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Ego over race in Crowley-Gates issue
Well, the news media is at it again. There are so many news programs and news channels the media is faced daily with the need to ‘create’ news rather than just report it. Their latest frenzy is the Professor Gates/Officer Crowley/President Obama first-arrest-then-release fiasco. The news media, in its need to create news, has tried to turn this into a big, racial story with continuous daily reporting and interviews with every black personality they can corner. But we all know that if there was a terrorist attack or a big storm or a meltdown on the stock market, this story would not even make the back pages of a newspaper. While the news media would like to make this into a racial story, it is really only a story of egos gone astray.
The whole story reminds me of a personal incident I was involved in several years ago. I was driving with my family through Lassen National Park in California when I was pulled over by a park ranger for passing another car on a double yellow line. I had not had a ticket in over 30 years and in my righteous indignation I spared no words telling the ranger what I thought of being stopped. While I don’t swear (at least not too much) I told him in no uncertain terms that his time would be better spent repairing trails rather than pulling over a law-abiding, god-fearing, tax-paying, up-standing, hard-working, excellent driver like me for an infraction that stretched the definition of the law to be considered an act that should have resulted in being stopped. While venting my frustration at the officer made me feel better, the $175 ticket he gave me was a wonderful reminder that a little humility can solve many arguments (not agreements). If this had been a black or Latino officer, would this have been a racial issue? No, it would still be a park ranger with too little to do confronting a driver too full of his own righteousness.
The entire Gates/Crowley incident should have been solved amicably at the house by two reasonable men. Crowley should have calmly explained why he was there when first confronting Professor Gates. Gates should have happily provided identification to Crowley knowing that the officer was there to protect the property from burglary. Instead, an officer, perhaps a little too aggressively confronted a college professor who was a little too self-righteous and the incident spiraled out of control. Both men should have known better. Crowley has certainly been trained to restore calm in situations like this. Gates, a highly educated man with years of experience working with and persuading others, should have acted with more restraint. Instead, they let their egos run their tongues.
Now steps in our new president. Instead of calming the situation, he suggests that the officer acted “stupidly.” In truth, Crowley failed to use his training and in doing so did act stupidly. However, there seemed to be plenty of stupidity to go around that day and the president failed to allocate a fair share to Gates. To compound his error, the president returned to the podium the next day to apologize to police officers nationwide. What he should have done was to tell the truth — both men acted childishly and they each owed their community an apology for allowing such a trivial incident to consume the time and resources of their police department and other city officials. Notice I did not suggest that the news media’s time and resources were wasted. Given their propensity to create news, they have plenty of time to waste.
Now the president has invited both the officer and the professor to the White House for a beer and reconciliation. Since the president has failed to hold either man responsible for his actions on that fateful day, both are still scrambling to take the high ground in their individual pursuit of self-vindication. This is apparent in the professor’s acceptance of the invitation to the White House. He said he was happy to attend, but would prefer wine to beer. The officer was then forced to stake out his territory saying that he would also attend, but preferred a plebian brand of beer so that the law-and-order folks would identify with him.
Where will this all end? I expect that the president will find it necessary to bring in a third party to mediate this issue. Perhaps judge-in-waiting Sotomayer could perform this task since she is neither white nor black and though she has taken some radical stands in speeches, her most famous court ruling favored the plaintiff cops in Pennsylvania.
Well, I am thankful that there was no TV camera present for my incident in Lassen Park. A national expose of my incident would have resulted in me being pilloried by the National Park Service and sainted by the lawless local affiliate of the Hell’s Angels. In fact, word of my mis-treatment at the hands of that errant park ranger resulted in an invitation to speak at the Sturgis Rally last August, but that’s another story. I am just grateful that I live in a quiet town like Quincy where the police still wave at you as they drive by and the newspaper writes stories about the lives of local people and covers the Lions Club’s annual Swim-O-Rama.
Silver Flores commented, on August 9, 2009 at 9:28 a.m.:
Entertaining article. If the Professor had checked his ego once he got to his home and humbled himself like the police officer expected him to this wouldn't be news. He chose not to and was arrested. I forget the charge, something like being black on a sunny day, which of course we cannot just take His word on the weather that day. No real harm done, no charges filed, just handcuffs to remind someone of there place. The real story was when sides were taken and distinctively divided amongst race and those who believe racial profiling exists or doesn't.
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