President Obama had Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and James Crowley over to the White House for a beer. (Flickr user whitehouse)
Last summer, Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested in his home on obstruction of justice charges, after police came to investigate a 911 call that said two men barged into a house in Massachusetts. The incident brought into sharp relief the continuing issues race relations in this country today, especially between the police and black men.
Charles Ogletree, the Harvard Law School Jesse Climenko Professor of Law, and the author of "The Presumption of Guilt: The Arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Race, Class, and Crime in America," believes there are valuable lessons to be learned from the Gates incident.
Comedian Baratunde Thurston on 'How to Be Black'
Today's Takeaway: Focus on Violence Syria
Today's Takeaway: What the Mortgage Settlement Means
In-Depth Look at the Situation in Syria
Today's Takeaway: Big Night for Rick Santorum
'Tebow Bill' May Allow Home-Schoolers to Play on High School Teams
Some Combat Restrictions for Women Lifted
Is Our Constitution Out of Date?
Newly-Discovered Recordings Shed Light on a Young Malcolm X
Today's Takeaway: Multi-Billion Dollar Foreclosure Settlement Imminent
The show is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with The BBC World Service, New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.
Major funding provided by:
Comments [1]
The Takeaway didn't exactly make it clear that Charles Ogletree was Professor Gates' attorney in this case.
Although it is public knowledge, and not disguised by Ogletree; it would seem to be a minmal disclaimer under ordinary journalism standards, to acknowledge Ogletree's non-academic bias in the matter. Ogletree's not simply a legal scholar in this case. Ogletree was and is Skip Gates' personal attorney and personal friend.
And of course, there was never a"presumption of guilt" in the case. Nothing in this case ever cast doubt on Skip Gates' presumption of innocence; Gates was never charged with a b&e. Gates was only (properly) charged with disorderly conduct, after he behaved like a complete jackass when a uniformed Cambridge police officer asked him for i.d., in the course of responding to a 911 call.
Ogletree gives the impression that Gates simply provided the i.d. upon request. I suggest that that is a misleading version of the event. Video of Gates screaming as he is led from the porch of the home is enough to cast doubt on Ogletree's version.
I sincerely hope that someone else other than racial greivance professionals like Skip Gates and Charles Ogletree get a chance to write the last word on this story. Because I don't even understand Ogletree's point -- he says that the 911 caller was justified, and that the Cambridge Police officer is known to be a distinguished officer and a good citizen when not in uniform, and yet Ogletree seems to think that some kind of massive injustice was done in this case.
To me it is simple; the problem was and is not about race directly, at all. But it is about the racial greivance industry. Skip Gates is a man who holds a very cushy academic position, and who generates a very large personal income from books and television shows, all about race relations. He sees things -- everything, perhaps -- through the lens of the racial grievance industry and on the one occasion at which Gates had even the most modest contact with a working police officer, he felt the need to make a dramatic statement on race relations. Because that is what Skip Gates' job is; to make dramatic national statements on race and race relations. (Just as it is Charles Ogletree's job.)
Leave a Comment
Register for your own account so you can vote on comments, save your favorites, and more. Learn more.
Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. We reserve the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting. By leaving a comment, you agree to New York Public Radio's Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use.