The arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates: What really happened

July 27, 11:32 AMLA Independent ExaminerDion Rabouin

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Honestly, I’m just as tired as white people of hearing black people (and reporters talking to black people) say, “Let’s take this opportunity to talk about race.” That said, let’s take this opportunity to talk about race.

Everyone seems to be taking polarized positions on whether or not Henry Louis Gates’ arrest last week was motivated by race. I want to state unequivocally that I don't know whether or not Gates was arrested because he was black.

I hear people jumping up and down declaring without any semblance of uncertainty that this was or was not racism. That’s ridiculous. What makes it ridiculous is that we don’t know anything about these people.

The professor who called the police might have a white robe and hood in her basement and could have just gotten home from burning a cross at a Klan meeting in time to see a black man breaking into her neighbor’s house. She could just as easily have been watching “Black in America 2” on CNN and lamenting the black man’s plight in this country to her friends from the African Methodist Episcopal church he attends in Boston. We don’t know. The same goes for the officer who arrested Gates.

Despite the underlying fact that we don’t know exactly what happened and we certainly don’t know the motives of anyone involved, I have a pretty good idea of what went down. Here’s a dramatization of what I think happened, given my personal history with the police and what I’ve read about the case:

Sergeant Crowley: Police!

Gates: What the hell? Can I help you officer?

Crowley: Yes. We have a report that two people tried to break into this residence about 20 minutes ago. You mind telling me what you’re doing here?

Crowley: (under his breath) Ain’t this some sh*t. (Out loud) Yes, officer, I live here. I had some trouble getting into my house because the door was jammed. I asked my driver to assist me in getting it open. This is my house as you can probably tell from the fact that once I got in I put my things away as opposed to trying to take them out.

Crowley: Well, if you live here you shouldn’t have any problem showing some kind of proof.

Gates: (A bit snarkily) What? My word and the fact that this would be the worst robbery attempt in modern history isn’t enough?

Crowley: No, sir, I’m afraid that’s not. Now, we have a report of someone breaking in to this residence and if this is your home you’ll understand that we are just trying to keep it safe.

Gates: Safe from whom?

Crowley: (More forcefully) Sir, I’m not going to ask you again to show me some identification that proves you live here. Just show me that and we would be happy to go about our day.

Gates: Why are you doing this? Is it because I’m a black man in America and you’re a white officer? I think given the fact that you can see my luggage and that when you came here, I was resting in a way that people do when they arrive home from a long trip, you can draw a very simple conclusion, the one that you would have arrived at if my face were white.

Crowley: I don’t like the sound of what you’re implying. Maybe we need to take a trip to the police station and you can show your identification to them.

Gates: No, that won’t be necessary. {Takes out wallet} Here you are. This is my license with this address plainly printed out. And if that’s not enough for you, here is my Harvard identification showing that I am a member of the faculty there.

Crowley: {Looks at IDs}

Gates: Now, I would appreciate you getting the hell out of my house. Your presence is not required and right now it is not welcome!

Crowley: Sir, I’m just doing my job, there’s no need for you to raise your voice.

Gates: There’s plenty of need for me to raise my voice. I’m trying to relax after a long trip and you’re here harassing me for being a black man in my own home.

Crowley: Mr. Gates (reading from off IDs) I have asked you once to pipe down. I don’t think you want to see what will happen if you don’t.

Gates: Oh yeah? And what’s going to happen? You going to charge me with being black in a white neighborhood? Are you really going to arrest me for that, officer? Because I would love to see you try.

Crowley: No, I’m going to arrest you for disorderly conduct if you keep on. (Begins to walk toward the door).

Gates: Bullsh*t! This is bullsh*t! Get the hell out of my house! Give me your name and badge number right now, you (expletive-laden insult)

Crowley: That’s it, I’m taking you in.

Gates: You can’t be serious.

And scene!

When President Obama got involved in the matter, everyone seemed to collectively lose their minds and now people are asking him to apologize for saying that the police department "acted stupidly" in arresting Gates. The President admitted he was biased in the matter and that he did not have all the facts. But that doesn't change the fact that the police department did act stupidly in arresting Gates. Was his arrest racially motivated? Probably not. But that doesn’t change the fact that arresting someone because they pissed you off or didn’t respect your "authoritah" is not acceptable behavior.

Police have been arresting anyone – regardless of race – who dares to question their entitlement to do whatever they want for so long that they don’t see a problem with it anymore. Gates was charged with disorderly conduct and arrested, but he never left his house. You tell me how you are guilty of disorderly conduct while inside your own home.

This argument hasn’t necessarily polarized people along lines of black and white, but along the lines of conservative and liberal. Conservatives seem to find fault in anything and everything President Obama does so that's no surprise. Conservatives also tend to be more biased toward the police. I have this saying that the reason “fiscally comfortable” (because no one wants to be called rich or upper class anymore) white people tend to side with the police and urban (because no one wants to be working class or poor) black people tend to side with the victim is that the mission of the police is to protect them from us.

If your only impression of the police has been that they protect you and your neighborhood, you are inclined to believe that they are good people and have everyone’s best interest at heart. If, conversely, your only (or earliest) impression of the police is that they want nothing more than to harass and arrest you for anything they can think of, you are inclined to believe that they are bad people and are looking to victimize and persecute anyone they can.

People with working class backgrounds have a completely different experience and impression of police than do people with money, especially if they are black or brown. Whether you have had a real encounter with police or not, when you grown up in the ghetto – and I mean ghetto in the dictionary sense, defined as an urban neighborhood inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group – you learn that they are your enemy. And like any self-fulfilling prophecy, as you grow older you will find evidence to support your theory.

When you grow up in the suburbs, you learn that the police are looking out for you and if you are a law-abiding citizen you have nothing to fear. You want to see the police because as a law-abiding citizen, you want to be protected.

Conservatives, because most – not all – are white and come from neighborhoods where the police are welcome, are siding with the police. Liberals, because they like to fancy themselves as in tune with those less fortunate, are siding with Gates and Obama. Gates and Obama, despite their current positions of wealth and influence, come from neighborhoods where police are the enemy. That’s where Obama was coming from when he said the police acted stupidly, and make no mistake about it, they did. President Obama, like most minorities of his age and background, is biased against the police. He, like me and like most minorities of his age and background, has plenty of reason to be.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of black men are arrested for having done nothing wrong all the time. They’re not all arrested because of any inherent, perceived or expressed racism on the part of the officers, they’re arrested because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Most are not given apologies; most don’t even get the charges dropped. But just because that’s the way things are doesn’t mean that’s the way they should be.