Racial profiling has been a hot topic this past week with the hubbub over the white Boston policeman who arrested Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (a black Harvard Professor) at his home for disorderly conduct. NO ONE but Gates and Officer Crowley know what actually went down in the heat of that moment. But plenty of people are speculating, taking sides, and throwing out accusations that RACE played a role in the arrest.
I'm sort of amazed that there isn't more of a consensus that the unfortuate situation would likely have played out the same way REGARDLESS of race! Perhaps, it was not so much racial pomposity but more of a combination of department protocol and male egos playing out!
My encounters with policemen have been traffic related; if I am pulled over I am effusively apologetic and conciliatory. I definitely subscribe to the (you-can-catch-more-flies-with-honey-than-vinegar) approach. However, I have been in the company of others (who shall go nameless but they are of the MALE GENDER) who take a more defensive stance that can be a tad belligerent. If an officer is perturbed by this tone he may say something like: "Would you like to come down to the Station and explain this to the Police Chief?" (code for "you know I CAN ARREST YOU if you keep ANNOYING me!") When I have witnessed a dialogue exchange like this it usually quiets "unnamed citizen" to display more patient and penitent behavior!
In the situation of Officer Crowley responding to a possible burglary at the home of Professor Gates I think the conversation might have escalated into a bit of a power struggle, maybe a tired-from-a-long-flight-home-from-China Gates getting a little testy with a cop who likewise wasn't in the mood to be lectured by any "Do you know who I am? I own this house!" egomania.
My theory of the chain of events is just as IMPOSSIBLE TO PROVE as all the enraged crusaders on both sides. Does this illuminate abject profiling by Crowley because Gates is black...OR...Does it simply show that EVEN good (and quite brilliant) men like Gates can lose their temper when they are exhausted resulting in an unfortunate (but possibly warranted or appropriate due to aggressive behavior) arrest?
Martin Luther King made great progress for our country and I hope we will all try to base our judgements on Character Traits and not stereotype anyone by their ethnicity - even (or especially) if their race has statistically fallen into certain categories that might be unfavored attributes. This weeks hullabaloo feels like a "Can't We All Just Get Along?" moment to me!
