The reaction in the black community to the arrest of distinguished Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates is bound to puzzle some white Americans and those who live outside our American racial dynamic. The outrage will be seen by some as an over-reaction. Some critics will argue that Gates’ run-in with the police in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was unfortunate, but an aberration, and that the man who is arguably the most famous college professor in America could have avoided confrontation with a policeman on his doorstep by being more cooperative.
In an American moment that some pundits desperately wanted to label as post-racial, the arrest of a black Harvard professor on his own doorstep was a stark reminder of the fragile status of black men, despite the success of Barack Obama in reaching the white house.
The Gates incident forces us to take frank measure of the racial divide that manifests itself in the divergent views of black and white Americans on the continuing significance of race. Major polls show that the vast majority of whites no longer believe that racial discrimination is a big deal; a majority of blacks still believe it’s a major issue.
What happened in Cambridge, of course, could have been worse. Dr. Gates could have been beaten or shot – or killed. And there would have been a lot of hand-wringing about how sad it is that these things happen. Confrontations between white policemen and black men don’t usually end well. The danger increases when black men talk back. Not only did Professor Gates resist showing his ID to Sgt. James Crowley, according to the police report, he actually gave him lip.
Policing in these United States has always involved a dual role. The primary role was to prevent crime or to arrest those suspected of crime. The other role, much less explicit, but embedded in police culture since the days of slavery, was to maintain the racial order. For hundreds of years, police officers North and South sought to stamp out black militancy. They spied on civil rights groups. They harassed and arrested interracial couples. Their superiors turned a blind eye to racial brutality. And white cops didn’t tolerate black men who talked back.
Those of us who covered police for any length of time noted how quickly white policemen grew angry when a black male resisted their authority. Who can forget the video of a confused and groggy Rodney King being beaten mercilessly for defying an order to lie down?
The police role in racial control has grown ambiguous as laws changed, animosities diminished, minorities acquired political clout, and police departments became more diverse. But even in a city like New York, we have had plenty of reminders of the lingering dangers of that second role, whether it is Amadou Diallo, shot 41 times for reaching for his wallet, or more recently, Omar Edwards, a young black off-duty policeman, shot dead by another officer, when he made the mistake of chasing a car thief with his gun out. It’s another aberration. It just doesn’t happen to white cops or suspects.
Race remains a contentious issue in America because we don’t like complicated discussions. We don’t do well with ambiguous reports or competing opinions about who is winning or losing. Is racism waning, yes or no? Blacks and whites would probably agree on “Yes.” It’s the “but” that divides us.
Yes, Obama’s election was one more step in a long arc of progress that started with Brown v Bd. of Ed in 1954. Over the following two decades, voting rights legislation and civil rights laws brought African-Americans closer to political parity. Fair employment laws and affirmative action opened the marketplace to broader competition and put blacks and whites in the same workplaces. Many white and Hispanic Americans saw the disconnection between the stereotypes they had grown up with and the reality of the black man or woman at the next desk or workbench.
By the time Obama ran for office, there was enough familiarity among blacks and whites and Hispanics and Asians that traditional Republican code words were not enough. Obama didn’t get a majority of the white vote, which went to McCain-Palin, but he got enough white Americans to choose competence over skin color to become the first African-American president.
That leaves us in a painful transition. The majority of white Americans don’t want to be seen as racist. The majority of blacks don’t want to be seen as blacks first. And then we run into reality on a porch not far from Harvard Square on a Thursday afternoon.
