The Gates Incident
“This is How They Treat Black Men in America!”
2009-07-21
By Eric Easter

The official police report regarding the recent arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis (Skip) Gates reads like a bad detective novel.

There is suspense:

“As I turned and faced the door, I could see an older black male standing in the foyer of Ware Street. I made this observation through the glass paned front door…”

Action:

“…Gates continued to yell at me, accusing me of racial bias and continued to tell me that I had heard the last of him.”

Humor: 

His response was “ya, I’ll speak with your mama outside.”

Conflict:

“Due to the tumultuous manner Gates had exhibited in his residence as well as his continued tumultuous behavior outside the residence, in view of the public, I warned Gates that he was becoming disorderly.”

For the record if you’ve missed it, Harvard professor and PBS personality Henry Louis Gates was arrested outside of his home after a neighbor ( Lucia Whalen, a Harvard fundraiser)  reported what appeared to her to be a break-in attempt at Gates’ home. The suspect turned out to be Gates himself. The police showed up and anything but hilarity ensued. Gates reported made loud accusations of racism. The officer was offended. The result was Gates’ arrest, embarrassment on both sides, a mug shot and fours hours in booking.

The whole incident brings up the uncomfortable issue of what may or not be racism in post-racial America. And based on the comments on various websites about incident, the divide between those who think it was racism or those who don’t proves that we have not yet reached that Holy Grail of being beyond race.

There was anger, naturally. Stories about the incident spread like wildfire on Facebook and Twitter, generally with the comment “How could this happen to an intellectual man such as Gates?”

There was the expected response that an uppity Negro had received his comeuppance. Oddly, many of the people making that response would fall under the definition of uppity Negroes themselves. Being at the receiving end of real and perceived bad treatment by the police is the price of entry into a large but not very exclusive club of Black men. Gates had just been given the secret handshake. But any snickers from fellow Black men should be considered a welcome, not playa-hating’.

There were also responses, from black and white alike, showing that calling “racism” in today’s world is to invite immediate skepticism, true or not. And since it was the famous Skip Gates, there was the added accusation of excessive pride and arrogance. 

“Wasn’t the neighbor just being a good neighbor by reporting a break-in?”

“If someone were really breaking in and they happened to be Black, would Gates prefer that it not be reported?”

“Why not just show your ID and be done with it.”

“ Why do Black people have to pull the race card? The cop was just doing his job.”

“Black or white, that’s not how you should talk to a police officer.”

One thing is very clear from this inciden, t as well as others. The degree of outrage associated with being treated with suspicion is directly related to the suspect’s relative innocence and success. Poor Black men without a voice and a PBS special do not get this angry about police harassment. For them it is, unfortunately, commonplace – and every day. Whatever racism we perceive to still be here based on the Gates incident is all around us on a regular basis, but we largely forget about it – until it happens to us.

What angered Gates, what angers all of us who’ve reached a certain place, is not that he was “a black man in America.” It was that he, more than anyone, has played by the standard rules. Scholar, Harvard, tenure, lauded by white folks for his success. Yet still…

As facts about the incident trickle in, it becomes clear that on both sides, excessive pride got in the way of common sense. Race matched with pride is kindling for a fire that always burns hotter than it should. But this line from the police report will be recognized by every Black man subject to a questionable incident with the police. It’s not your innocence that’s the problem, it’s your tone:

“While I was led to believe that Gates was lawfully in the residence, I was quite surprised and confused with the behavior he exhibited toward me.”

Uppity Negroes indeed.

Read the police report and local coverage here 

Eric Easter writes about politics, culture and technology for EbonyJet.com