The Gates Affair: Like Obama, I don't know enough to keep quiet

President Barack Obama got into hot water for his comments on the affair involving the arrest, as his home, of African-American Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Gates, as you recall, was trying to "break into" his own home because the door got stuck. A neighbor saw "two African Americans" trying to break in, and called the police. (First, I gotta wonder—and no one has mentioned this—why the neighbor didn't recognize Gates. Dr. Gates, it's time to get acquainted with your neighbors, so that they will recognize you!)

I wasn't there, and neither was Obama. That isn't deterring either of us from sticking in our two cents. Obama has learned he should have kept quiet, but hey, I'm not the President, I don't have to worry about making the news and getting embroiled in controversy like he does.

What should have happened is this: Policeman: "Oh, this is your house, Okay, I'm sorry."

And that should have been the end of it. Apparently Gates did show his ID, but presumably the policeman was (1) not as impressed as Gates expected him to be to learn who he was (Gates is pretty well known but maybe not quite a household name); (2) not quick enough to apologize; and (3) not deferential enough. All this in Gates' view.

I know a fair amount about Gates and I can imagine that he sort of has a chip on his shoulder, and is too quick to see racial bias where there is none. It's come to light that the policeman in question has actually taught a police class in racial profiling and had the endorsement for doing so from an African American colleague on the police force. Also, this is Cambridge, Mass., a relatively liberal city, certainly not Mississippi.

Cambridge has a lot of professors living there, both from Harvard and MIT. So maybe the police are not that likely to be overawed by finding out that someone is a Harvard professor.

The two men who were "breaking in" were Gates and his driver. His driver?? How many professors have drivers? I have never known of any. I used to see Saul Bellow, who was an award-winning writer (National Book Award) and college teacher, driving between his University of Chicago and Northwestern University gigs. He had a Mercedes, but he drove himself.

So what kind of Imperial professor is this Gates? I think he simply was angered, not merely at the injustice of being accused of breaking into his own house—which is fairly understandable, and many would wish their neighbors to be as vigilant as Gates' neighbor was being—but also annoyed that the cop was not sufficiently impressed when he learned who Gates was.

Copyright © 2009 by Richard Stein