Racism in the Head

By time you read this, Harvard Professor Henry Gates and Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley, the man who arrested him at his home on July 16, will have shared a beer at the Obama White House, where no stupid deed goes unrewarded. This entire incident, a national cause celebre for about two weeks, would have been relegated to a segment of Cops on TV, except for the fact that Gates is black, well-connected and believes that his arrest was due to racism.

Crowley and his partner were dispatched to the Gates home in response to a report that two men were attempting to force their way into the house. When officers arrived, Gates had lalready entered the house through a rear door. He showed officers his Harvard ID, but was uncooperative and boisterous, shouting that he was being questioned because he was African-American. Crowley arrested him for disorderly conduct, but the charge was later dropped.

When asked about the incident, President Obama characterized the police action as "stupid". He did not say that Gates' behavior was stupid, though it was that, not his race, that caused him to be handcuffed and hauled-off to the police station. (I suspect that Obama did better among Harvard faculty in the 2008 election that among Cambridge police officers, so the President was playing to his base.)

Was Professor Gates guilty of "disorderly conduct?" Without a video of the incident, or even a third-party witness account, we cannot be sure. Unlike "robbery" and "murder", "disorderly conduct" is a rather vague term, and even police officers might disagree about whether a particular person should be arrested for it.

My view is that if the police had simply left the home after ascertaining that Gates was the legal resident, no harm would have been done to the serenity of Cambridge. Without the police to yell at, he probably would have quieted down and gone back inside his home. While the arrest may have been justified, it was not really necessary.

But was Gates treated as he was because of his race? The facts do not support this claim. Nothing the police said or did indicates that race was a factor in how they responded to the call or the arrest. Gates acted as he did because he believed he was the victim of racism. I contend that if a white man had behaved exactly the same way under the same circumstances, Sgt. Crowley would have arrested him too.

Of course I am aware the police have often treated black and Hispanic men unfairly in this country. Although this is usually attributed to racist attitudes held by white policemen, unequal treatment is also due to the fact that minority men are responsible for a disproportionate share of violent crime.
For this reason, innocent members of this demographic group are likely to fit the description of suspects in these crimes, and are therefore more likely to be stopped and questioned than are other people.

As a man who has been questioned by Milwaukee police investigating an alleged terrorist plot, I say that by remaining calm and answering their questions I avoided being mistreated or arrested. (1) A black person in my place would have been best advised to act the same way. Even if police racism persists to this day, the best strategy to avoid becoming a victim of it is to co-operate, not to confront.

Both Henry Louis Gates and James Crowley have benefited from this incident, even though both could have easily defused the conflict. Without it, Sgt. Crowley would probably never have been invited to the White House. With his enhanced fame, Prof. Gates will be more popular than ever on the lecture circuit, and his book sales will soar. Such are the rewards of over-reacting in America.
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(1) In the Spring of 1967 enemies of Father James Groppi informed police that he intended to firebomb the home of Milwaukee School Director John F Foley, who then lived at 2978 N 46th Street. The Milwaukee Sentinel reported that police were guarding the home around the clock. While on the way to visiting a friend on Sherman Blvd. the following Saturday afternoon, I inspected a car parked in front of Foley's house to see if it was an unmarked police car. It was.
Detectives demanded to know why I was snooping around Foley's house.
Later the alleged firebombing plot was revealed to be a hoax.

So Long, Sarah!

"In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes."
Andy Warhol

Three years ago, less than one percent of the American people would have recognized the name Sarah Palin. Since that time she has been elected Governor of Alaska, been the Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States, and resigned as Governor. In her spare time, she has blown away a caribou and other innocent animals. (Like the last Republican Vice President, she is an avid hunter; but unlike him, her victims, so far, have all been animals.) She is one of the most famous women in the world.

Sarah Palin embodies a number of contradictions. Although a college graduate (University of Idaho, 1987), she clings to working-class speech patterns ("You betcha!"). Although the nominee of the party that embraces traditional marriage, her unwed daughter got pregnant at 17. She seems to have one foot in the Governor's Mansion and the other in the trailer-park.

Mrs Palin won kudos for her acceptance speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention, and drew huge crowds on the campaign trail. She went far beyond John McCain in lambasting Barack Obama, asserting that "he pals around with terrorists." (1) While firing-up the GOP base of white evangelical Protestants and gun-advocates, her strident style turned-off moderates and independents.

Sarah Palin's biggest problem was how to handle unscripted appearances, such as interviews and the Vice Presidential Debate. Her interview by Katie Couric showed a shallow understanding of national issues, and some of her responses during the Debate were not pertinent to the questions asked. (2) Had she become Vice President, she could have easily performed the largely ceremonial duties of the office, but voters were rightly troubled by the prospect that she might become President. Even atheists would have prayed for President McCain's health. Even so, she received more electoral votes than any other woman in American history. (3)

By leaving the office of Governor of Alaska about 18 months before the end of her term, she has probably blown any chance she might otherwise have had for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination. If she could not stand the rigors of the Alaska job for a full four years, how could she cope with the far greater stresses and frustrations of the American presidency for four years? Some ex-governors have been nominated, but all finished their terms of office. (4)

Although no longer in public office, Sarah Palin will remain on the public scene for many years. She is working on a book, plans to campaign for Republicans in 2010, and may land a lucrative TV or radio talk show gig.

F Scott Fitzgerald famously remarked that "there are no second acts in American lives." But then, Fitzgerald never could have met Sarah Palin.
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(1) Obama accepted support from (and served on some boards with) Bill Ayers, who had been a violent radical during the Vietnam War. Although she used the plural term "terrorists", she never named another one.

(2) When asked under what circumstances the US should use nuclear weapons, Mrs Palin replied that rogue regimes should never be allowed to have nuclear weapons. Apparently, she did not understand the question.

(3) Geraldine Ferraro received 13 electoral votes for Vice President in 1984. Although several other women have run for President and Vice President on minor party tickets, none ever received any electoral votes. (The first woman to seek the presidency was Victoria Woodhull in 1872, before women could even vote!)

(4) Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan were both ex-governors when nominated for President by their parties. Both had completed their terms. ( Adlai Stevenson was also a former governor at the time of his second nomination.)
Many incumbent governors have been nominated, including Presidents George W Bush, Bill Clinton, and Franklin D Roosevelt.