We Need The Truth, Not Beer and Apologies
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http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2009/07/we-need-truth-not-beer-...
The proper ending to the controversy over the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. should not be an apology or a sit down for beer at the White House. This no longer is a private affair, so Prof. Gates' desire to "move on," while understandable, is irrelevant.The public is entitled to the evidence so that we can determine whether Sgt. James Crowley was a rogue, racial-profiling cop as Gates claimed, or whether Prof. Gates made false accusations of racial profiling.
While differing perceptions clearly contributed to the reactions of Prof. Gate and Sgt. Crowley, perception cannot change the truth of what actually happened. The best evidence as to the truth will be the recordings of the 911 call which precipitated the police going to Prof. Gates' house, Sgt. Crowley's radio calls once on the scene, and the accounts of eyewitnesses, including neighbors, passers-by, and the two other policemen on the scene.
We need to get to the truth of what happened in order to learn from this incident. If Prof. Gates is revealed to have made accusations without justification, then that will be a teaching moment for sure in the context of discussing racial profiling.
"Driving while black" racial profiling certainly takes place. But less discussed is the related phenomenon of "policing while white," in which white police officers sometimes falsely are accused of racial profiling, either because they have been falsely profiled as inherently racist, or because accusations of racism are an effective defense tool. If we are to understand and condemn racial profiling, we should understand and condemn false accusations of racial profiling.
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- Racism, Racial Profiling
