by Mark Silva
If Harvard University's Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the Cambridge Police Departtment's Sgt. James Crowley ever get around to having that beer at the White House which President Barack Obama says the two are welcome to join him in, it may take two or three rounds to sort this one out:
The Associated Press' Jesse Washington, who writes about racial affairs for the wire service, spins a tale of two professionals: One a Harvard faculty member who is a nationally acclaimed expert in African-American history, the other a seasoned police instructor in the avoidance of racial profiling, who met at the door of the professor's house last week in a confrontation which the president deemed emblematic of profiling.
The rest is history, and unique perhaps in the annals of what on most days would have passed for a little noticed event on the beat of a street cop and a day in the life of a professor walking with a cane had the president of the United States not opined on its greater import -- and then all-but-apologized for a bad "choice of words'' about the police officer's conduct (stupid) in the case of Gates versus Crowley.
Washington tells the tale through the eyes of the two main characters:
By JESSE WASHINGTON
AP National Writer
Henry Louis Gates Jr. felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he looked across the threshold of his home at Sgt. James Crowley. Looking back at Gates, Crowley worried about making it home safely to his wife and three children.
Fear was the only thing the white police officer and black scholar had in common. Soon their many differences would collide, exploding into a colossal misunderstanding.
How could things go so wrong? How could two by all accounts decent men start a fire that drew comparisons to the O.J. Simpson case and knocked President Barack Obama off his racial tightrope?
Part of the answer lies in the truth seen through each man's eyes during the episode, which ended with one of the most influential men in America charged with disorderly conduct.
If this really is to become a "teachable moment," as Obama hopes, then we have to examine what they saw, according to their public statements -- and why they saw it that way.
------
It's early afternoon on Ware Street in Cambridge, Mass., a few blocks from the campus of Harvard University. Gates and his car service driver, a large black man, are trying to force open Gates' jammed front door. Lucia Whalen, a 40-year-old white woman who works up the street at the Harvard alumni magazine, is passing by and calls 911.
According to Crowley's police report, he arrived to find Whalen standing on the sidewalk in front of the home. She told Crowley that "she observed what appeared to be two black men with backpacks on the porch ... her suspicions were aroused when she observed one of the men wedging his shoulder into the door," the report says.
No one is blaming Whalen, who has not spoken publicly since the story broke.
"It wasn't her fault," Gates said.
We don't know how she sees the world, what types of experiences color her vision.
But had she shared just one or two different details with Crowley -- or if the sergeant had gleaned something else from their conversation -- things might have happened differently.
Gates, 58 and gray-haired, says he was dressed in a blazer and walking with a cane. He says his driver was wearing a black suit jacket and matching pants. After they forced open the door, Gates says, the driver carried Gates' luggage into the house, then drove off in the vehicle.
None of that was on Crowley's mind when he walked up the steps to Gates home.
"Witnesses are inherently reliable," he said later. "She told me what she saw."
------
Crowley is on the porch, alone; Gates is inside his home. They apparently notice each other through the front door window at about the same time.
Crowley sees the unknown: "I really wasn't sure exactly what I was dealing with," he said later.
The sergeant is 42, a decorated 11-year police veteran who grew up attending diverse public schools in Cambridge. All three of his brothers work in law enforcement. He's an instructor in a police academy class on how to avoid racial profiling.
He asks Gates to step outside.
"I was the only police officer standing there and I got a report that there was people breaking into a house. (The request) was for my safety, because first and foremost I have to go home at night, I have three beautiful children and a wife who depend on me," he said later.
"So I had no other motive other than to ensure my safety, because this gentleman either could have been one of the people breaking in, or he could have been the homeowner who was unaware that there were people in his house unauthorized. I just didn't know."
Gates, meanwhile, is a renowned scholar of black history who has spent most of his life literally cataloguing the sins of the past in volumes like "Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience."
"I know every incident in the history of racism from slavery to Jim Crow segregation," he said recently.
He knows some of it firsthand. About 1989, hired by Stanley Fish to teach at Duke University in Durham, N.C., "one of the first things Gates did was buy the grandest house in town," Fish wrote in a recent blog on The New York Times' Web site.
"During the renovation workers would often take Gates for a servant and ask to be pointed to the house's owner. The drivers of delivery trucks made the same mistake."
"The message was unmistakable: What was a black man doing living in a place like this?" Fish wrote.
So when Gates hears Crowley ask him to step outside, he sees history. How could he not?
"All the hairs stood up on the back of my neck, and I realized that I was in danger," Gates said later. "And I said to him no, out of instinct. I said, 'No, I will not."'
------
Crowley asks Gates to prove he lives there.
Looking out his front door, Gates sees someone who should be asking, "Is everything all right, sir?" He sees someone who would not doubt that a 58-year-old, gray-haired Harvard professor lived in this home -- if he were white.
Gates sees a racist.
Gates leaves the front door to get his identification. Crowley follows him inside. Gates says he provided a driver's license with the address of the home they were standing in; Crowley's police report only mentions a Harvard ID.
"Now it's clear that he had a narrative in his head," Gates said. "A black man was inside someone's house, probably a white person's house, and this black man had broken and entered, and this black man was me."
Gates demands that the sergeant provide HIS identification.
Crowley sees someone who should be grateful, but instead is yelling and falsely accusing him of being a racist. He sees a problem -- "something you wouldn't expect from anybody that should be grateful that you're there investigating a report of a crime in progress," he said.
Neither man understood what the other one saw.
------
Gates continues to demand that Crowley provide his name and badge number.
Crowley said in his report that he had already told Gates his name, twice, but Gates was yelling too much to hear him. Gates said Crowley ignored his demands.
Gates doesn't let up. Crowley says he'll talk to Gates outside. Then he says something Crowley understands perfectly, boiling down his 2,095 pages of "Africana" down into one cry of resistance:
"I'll speak with your mama outside," he said, according to the police report.
Gates denies making the remark.
Should Gates have realized that you can't antagonize the police? Should Crowley have understood what it means to suspect a black man of breaking into his own home? Arguments will persist for years.
Once he recovered his balance, backing off his statement that Crowley acted "stupidly," he Obama assumed his traditional position of racial referee and said that both men overreacted.
"My hope," the first black president continued, "is that as a consequence of this event, this ends up being what's called a teachable moment, where all of us, instead of pumping up the volume, spend a little more time listening to each other ... and that instead of flinging accusations, we can all be a little more reflective in terms of what we can do to contribute to more unity."
-30-
Comments
"Gates sees a racist."
I also see a racist.
His name is Henry L. Gates.
He sounds like Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's close friend and spiritual mentor.
Posted by: Change in 2012 | July 26, 2009 5:42 PM
As I see it...there were 4 acts of stupidity.....5 if you count change in 2012's post.
1) Gates acted stupidly for overreacting to this situation.
2) Crowly for overreacting once it was obvious the danger did not exist.
3) Obama for not more carefully using better verbage.
4) and the public for not understanding how a thing like this would happen. The blacks jump on it as racism from years of experience (yes it does exist) and the whites for their lack of understanding and some living in some sort of alternate world where they believes this never happens.
Posted by: bill r. | July 26, 2009 5:56 PM
I'd love to hear the rightwing's reaction if the same scenerio involved Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, or Lou Dobbs.
Lacking his house keys after a long flight home from China, he breaks into his own house. Neighbors call the police for a possible B & E. When they show up, he's inside his own home. He shows ID and gets the message that he's still a suspect. He gets insulted, loud and angry (I know, hard to imagine any of these guys being angry.) He is handcuffed and asked to step outside on the porch where he can be arrested for disorderly conduct.
We would never hear the end of it. If the police officer were black or Hispanic, it would be reverse racism, probably an unqualified affirmative action cop. If not an officer of color, the accusations would be socialism, fascism, terrorism; you name it. The cry would go out, We want our country back!
Posted by: Carol All | July 26, 2009 5:57 PM
obama really stuck his foot in his mouth on this Gates issue and it ain't going away. I can just imangine Rahm seeing obama's approval poll number slide south and the best he can come up with is, " Hey barack...invite them both over for some beers"...yea, that'll do it!
Ha!
Paulo
Posted by: Paulo | July 26, 2009 6:46 PM
Obama will never shake his statement and will never completely apologies, if he did he would loose his core.
Posted by: Inky | July 26, 2009 7:09 PM
Sounds like everyone assumed something was going on/went on that didn't. Everyone in our society just flies off the handle so quickly anymore.
Posted by: Sports Satire | July 26, 2009 7:16 PM
After they finish their beer, is Obama going to ask Prof. Gates and Sgt. Crowley if they'd like to hug?
Posted by: DaveB | July 26, 2009 7:22 PM
If I were the cop, I'd tell Nobama what he could do with his beer!.
Posted by: Paul | July 26, 2009 8:58 PM
Paul-o,
Barack is going to invite you over, too!
There's a Marine next to the door to his office who has something he wants to show you.
Posted by: ornery | July 26, 2009 8:58 PM
Horton hears a who?
Either make it all go away, or have a full fledged hearing with evidence and witnesses so the whole thing can be reenacted in detail.
Then we can make a movie.
Working title: "Rashomon".
If I were Gates, however, I'd have a complete physical exam.
See if they destabilized the hip replacement hardware.
See if he has any neuropathy from the bracelets.
If so, sue the hell out of them.
Posted by: ornery | July 26, 2009 9:09 PM
obama really stuck his foot in his mouth on this Gates issue and it ain't going away. I can just imangine Rahm seeing obama's approval poll number slide south and the best he can come up with is, " Hey barack...invite them both over for some beers"...yea, that'll do it!
Ha!
Paulo
Posted by: Paulo | July 26, 2009 6:46 PM Obama foot will stay in his mouth , if he take it out he will loose his "Democrat Core Voters"
Posted by: Inky | July 26, 2009 9:22 PM
Obama was right in his statement. But no one will think it's right coming from Obama.
Posted by: BMI Obesity | July 26, 2009 9:28 PM
If the below is true about Gates, then he is deeply influence and prejudiced about whites and police. Shame on Gates....
"Gates, meanwhile, is a renowned scholar of black history who has spent most of his life literally cataloguing the sins of the past in volumes like "Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience."
"I know every incident in the history of racism from slavery to Jim Crow segregation," he said recently. "
Posted by: Bill | July 26, 2009 10:17 PM
"Obama will never shake his statement and will never completely apologies, if he did he would loose his core. "
Posted by: Inky
What Inky? Have another drink, Ink.
Posted by: stinky | July 26, 2009 10:35 PM
Apparently years of honing the PC for DOC and "resisting" in Cambridge is paying off.
Unfortunately, the US Supreme Ct. has a very strict view about arresting people for what they ‘say’. 414 US 14.
Tricking some old curmudgeon into arrest for the DOC/Resist/Battery LEO trifecta is an insult to the Bill of Rights and any Officer playing that game is stupid. (or we are for allowing it to happen to "Them")
Posted by: Dr. Raymond Stantz | July 27, 2009 12:24 AM
Racism is alive and well in the Boston area. I have lived in this area for many years moving here from upstate NY and it is one of the few things I dislike. Both parties acted with racism and Obama needs to take a course in being politically correct. Racism is something that children learn at an early age by observing the actions of other children and adults. Tolerance and acceptance needs to be taught at an early age. After all, we are all One Race Human.
Posted by: Linda | July 27, 2009 2:24 AM
I see that some people don't understand that it was the white police Sgt. - James Crowley - who suggested to Obama that the three share a beer in the White House. Obama merely reported Crowley's offer to Gates, and Gates accepted.
Posted by: Joe | July 27, 2009 2:27 AM
The question is: Can the police arrest someone who speaks to them in a disrespectful way?
If you say "yes"...people should speak to officers of the law in a respectful manner...then you can understand why they are arresting protesters in Iran
Posted by: Norris Hall | July 27, 2009 6:01 AM
Actually, go back to the photo of the 3 cops pushing Gates around on his front porch.
They really look like they're on steroids, no?
Yes, perhaps they should have a drug test for steroids.
Roid Rage, I hear tell, can make cops act in unpredictably aggressive ways......
These guys are just no match for a little professor on a cane.
Their ears are burning from his "assaultive behavior"!
Poor babies.
They need to go back to the gym and lift some more weights, do a few more cycles of steroids.
Posted by: ornery | July 27, 2009 8:00 AM
If the below is true about Gates, then he is deeply influence and prejudiced about whites and police. Shame on Gates....
"Gates, meanwhile, is a renowned scholar of black history who has spent most of his life literally cataloguing the sins of the past in volumes like "Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience."
"I know every incident in the history of racism from slavery to Jim Crow segregation," he said recently. "
Posted by: Bill | July 26, 2009 10:17 PM
So knowing the history of racism in this country makes one prejudiced? What nonsense. Ignorance is not bliss.
Posted by: Mel | July 27, 2009 9:35 AM
new name OBLAME-A
Posted by: guy gamble | July 27, 2009 12:16 PM
Would this story made such a headline if the guy wasnt a friend of obama? no there was no racism on behalf of the cop because he is doing his duty as a police officer. if gates would of just explained what had happened than it would of all been fine but to me the one accusing someone else of being racist is the racist one for saying something like that. The older lady just reported something that had happened and instead of being grateful that his (Gates) neighbors are looking out for activity that seems out of place he blames the cop for being racist's.
Posted by: brent | July 27, 2009 2:26 PM
Would this story made such a headline if the guy wasnt a friend of obama? no there was no racism on behalf of the cop because he is doing his duty as a police officer. if gates would of just explained what had happened than it would of all been fine but to me the one accusing someone else of being racist is the racist one for saying something like that. The older lady just reported something that had happened and instead of being grateful that his (Gates) neighbors are looking out for activity that seems out of place he blames the cop for being racist's.
Posted by: brent | July 27, 2009 2:27 PM
"no there was no racism on behalf of the cop because he is doing his duty as a police officer."
You mean like fudging details in a police report? It's rather odd how almost none of what the 911 caller told the "officer" is in his report. In fact, it's not even remotely close to what she initially reported.
Posted by: Diane | July 27, 2009 4:56 PM
Don't we all stumble now and then? I think this will all work out OK, if those that like to stir, quit stirrin'
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Posted by: blcak ugg boots | July 27, 2009 11:29 PM
I think the "racial beer reconciliation" meeting should be broadcast for all America to be openly informed as to just exactly what takes place. Other wise the event will be filtered by Gibbs, and there will be more questions than transparency.
Posted by: virginia | July 28, 2009 12:50 PM
I think the beer is a great move, especially since it was Sgt. Crowley's idea in the first place.
Posted by: Chris R | July 29, 2009 1:35 PM