George,

There has been much attention given to the arrest of Professor Gates by a Cambridge police office. This incident serves as an important reminder of the reality of race relations in America. This sort of thing is still happening every day to African-American males in our “post-racial” society.

In the first paragraph of Sergeant Crowley’s police report of Professor Gates arrest, he says that Gates was “placed under arrest at Ware Street after being observed exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior, in a public place, directed at a uniformed police officer…” Professor Gates was at HIS front door or on HIS porch when this “tumultuous behavior” took place. To say that this was a “public place” was stupid – it gives proof that the arrest was unwarranted. If Gates had been arrested for violating a noise ordinance, perhaps that would be justified. But he was arrested because he was (loudly) disrespecting a police officer.

One of the major features of this incident (that is seldom commented on) is why, in the first place, the “forced entry” call was made to the police by a white woman passerby. She reported that she saw two black males on the porch of a Ware Street house and that one was “wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry.” Now I assume that Ware Street is like most streets in America, either mostly or all white or mostly or all black. (I assume Ware Street is mostly white.) Had this white woman seen two white males doing the exact same thing with a front door – putting a shoulder to a door because it was stuck – it would have been seen as a trivial incident not worthy of notice.

I am sick of these academics and commentators who have invented a “post-racial” society. Just because a majority of the American people elected a black president does not mean that we are “post-racial.” As long as we have severe separation by race in neighborhoods and schools, we have a long way to go before ever reaching post-racial.

David RePass (Electronic mail, July 24, 2009)