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More GatesJuly 24, 2009 I've still got a bur under my saddle and a stone in my boot over this Gates incident. No, it's less about the incident itself than about the aftermath. Without knowing who said what when and in what tone of voice, I do believe that Sergeant Crowley overreacted and that he should not have placed Professor Gates under arrest. I know that this incident is just one in a long, sordid, underreported story of racism and abuse of police power, and that Prof. Gates escaped less scathed than many people of color who've faced similar situations. Gates's bail was set at $40, he paid it and was released, and several days later the charges were dropped. He wasn't beaten up; he didn't have to spend days, weeks, or months in jail; he wasn't convicted on trumped-up charges because the cops and/or the DA wanted a conviction and he couldn't afford a good lawyer. It's pretty pathetic to have to feel relief, even gratitude, that due process worked the way it's supposed to, the way I feel relieved and grateful that I've never been raped, but that's the country we live in. What bugs me is that so many people seem to be assuming that because Professor Gates is an eminent Harvard scholar he could not possibly have said anything intemperate (in that altercation to which none of them were privy), whereas Sergeant Crowley, being a police officer, must be a racist neanderthal. Many of us have had unpleasant or downright nasty run-ins with the police, and even if the bad experiences were few and took place more than 20 years ago, they tend to stick in the mind because they're scary and often humiliating. According to a story in today's Boston Globe, Crowley is widely thought to be an outstanding cop, and not just by his colleagues. Outstanding cops, like eminent Harvard scholars, are capable of losing their tempers, showing terrible judgment, and making big mistakes. This particular cop's mistakes have actually come up at a presidential press conference. President Obama didn't say that the police officer involved had acted stupidly; he said, on national television, that the Cambridge Police Department had acted stupidly. I wish he hadn't said that. I like it that the guy's press conferences don't sound like he's reading off a teleprompter, but I wish he'd acknowledged that Professor Gates was a friend, said he didn't have complete information about what happened, and stopped there. Maybe the Gates affair -- it's gone beyond "incident" now -- will raise awareness of the issues involved and lead to some improvement, though without overhauling the whole society I'm not sure how much improvement can be expected, especially when the push for reform starts with the president of the United States dissing a whole police department on national TV. Since my antiwar movement days, I haven't been a big "support your local police" fan, and I've been surprised by the strength of my own gut feeling that the police in this case weren't getting a fair shake. Given the number of times that law-enforcement officials have trampled the rights detainees, arrestees, and others, I might be expected to say, "Turnabout's more than fair play. Get over it." But the basic scenario here, of one side getting carte blanche to tell its side of the story while the other is more or less shut out -- it resonates. Henry L. Gates Jr. summers on Martha's Vineyard. Plenty of eminent scholars, journalists, scientists, business people, and celebrities summer here. No matter what they're famous for, I don't expect them to see year-round Martha's Vineyard as anything more than the support staff for their summer R&R, and maybe as the recipients of their noblesse oblige. Of course they're cordial and considerate; it's just that most of them don't see us as their peers. Professor Gates is a scheduled headliner at the Martha's Vineyard Book Festival next month. More than 20 writers are featured, the overwhelming majority of them summer people or occasional visitors. The festival organizer, a summer resident, didn't respond to my queries or acknowledge the copy of Mud that I sent her. I'm thinking of going down and passing out postcards with Mud's cover on one side and review excerpts and other info on the other. Who knows? Maybe I'll luck out and get arrested.
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