The President, the Professor and the Police Sergeant

If you haven't heard of Professor Henry Louis Gates' arrest recently, you either don't watch the news or live in a cave. He was arrested after a neighbor called the Cambridge police and reported "two black men breaking into the back door" of a nearby house. The police responded accordingly.

They encountered Gates and his driver after Gates forced the door open when his key wouldn't work. When asked what was going on, Gates didn't cooperate. Then when police sergeant James Crowley asked for identification, things really went downhill. Gates refused and walked into his rented house, with Crowley following him. At that point, Gates told him to get out of his house and became extremely belligerent and uncooperative. Crowley and others claim that Gates accused Crowley of being a racist and got louder and out of control.

He was arrested for disorderly conduct and taken to the police station. After a mug shot, etc., the charge was dropped and he was released. Since then, this incident became a lightening rod for the racial activists in this country.

Not unexpectedly, the cottage-industry twins of racial disharmony, Sharpton and Jackson, made their obligatory appearances and spewed inflammatory invectives against Crowley, the police department and racism in general. No underlying facts were needed - a "black man" was racially profiled by the police again, ergo an automatic racial crime and another stage for these two buffoons.

The Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick, also entered the fray and characterized Gates' arrest as "every black man's nightmare". So now, what appeared to be a simple breaking and entering situation involving a black male devolved into an African American nightmare.

And then it got worse. Much worse. The President of the United States lost control and although admitting on national TV that he "didn't have all the facts", nevertheless accused a "white police office of acting stupidly".

"Didn't have all the facts". It seems that a lot of people, particularly the news media, black activists, and others also didn't have all the facts. I personally don't believe they cared about the facts. They never let facts get in the way of their own agendas.

Obama has been characterized as a rookie president. I view him as naive, arrogant and a megalomaniac with his regal nose pointed up in the air. The Gates affair affirms this. As President, he should never have involved himself with a public statement on what should have otherwise been a minor incident. If Gates had been beaten, tasered or otherwise physically assaulted, perhaps.

The news media is fond of the Racial Divide, as it juices up a boring news day. CNN even has a special entitled "Black in America" that is in its second airing. I have no doubt there is a racial divide in this country.

But let's clear up a racial misconception : racism is NOT a one-way street. Racism is what it is. It is NOT directed solely by whites against blacks. It's no secret that blacks exhibit racism against Koreans, Puerto Ricans, Orientals, whites, and hell, even against themselves, based on gradations of skin color. Michael Jackson, in an interview some years ago, stated that his father commented on how black he was and that he "didn't get it from his side of the family".

I live near Syracuse, New York. The metro newspaper, the Syracuse Post Standard, had an article on the racism by blacks against Burmese and Bhutanese refugees. Black gangs have been regularly beating these refugees for the crime of being on a sidewalk in their neighborhood. Yet, Jackson, Sharpton or other black activists have been silent on this. They have been silent on other atrocious assaults committed by blacks against police officers, elderly people, etc. The editor implored black leaders to get involved and end the assaults. I expect nothing to be done. And it goes on and on.

Just watch the evening news in your town. Ninety percent of the murders, stabbings, shootings, rapes, etc., are perpetrated by 17% of the population. And these thugs that go behind bars for these actions are not political prisoners because they are "black".

Yet when one black professor gets arrested, it's every "black man's nightmare".

What about the 86 year old white woman who is raped and then bludgeoned to death at the hands of a black teen? No one speaks for her, certainly not any so-called black activists nor any community organizers. What about the young white woman in Detroit who stepped out of a bus terminal, only to be kidnapped and gang-raped for an entire day by blacks? Let's be honest - isn't it every non-black person's nightmare to be lost in the "hood" while driving? Why is that?

The so-called black leaders, including the President and Gates himself, continue to polarize the country with trumped up charges. Is it any wonder that whites are alienated and tired of this nonsense?

I personally believe that Professor Gates knew exactly what he was doing when he "over-reacted" to his arrest. He propelled himself onto the national stage in order to prove racial profiling exists and that he was a "victim" of this very crime.

I also believe that he was infuriated that Sgt. Crowley didn't recognize him as a Harvard professor and acclaimed academician. His ego and elitist persona was very evident in that aspect of this incident. Perhaps every police department in the country, and in particular those near universities, should carry flash cards detailing the credentials of blacks so they can immediately recognize them and back off.

Can the good professor explain to me how this was racial profiling? The police responded to a call that a house was being broken into by two black men. The caller gave all the details he/she could, as we all have seen crime shows and news broadcasts where the witness to a crime is expected to notice as much detail as possible.

If Gates and his driver were pulled over on the highway by a white cop for no apparent reason, then he would have a case.

By the way, it was Sgt. James Crowley who gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to Boston Celtics player Reggie Lewis in 1993 when he collapsed at a practice. Crowley also instructs other police officers on how to avoid racial profiling when doing their jobs. Does this sound like a racist?

Obama's naivete was exposed when he stupidly decided to defame the Cambridge police department and Sgt. Crowley. As our national leader, he has set race relations back at least twenty years.