George,

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African American Research at Harvard University, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct following an incident on July 16, 2009, at his home.

While Gates was attempting to open the door to his home that had been damaged by a previous break-in, a passer-by, suspecting that two black males (Gates and his driver) were breaking-in and entering, called the police. When Sergeant James Cowley arrived Gates had already entered his home.

During Gates' encounter with Cowley, according to the police report, Gates was loud, remarked that he was being accosted because he was a black man and refused to identify himself. Gates maintains that he showed his identification and told Cowley that this was his home. He also asked the officer for his name and badge number. Apparently at that point, the officer became a bit incensed and asked Gates to come outside. Gates came outside and was arrested, put in handcuffs and taken to jail where he spent four hours.

During President Obama's July 22nd news conference that focused on Health Care the final questioner asked for his comment on the arrest of Gates. The President stated that he was a friend of Gates. He said that he doesn't have all the facts and added that "it doesn't make sense to arrest a guy in his own home if he's not causing a serious disturbance. He also said that the policeman arresting Gates had "acted stupidly." This latter statement has caused his parries and critics to pounce on him. Subsequently, Obama said that he did not mean that policeman Cowley was stupid but that in this situation he acted stupidly. It is like a person who is not a fool acting foolishly.

In a national televised news conference held on July 24, the Cambridge and area police unions voiced their support for Sgt. James Crowley and demanded that not only President Obama, but Gov. Deval Patrick who said, "the arrest of Gates was disturbing," apologize for their remarks. In the meantime, Gates has called upon Crowley to apologize. Crowley has said that he will not apologize. This writer urges the President and Governor not to apologize. If they did, and I don't think they will, that would demonstrate their stupidity. Racism in America is systemic and even when it is cloaked in righteous garb those who experience it recognize it for the evil that it is.

My personal story involving the police parallels the Gates' experience. Some thirty-five years ago I had an encounter with the police at my home, and while much has changed insofar as the practice of racism is concerned during those years much remains the same. After I had attended a regular meeting of the Los Angeles Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance (attended mostly by African Americans) where, at the time, I served as Secretary, I was returning to my residence in Silver Lake, an area of Los Angeles considered to be a "white area," when I was about a half mile from my home I slowed down at a stop sign but did not make a complete stop. I noticed from my rear view mirror that the police car that was going in the opposite direction turned around and I believed that the policeman was in pursuit of me. I speeded up and rushed home. Just beyond the stop sign there was a fork in the road and apparently the policeman took the street going left and I had taken the one to the right. After I arrived home I did not feel that the police would continue to have an interest in me. I went down stairs to my bedroom and put on my bathrobe. Apparently the officer had seen my white Cadillac, that was five years old, parked in front of my home. My wife told me that a policeman was here to see me. I was angry and said to her "tell him I am not available or something to that effect." The policeman told my wife that if I didn'n't come to the door that he would enter our home. Not wanting my wife to be involved in this incident, I put on my trousers and came to the door. The policeman asked me if I was driving this Cadillac. I told him that this was my vehicle. Then he asked me for my driver's license. I wanted to know why did he want my driver's license? When I was about to close the door he put his foot in the door keeping me from closing it. He asked me to come outside and show him my drivers's license and vehicle registration. He told me that he could arrest me. He probably did not arrest me because I had told him that I was a minister. He chose to give me a ticket that indicated that I had failed to stop at a stop sign. He said that there was a problem with people sellling drugs in this area and at the nearby Marshall High School and that is why he insisted on coming to my home.

I was very wrought and determined that I would take this matter to court, mainly to address the matter of a policeman coming to my home for no valid reason other than I was an African American. Common sense suggested that if a policeman had not been able to apprehend me for failing to stop at a stop sign in an area where there were very little traffic that he would not come to my home to cite or arrest me. But, that was not so, if you happened to be an African American male.

I went to court and acted as my own attorney. After excusing all the white prospective jurors possible I ended up with a jury that was fifty percent black and fifty percent white, no small feat in American courts. In presenting my case I argued that a policeman had come to my home without a valid reason. The judge insisted that this was not a matter for his court to considered and added that the charge against me is that of failing to stop at a stop sign. I was not able to present the issue that concerned me most to the jury. After a brief deliberation the jury returned with a guilty verdict. I was fined $44.00 and court cost. I have never regretted taking this matter to court even though I was not able to present to the jury the matter of the the officer coming to my home without a valid reason.

I know how Gates felt when the policeman came to his home to arrest him. He felt violated. Like myself he was angry. Had it not been for my concern for my wife I could have easily acted destructively. Indeed, to be violated in your own home by an intruder is the "violation of all violations." Most African Americans and some whites know that racial profiling is a reality in American society, whether or not this was the case in the incident involving Gates, which remains an open question. I am hopeful, however, that Gates, no less than I did, will seek justice. Theodore Parker, an abolitionist preacher in the days before the Civil War challenged an impatient world with these words "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." It bends all the more swiftly toward justice when people refuse to accept injustice as an acceptable way of lfie.

An addendum. Not long after Henry Louis Gates, Jr., published his book, "Colored People," I received a letter of reply to my letter that I had sent to him that was also published in the "Los Angeles Times." I had criticized Gates for having taken the position that he wanted himself and his daughters to be called "colored," rather than black, Afro-American, or any of the other names blacks were called during the period that preceded their being called African Americans. In his letter to me he expressed appreciation for my letter and maintained that he wanted himself and his daughters to be called "colored." He urged me to continue the dialogue on this matter which he considered to be meritorious.

My final word to Gates in this discourse is something I know he will continue to do because of who he is: "Stand inviolate of your integrity."

Uriah J. Fields (Electronic mail, July 24, 2009)