By now everyone has heard of the Henry Louis Gates arrest incident and everybody has formulated an opinion. From what I observed on the news most Black people took Gates’ side and most white people sided with Crowley, the  arresting officer. However, if you were paying attention to the news you did observe that Crowley’s African-American colleagues stood in solidarity with him at his initial press conference when he publicly declared that he would not be apologizing for anything. This incident was the talk of the nation as it unfolded. A white female neighbor called the police because she felt Gates and his companion looked suspicious.  The result was a highly educated and esteemed Black man being arrested by a white police officer at his own home. The media was on it. Tempers flared and for the most part racial lines were drawn. I mean most of us Black folks could relate to the anger and indignation felt by professor Gates. Right? Even President Obama made a comment that the police acted “stupidly.” He caught some heat for it too. Fast forward a week later and the incident had taken a tremendous turn. Suddenly, the key players were scheduled to sit down together, talk and kick back a couple of brewskis. “The Audacity  of Hops” is what they’re calling the meeting that occurred between President Obama, Gates, Crowley and Biden in which the four men sat around the White House Rose Garden and discussed what happened and what should be done next. What do you think about this meeting? I really have to start video blogging because there are so many levels that need to be dissected on this issue and I’m supposed to be writing blogs not books.

First of all I have to address the fact that it annoys me to the umpteenth power that some people still believe there is no such thing as racial profiling. There were people actually accusing Gates of being racist because he declared that is what happened to him. But another pressing issue to me is the fact that Gates commented that what happened to him has caused him to realize the vulnerability of African American men around the country at the hands of law enforcement. SAY WHAT? Gates is a 58 year old Black man and how in the hell he just came to that realization is beyond anything I can comprehend.

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My country tis of thee
Sweet Land of Liberty
Of thee I sing
Land where my fathers died
Land of the Pilgrims pride
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring…

These are the words of a familiar song most of us learned as a child. I wonder what is the likelihood it was written by someone who looks like me? I wonder what is the likelihood it was written for someone who looks like me? As I sang those words as a pre-k student at Episcopal Day school in Gadsden Alabama I had no idea there was a dispute as to whether or not this country was actually “my” country. There I stood innocently and ignorantly singing of sweet liberty, pilgrim pride and ringing freedom. Well, as I grew older I realized freedom and liberty are very complicated words for African Americans. Read the rest of this entry »