.  I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised to see Mr. Obama respond to the incident with such strong support for a fellow black man.  Mr. Obama has always opted for a more neutral stance in matters of race despite the outrage.  If a klan member was caught red handed stringing a black man up a tree, Mr. Obama gives me the impression that he would look to hear both sides of the story before making a balanced choice that absolves either side of outright wrong and equally distributes the questionable decision making process to both parties.  The fact that only the black man would wind up dead is not a factor.  So to see Mr. Obama make an unequivocal judgment of calling the police’s behavior stupid was truly a rare moment.

And indeed it was.  The next day Mr. Obama was back peddling faster than Michael Phelps could back stroke.  The President amended his initial statement to say that mistakes were made on both sides and both Mr. Crowley and Mr. Gates could have handled this matter a lot differently saving us all a great deal of controversy.  Way to support your friend Mr. Obama.  In this respect, Mr. Obama looks like he would be willing to sacrifice Mr. Gates as if he was a virgin headed to the volcano of blameless ambiguity.  His latest stance on this issue is very similar to his blameless stance in nearly each and every issue of race that comes Mr. Obama’s way.  To date, Mr. Obama has artfully dodged issues of race.  But when he saw his friend the esteemed Mr. Gates doing the perp walk from his own home, Mr. Obama stumbled and called stupid what stupid does.

There are two sides to every story.  And honestly I could not care any less to uncover the minutia over this incident.  The police were called to Mr. Gates’ house on suspicion of a burglary in progress.  There was no burglary.  The police found no crime committed.  But what they did find was an angry black man who is accused of using offensive words at a police officer.  What words were used doesn’t really matter.  Unless a credible threat was made to the community, there was no reason for the arrest of Mr. Gates.  Mr. Crowley says there were unpleasant references to his mother.  In Mr. Crowley’s judgment that was enough to ask Mr. Gates to step outside so he could justify Mr. Gates apprehension as a public threat.

Many people may look at this and want to reserve comment until each and every fact is uncovered in order to appear fair and impartial.  I’m sure there are other instances where we happily dismiss the obligatory stab at fairness and impartiality in order to make a quick opinion based on cursory specifics.  If a black man gets arrested we don’t hesitate to know facts before we label him as nothing more than another angry black man waiting for an opportunity to be a nuisance to the community.  Mr. Crowley didn’t hesitate to get the facts before he caved to his bruised ego and manipulated Mr. Gates into a situation that could lead to a barely lawful, nevertheless stupidly wrong, arrest.  But until some of us get all the facts we’d rather stay on the sidelines or on the middle of the fence and call the actions of both sides questionable until we know all the facts.

As a people, we no longer exercise common sense when viewing issues that affect our community.  We want to give people who are a menace to the black community the benefit of a doubt until it is crystal clear and fully unanimous that a wrong has been committed.  We are willing to keep our guns of condemnation holstered until the shadows of doubts blend into the darkness of the midnight of racial disparity.  Black kids get evicted out of a predominantly white private pool and we want to reserve judgment until we know all the facts.  But let a police officer shoot or arrest a black man without getting all the facts and we have to get all the facts before we can determine if the arrest is justified or not.  If we have to act with such reserve then it is only reasonable that we hold our police to the same standard.  That way, maybe somebody like Mr. Crowley will think things through more thoroughly before abusing his authority to defend his mother.

All too often we are willing to give the police the benefit of doubt.  We as a society have yet to offer black people the same luxury.  We are quick to dismiss a black man as nothing more than an angry miscreant that needs to be reigned in by law enforcement.  Mr. Crowley is not the racist that is the problem in this issue.  The real problem is our society that will give a cop the benefit of a doubt for arresting a black man out of his own house, while assuming that a nearly sixty year old Harvard professor, who just so happens to be a distinguished scholar and a member of the black community, is a menace to society.  The problem is our never ending tolerance for racial disparity.  Even the President isn’t immune to the affects of our penchant for racial disparity.

One Giant Leap

That’s one small step for man, one giant leap to prove that we have the will to conquer any and every obstacle that prevents us from reaching out of this world goals like walking on the moon forty years ago. But as a collective we still refuse to do anything to effectively end the type of prejudice and racial disparity that continues to plague the black community.

A Time For All Things

The past week has been one of the most intense ones for my family. A family member’s health took a turn for the worse and my brothers and sisters came home in an expression of love and support. It was a time for family. We came together, happy to see each other. To help relieve the stress of the moment we shared a few laughs. If anyone looked they probably would have thought we were simply having a family reunion because it was time and not because of circumstances.

Our family member needed immediate surgery and we needed a time for prayer. One of us started and we each got an opportunity to express a hope, a fear, a desired outcome, or a belief that things will workout. Some of us referred to our loved one’s condition as something evil that must be eradicated. Some of us were adamant that this was a time for a miracle. Unfortunately, our prayers did not result in a happy ending. The surgery was ineffective. We are now experiencing a time to cry and a time to mourn.

Along with everyone else I wanted to believe that everything would be okay and we would go home knowing that all would be as well as expected. As we sat as a family in the room waiting for some word about the operation, we were confident and sure. We were cheerful and buoyant, silly and playful. But all too soon our sister walked through the door and the tears in her eyes silenced everyone in the room like nothing else could. My heart sank. Before she could say anything several of us replied with our own tears. The news could not be good. It was time to put our silliness aside.

It was a time to plan. Some of us didn’t want to face the reality of the moment. But we did not have the luxury of more time. It was a time to decide. Decisions had to be made and we had to make them as a family. It is still very much a time to come together.

It was a time for me to reach into my spirituality. My family is deeply rooted in various forms of Christianity and I was participating in their belief system, my old belief system, out of a sense of solidarity with my family. It was time for us to be as one.

Sometime after the surgery, I asked Orisa for some help. Babalu Aye, the Orisa of health, said that he could not change the outcome. But we could make things easier by sharing the pain and discomfort of our loved one’s condition. No one should have to bear the sickness alone. If we all took a small piece of the pain away, we can dilute the pain enough to make it much more tolerable. Our family member deserves our help.

I participated in the Christian ritual of prayer with my family. Even though I haven’t been a Christian for years I still participated. So I asked my family if they would consider doing something for mom that is rooted in my belief system. I asked if they would take time to do something that I believe would help. I explained that fate may not change but we might be able to dilute pain and discomfort if we all were willing to share a little of the pain coursing through one’s body. We could show our willingness to help by doing something as small as eating popcorn in our loved one’s name.

It was a time for questions. Why popcorn? How can this work? Why would I want to do that? Because it is part of my belief system and I believe it will help. I can’t explain the spiritual mechanics of it. This is just part of my belief system. If we all are willing to take away some of the pain, share some of the burden, I believe our family member won’t have to suffer through this bearing the brunt alone. It was a time for trust. It was a time to step out of comfort zones and do something strange.

Some of us stepped right up to the plate. Somebody pulled out a bag of microwave popcorn and started going to town. It was a time of support. Others refused. In their opinion it wasn’t time for such nonsense. It may have been a time for disappointment, but I had no choice but to respect their choice.

Like everything else that has comes our way we will face it as a family unit. It would be nice if family learned a time to compromise so that we can try every thing at our disposal to face our life challenges. Unfortunately that’s not always the case. We are still a family. Not all of us are open to new ideas or to respect other’s belief system. That might come in time. I know I’m willing to do just about anything to help family. Even if it means coming together to support my family with their belief in prayer at a time when not everyone is ready to support my beliefs as well.

However, now is definitely not the time to write our family member off. Whether we have just a few more days or whether we have a few more decades we will be hurt whenever time is up. That time is not right now. We have things to do. There is a time for all things. But now is not the time for that.  Now is a time for living.  A time to die will come soon enough.  No need to rush it along.

Sacrifice For Country

The argument over the public healthcare option is reaching a fever pitch and coming to a head.  The health industry lobby is working overtime and pulling out all the stops to keep the public option from ever becoming an option for the public.  The industry claims that the government plan would destroy the very fabric of the space time continuum.  All would be lost for our nation if we let people purchase healthcare through a government option.  These people contend that it would be better if we simply stay the course and let people lose their homes and their lives because of the cost of healthcare and health insurance.  The fact that people are being denied claims under the pretense of preexisting conditions is nothing to worry about.  Just pay your premiums, don’t ever make a claim, and you’ll do just fine.

In his push to make change that the people can believe in President Barack Obama is putting a serious effort behind the public healthcare plan.  On the surface at least, it looks like Mr. Obama wants to provide healthcare to the people.  It just might be nothing more than a push for some kind f legacy as the first black President.  But irregardless of that, there is an effort by the executive branch to provide the public option to the people.

One of the claims about the public option that the healthcare industry makes was to convince the people that they don’t want a government official in between them and their healthcare.  But the fact that we have so many people’s claims for healthcare coverage being denied after they have religiously paid their premiums for years for the most minor of reasons by corporate personnel who are willing to do anything management demands in order to protect their bonuses, let alone their jobs, is never mentioned.  If the corporate bureaucrat wasn’t a real and immediate problem for so many people wouldn’t be clamoring for a change in the system.

The industry is fighting back and fighting back hard.  The commercials to convince the public that the public option isn’t in their best interest is being complimented with claims of horrendous tax increases, the threat of loss of healthcare options (as if we have options), and a lobbying effort to leverage as many politicians and other public figures as possible.  And all these efforts are wearing away our resolve to do something to change the system.

The conservative politicians are voting as a bloc to deny the public option.  Whatever their individual reasons may be, these politicians are moving as a single unified group without exception.  The conservative politicians know that their conservative base favor a hard stance against any social program with possibly the sole exception of an exceptionally strong military machine.  These people think that the healthcare system is fine and if some people are losing everything they worked for because of a medical condition then that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.  These are the same people that were working to convince me that Sarah Palin was the best choice to sit at the ready to replace the President in case of emergency.

But there are a number of politicians who have a bigger idea of what is at stake and yet are still unwilling to take the plunge and support the President’s effort.  These people know that there are simply too many conservative constituents in the districts that they represent to take a chance on their political career.  These politicians might recognize the fact that universal healthcare or a public option might be a good idea.  But if these politicians vote to support the President and his social program, they can kiss reelection goodbye.  So goes the cowardice of political office.

Right now America is embroiled in two wars.  These wars have demanded the ultimate sacrifice from well over four thousands American troops.  We thank these people for the sacrifice that they voluntarily make on behalf of their country and the greater good.  But the American public constantly works with politicians who refuse to lay their political careers on the line for the benefit of the American people.  It’s okay for us to sacrifice our children and our future and our fellow citizens.  But the idea of a politician sacrificing their career for the benefit of the American people is something much too strange a fruit for the American people to pick.  That should help to put things into some perspective.

We keep talking about the sacrifice our men and women in uniform make in our military services on behalf of their country.  Everyday these people are dying in service to their country.  However politicians can’t even think about sacrificing their job to help their country.  But then again, many of us fellow Americans refuse to pay an extra dime in taxes as a service to our fellow countrymen.  Way to sacrifice America.

The Audacity Of A Belligerent Black Man

Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested!  One of the most respected African scholars in America was arrested.  What prompted his arrest?  Mr. Gates was trying to break into his own home.  He was having trouble with his front door.  And like some people who get locked outside their own home, Mr. Gates decided to get in right then and there the best way he can.

According to the news report, somebody saw a black man trying to break into a house.  The police made a visit to the house.  By the time the police showed up Mr. Gates was inside the house.  He was asked to provide proof of his identity and proof that he lived there.  Mr. Gates produced a driver’s license and his university identification.  But then what happened dissolves into a case of his side, their side, and the truth.

The police say that Mr. Gates became belligerent.  Imagine that!  Mr. Gates arrives from an overseas trip from China, a pretty good distance and a very considerable amount of time away, only come home to find his front door stuck and he has to force himself into his own home.  Shortly thereafter, the police are knocking at his door asking him to prove he owns his house.  It isn’t hard to believe that he was upset.  Dude was probably tired.  Instead of the police recognizing an angry man in his own home, the police want the respect from a black man that they feel that they are due.  Since the police didn’t get their props from Mr. Gates, they felt it was in the best interest of the Cambridge community to pull Mr. Gates out of his house and book him on charges that amount to being angry.

The spokesperson for the Cambridge police says that mistakes were made on both sides of this issue.  As is the custom when confronting black people, the police made the mistake of following the standard procedure of throwing any and all forms of compassion out the window in favor of the heavy hand of law.  On the other hand, Mr. Gates made the mistake of being a black man and thinking he was entitled to be angry on his own property.  Both sides have made key mistakes.

Mr. Gates is only the latest black man to be hauled off to jail or harassed by police for being accused of having a bad attitude.  And contrary to what a lot of people would like to believe, this is far from being an isolated incident.  I was listening to people making their comments during a program on the radio and a lot of white people were recalling their stories with police.  How come when they were harassed by police it wasn’t racist but this case was?  What makes Mr. Gates’ arrest different?

Off the top of my head I would say that none of the stories told were about police coming into their homes and arresting people when no crime was committed.  I would say that the fact that Mr. Gates identified his self and had proven that he was entitled to be in his house.  After such a long trip, it’s pretty reasonable to think that Mr. Gates was cranky.  Add a stuck door to the picture and it’s easy to believe that he’d be pissed.  Put cops on top of that and I could see him being angry.  But Mr. Gates has no criminal record and has a history of being a good citizen.  The fifty eight year old man is an asset to the community.  But good behavior doesn’t buy much these days.

Unless he had threatened somebody the police should’ve simply walked away.  But instead of allowing good judgment to prevail, the police felt that whatever damage their egos suffered from Mr. Gates’ anger required compensation.  A black man needs to have more respect for the agents of law.

People are entitled to their anger.  As a social collective we are told that our children are entitled to be angry with their parents, we are told that spouses are entitled to be angry with their significant other, some of us believe that we are entitled to give god the middle finger if we are so moved.  But then on the flip side of these anger management coins, many of us think that the lines of anger that are so crossable in other areas of our lives must be held fast and strong lest black people lose their proper regard for law enforcers.

Instead of people seeing this incident as the latest manifestation of the collective disrespect for black people, people want to sweep it all under the rug as nothing more than an unfortunate misunderstanding between two parties who both contributed to a series of mistakes being made that resulted in the harassment of another black person.  This was just another one of those cases where cops are too quick to trample the rights of a high profile black citizen by mistaking him for the typical black person without the resources to call attention to their abuse, and a case of a black man forgetting his place in our social structure.