Harvard professor deal: Both sides were wrong!

Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.

I find it hard to imagine any justified reason to arrest an old man at his own home, unless he is threatening harm to the officers or others.

But… I don’t see any reason to think this was a racist incident. Unfortunately, even in America, cops “power-trip” all the time. I think the professor was no more likely to have been arrested being black as he would have if he were white or any other race. So I think the professor and especially the President of the United States were irresponsible, or at least irrationally paranoid, to imply this was racial profiling or a racist incident.

And as has been pointed out, the professor, Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., certainly wasn’t looking to avoid trouble when he handled the situation in such a belligerent, uncooperative manner. That doesn’t make the arrest justified, however.

The policemen state that they were following procedure, and I believe them. But I don’t think someone should be arrested because of their attitude, because they’re pissing off the policeman or any other childish game of wits. There should be clear reasons for arrest, use of force, search, etc. and maybe they need to better screen policemen for the job if some of them can’t handle such logic. So, if this falls within procedure, they need to change procedure and possibly the law.

Now I believe there are many good cops out there that still have a high degree of common sense. You should be respectful of law enforcement no matter what, but at the same time know your rights if an officer goes too far. We need great policemen, we need to respect them and we need them to be very responsible, have common sense and not go too far, nor do too little. We need to teach our children to trust and comply with policemen as a base attitude, but it is absolutely critical that policemen in America remain worthy of that trust.

And again, what does this have to do with racism? Not a damn thing as far as I can tell. Now I’m not saying the professor doesn’t have reason to be a little paranoid or on-edge regarding racial profiling. He probably does have good reason. I haven’t had the same experiences as him, so I can only judge so far.