Arrested for living in a house while black

One of my very favorite blogs is the blog of Angry Black Bitch, who is at her most eloquent (which is saying quite a bit) in her commentary on the arrest of Professor Gates for living in a house in Cambridge while black.

If by some chance you have missed this widely publicized story, here is the short version. Last Thursday, Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was returning to his home in Cambridge, Mass. after a research trip to China. His front door wouldn't open. He and the cab driver, who was also black, tried to force open the jammed door. This happened in broad daylight. A white neighbor thought there might be a burglary in progress and called the police.

The police officer who arrived to investigate the call demanded that Gates show ID to prove that he was the rightful owner of the house. According to a statement by Gates's lawyer, Gates went to his kitchen (followed by the officer), and produced his driver's license and his Harvard i.d.

Professor Gates then asked the police officer if he would give him his name and his badge number. He made this request several times. The officer did not produce any identification nor did he respond to Professor Gates’ request for this information. After an additional request by Professor Gates for the officer’s name and badge number, the officer then turned and left the kitchen of Professor Gates’ home without ever acknowledging who he was or if there were charges against Professor Gates. As Professor Gates followed the officer to his own front door, he was astonished to see several police officers gathered on his front porch. Professor Gates asked the officer’s colleagues for his name and badge number. As Professor Gates stepped onto his front porch, the officer who had been inside and who had examined his identification, said to him, “Thank you for accommodating my earlier request,” and then placed Professor Gates under arrest. He was handcuffed on his own front porch

The police report gives a contradictory version of events. Gates has challenged the accuracy of this report. But even if it'ss accurate, Gates, who is in his late 50s, stands 5' 7", weighs 150 pounds, and walks with a cane, obviously posed no threat of violence.  Given this country's long and continuing practice of racial profiling by law enforcement agencies, any distress that Gates might have showed seems entirely understandable.

Furthermore, if you work with public, you need to have a thick enough skin to deal with people who get upset with you. Even taking the arresting officer's version at face value, Gates was arrested because Gates's behavior "caused citizens passing by this location to stop and take notice while appearing surprised and alarmed." In other words, Gates was arrested for being uppity. Is this just one office with an exaggerated sense of his own importance? If we live in a country where we're expected to do absolutely everything a police officer tells us, with no expression of disagreement, we live in a police state. I have to say this police report made my blood run cold.

On Tuesday, the Cambridge police dropped the disorderly conduct charge against Gates. But the story is not going away just yet.

There's an excellent updated analysis of the story at Whose shoes are these anyway? Nordette Adams compares the Gates episode to other recent incidents, including the choking a black paramedic by a white Oklahoma Highway Patrol officer back in May.

Meanwhile The Root has an interview with Gates giving his own story of how the incident took place.