MSM told us that there would be a national discussion on race following the speech that Obama gave in Philadelphia last year. MSM lied. Burdened by mostly White prime tie and nightly news anchors who are often ill-equipped to deal with issues of race, there is often very little discussion of the issue, Michael Jackson not withstanding.

Charges of racism were leveled at the arresting officer in the case> The sergeant is now giving interviews to get his side of the story across.  For those who argue that a charge of racist is worse than rapist, murderer,or pedophile, that does not appear to be the case here. Gates gets media. The sergeant gets media. (The chief of the Miami PD, who was deputy chief in NYC, and the previous cheif in Phildadelphisa says that it is up to the maoyr or cheif of police to put the brakes on the media in high profile cases-Morning Joe 07/24/2009).

Henry Gates got arrested after having been determined to be the owner of the home that supposedly was burglarized. Most in the Black community feel that Gates arrest was ridiculous and gain support from the apology of the mayor of Cambridge, Mass and the fact that the disorderly conduct charge was dropped. A question exists that Gates may be able to take legal action.

Many Whites  don't understand why Gates would have gotten upset by police presence. Jim Sleeper has a post  here at TPMCafe that includes the following statement: Gates' Harvard colleague Charles Ogletree, who is black and a professor in the law school that Barack Obama attended, has said that whenever he changes from his jacket and tie to an ordinary ski parka and stocking cap, he goes from being a law professor to being "a probable cause".

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/24/both_were_wrong_but_one_was_wronger/#more

Depending on the area in which one lives the impact of that statement is felt at varying degrees. News articles have mentioned the fact that Harvard established a commission to investigate racial profiling of ethnic minorities on the Harvard campus. African-Americans hear that statement and, as a matter of survival, internalize the message. Be cautious in Boston and Cambridge. Give your college bound child the same message. Many Whites will see the same piece of news and find it interesting, they can  wait for the results of the investigation.
The situation is similar to the pig and the chicken in making ham and eggs for breakfast. The chicken is involved, the pig is committed to the meal. Blacks need to know about law enforcement as they travel, for Whites stories of possible profiling are only of interest. For Whites, profiling has no impact on their lives Two groups seeing the same set of data from two different perspectives.

Whites tend to respond to Black's concerns about law enforcement in one of two ways. Some will give valid reports of abuses they, or White family and friends have suffered at the hands of police, thus negating racial bias. They may suggest  post 9/11 overly aggressive policing.  Blacks will remember the pre-911 shooting of an unarmed innocent Black man trying to enter his NYC apartment in an attempt to get away from a bunch of guys with guns running in his direction, losing his life in a hail of police gunfire. The NYPD actually said that it was un unfortunate event, butit could happen again in the future. Blacks got the intended threat. Blacks feel that Whites just don't get it.

The other response is for some Whites to admit that, yes, there is bias in policing, but....
The But means that somehow in an aberration of normal human psychological behavior, Blacks are supposed to ignore these facts when confronted by police officers. Good luck with that.

In one post concerning the Gates incident some of the comments were amusing. One post described how a White gentleman, upset about traffic being blocked by police, got out of his car and angrily strode towards police. The man was told to get back in his car, which he did. The post went on to say that A Black man would have likely wound up in handcuffs. Black men especially realize this. Many people admit police bias is occurs and is not uncommon. Some may even cite personally observed examples.

Amazingly, another post characterized Gates as ranting like a homeless person. The same poster mentioned Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks as examples of how well mannered Black folks shouldact when shackled by police. Gates should have followed their standard.
Jackie Robinson who was thick-skinned and ale to tolerate physical and verbal abuse was also mentioned as a model for Black behavior under duress. That Jackie Robinson reference provided the humor that got me through the day.

Blacks, in general, do feel that there is a difference in the way that they are treated by law enforcement. Getting data on racial profiling is difficult, because you sometimes have to figure out what the police officer is thinking. Juvenile court data in many cities does suggest that at least in juvenile courts, there is a tendency for disproportionate charges for similar crimes between Black and White youth. NYC and Baltimore have instituted corrective programs. The Jena 6 controversy arose mainly because of a sense of differential charges in a case incited by the presence of a segregated tree in Jena La. That's correct, Blacks had to ask permission to sit under a tree. Jena residents wondered why they were being considered racist by the African-American community. The citizens of Jena wondered why their system of justice might be suspect.

Gates was upset by being challenged in his own home by law enforcement. He was the owner. Until Gates has as much right to be an a-hole on his own property, and until disparities in treatment of African-Americans are erased at all levels of the justice system, there will continue to be flare ups in interactions of Blacks with law enforcement officials. The Jackie Robinson model of if your feelings get hurt, just rub some dirt on it and carry on, may have worked 50 years ago. It's not going to happen now. The Gates arrest was a farce. Address the underlying bias in law enforcement, then call Gates' outburst idiotic

Wattree had a post on TPM Cafe that gave instructions on how to behave if you think that you are being profiled. Survival instructions that one would expect in a police state are being handed out in The United States of America and people are upset at Gates reaction? Please!.