A Teaching Moment
It’s starting to look like Harvard professors Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. and Charles Ogletree, the Rev. Al Sharpton, and President Barack Obama picked the wrong white cop to mess with, to paraphase Skip.
It’s not just that Sgt. James Crowley has a backbone.
Boston Herald: Crowley teaches the racial profiling class at a local police academy, in partnership with a black officer. That’s on top of his tortured history as the cop who lost Celtics star Reggie Lewis, something that haunts him 16 years later, after he tried desperately to keep that prominent black man alive in an intense mouth-to-mouth resuscitation session. Boston Herald again.
It’s getting a little awkward. It turns out Crowley might not be some lunkheaded Irish bigot cop after all. It’s looking like he might be the kind of white cop … if it is actually permissible for white men to be cops in post-racial America … that Gates, Obama, etal, might consider a paragon, an example for all.
I hate to moralize, but this is the kind of thing that happens when you make snap judgments and start busting heads and taking names based on nothing more that racial prejudice. Turns out that when you judge people by the color of their skin, great injustices can result.
Gates wanted a teaching moment to come out of this, and if he’s open to it, he might even get one. As the Boston Herald’s Peter Gelzinis suggests:
Here’s one way Harvard University celebrity academic Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. and Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley can begin to bridge the ugly gap between them:
Sgt. Crowley could take up Skip’s offer of private tutoring sessions on the history of racism in America.
And Professor Gates can attend a few of the seasoned Cambridge cop’s classes on racial profiling at the Lowell Police Academy.
Good one, Peter. But I don’t know, I’m not convinced Gates has that much to teach Crowley about racism that he hasn’t already taught him. Crowley may have something to teach Gates, though. It could be the lesson here is about reverse bigotry. It’s a lesson for all of us. Because if we are to evolve into a post-racial society, it can’t just be about putting the white man down all the time, as gratifying as that may be. If we are going to move past racism, we probably will need to move past the kneejerk race-baiting as well.
To be truly post-racial, we probably should also try to move past the ugly stain of racial hiring preferences, under which it is the overt policy of our government, universities and even private corporations to favor some races over another, based not on the content of men’s characters or their qualifications, but on nothing more than the color of their skin.
Because if you are a white male of a certain age in America, you may well have felt the sting of racial or gender discrimination. I don’t mean the belittling stereotypes, the presumption of inherited racism, the insistence that you maintain a deferential attitude, or even little things like men who refuse to look at you or mutually make way as you politely step aside on a narrow sidewalk, as any gentleman would. Those are just irritations. I mean when calling about a job, you’re asked questions like, “Are you black?” and when you have to admit that no, you aren’t, it becomes clear they have nothing for you. Or when you’re told that you’ve been bypassed for promotion by someone junior in experience, your supervisor explains, ”We needed a woman.” How humiliating for all parties involved. Not least for the supposedly advantaged minorities. Managers usually are smart enough to not say those things, though those are actual utterances, instructive for the lesson they offer the hapless white male in what it has historically been like and in some circumstances may well yet be like to be a member of a minority facing overt discrimination. And when you’re on the receiving end, you take it like a man. You keep plugging away, because you have your pride. You aren’t interested in making a federal case out of it, and you know that historically, it’s your time. You have other people’s sins to pay for. Anyway, you don’t want what happens to people who speak up to happen to you. Being accused of being a racist isn’t quite as bad as being accused of being a child molester, but it runs a close second. It is a charge that sticks to you and is almost impossible to defend against.
Unless, like Sgt. Crowley, when you show up to protect a man’s property and he starts yelling at you that you are a racist white cop, you happen to have a history that starts to make the race baiter look a little silly.
Racism is an ugly thing, and there is no doubt that racial minorities in this country have suffered far greater injuries than those incidental slights and injuries targeting white males that I mentioned above, and still do. Our nation has struggled mightily with this issue, from a bloody war that killed more than half a million of our young men, to decades of lynchings and segregation, to protest, social upheaval and legal wrangling, with a long history of official efforts to address the issue and also raise people from generational poverty and disadvantage. The rest of the world, while it likes to sneer at us, isn’t even in the game with us when it comes to the advancement of minorities and rising above race. But racism is a highly complex thing, more so than some parties may care to admit, and it is not a simple one-way street. We may have reached a point where, if we want to move past racism, it’s time to move past the instinctive, presumptive accusations of racism.
It might even take a lawsuit, though I don’t know whether Sgt. Crowley is inclined to seek to restore his public reputation in court. Given his handling of the matter so far, I’m not convinced he needs a court to reaffirm what he appears to have managed by standing on his own two feet.
About that other matter, racial preferences as official policy, those policies are currently so entrenched that despite encouraging signs such as the Supreme Court’s overturning of Ricci, I suspect it will be a long time before men are in fact judged solely on the content of their character and by their qualifications in this country.
At the beginning of this week’s summer doldrums news potboiler, I noted that the divergent accounts of Gates and Crowley indicate that someone is lying, and wondered out loud which is worse for society. If a racist white cop or a race-baiting Harvard professor turns out to be the liar. Given that the cop serves in the multicultural sensitivity bastion of Cambridge, I’d suggest rank racism among law-enforcement authorities there would be a much worse thing, indicating no progress in race relations have been made at all in this country.
It’s looking like that is not the case, however. Independent witness accounts and a photograph suggest Gates was less than truthful when he insisted he never raised his voice … the public shouting and accusations being the cause of the disorderly charge, that kind of arrest being relatively routine when people of any race start yelling at cops who are trying to do their jobs.
While it may be difficult for Gates to admit he has not been entirely truthful, or that he leapt to erroneous and defamatory conclusions, this may be a perfect opportunity to make some progress in the peculiar aspect of race relations that is reverese racism. A perfect opportunity for a teaching moment.
But at last check, the cat has finally got Professor Gates’ tongue. He had plenty to say before, from the Boston Globe’s front page to CNN’s soundstage in the middle of Times Square, railing against the indignities he’s suffered, demanding an apology plus a teaching moment with the cop. But I’m looking around now, can’t find Gates on these latest revelations about Crowley … who by the way finally got the public support of his police commissioner, announcing yesterday that Crowley not only followed procedure in making his arrest, but there is no indication that race played a role in his actions. Boston Herald again.
Unfortunately, the president of the United States, who jumped in on this despite admitting he didn’t know the facts, also is standing by his remarks. ABC News. That really doesn’t bode well our evolution into a post-racial society, if the first black president of the United States is going to insist on taking sides based on nothing more than racial bias and his friendship with another privileged member of the Ivy league elite.
While Obama’s campaign and its coverage was marked by a great deal of race-baiting, which made it hard to criticism him without being accused of racism, his election put the lie to many of the political and media presumptions of American racism. His presidency, thankfully, has been allowed to proceed on its merits, such as they are, with the issue of race taking a back seat to actual performance, much as Gov. Deval Patrick’s tenure has following his historic election in Massachusetts. Which is as it should be.
It would be tragic if the president whose election has done so much to help this nation advance beyond its racial divides showed he was unable to rise above them. That would be a waste of a teaching moment. Either that, or it would be a very educational one.
UPDATE: OK, It’s total victory for Crowley. Scorched earth. Though the surrender is a little grudging.
Big news and commentary roundup at Memeorandum includes:
Malkin: The anti-police bigotry of the Left. And hurtfully, Gates’ “Don’t Tase Me Bro” moment.
HotAir: Bill Cosby to Obama. Butt out. Also, HotAir on the perfect crime: the criminal genius of being a bigot in PC clothing.
Riehl, cruelly: Obama, white liberal.
Treacher revels in a special racial moment.
Surber: “The Gates Rorschach.” As a test of the local media, it’s kind of blotchy.
Legal Insurrection, echoing the Herald’s call. Let’s get to the bottom of this. Release the tapes.
On the other side of the aisle, Yglesias: One of the problems with bringing accusations of racism is that bigots will try to defend themselves.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:16 am Comments (17) on Friday, July 24, 2009
17 Responses to “A Teaching Moment”
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July 24th, 2009 at 10:14 am
So, uh, what do you suppose the Cambridge Police response time will be the next time there’s an alarm call at that address?
I’m betting the Over. Way Over.
July 24th, 2009 at 10:52 am
I was skeptical of the cops’ response at first, i.e., when in the presence of a smart ass, it’s better to turn it on him than escalate, but one of the really great things to come from this is that we have a loan man standing up to the Smart Ass.
This will become the metaphor of the Obama Left!
July 24th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Ok I’ll say it. Obama IS a racist. He hides it very well but it slips out. How can anyone believe he sat in Wrights church for 20 year and he is not a raicst and anti semite and hates his own country. The only reason he is getting away with only appointing blacks to key positions is the white guilt of out useless MSM. So there I said it now I guess I am the Racist.
July 24th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
[...] we were promised after voting for an unqualified, hard-Left fraud just because he’s black looks a lot like the old hellishly bigoted one, what with the pResident jumping to racist conclusions and denouncing the cops as stupid, despite [...]
July 24th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Obama spoke stupidly; again.
July 24th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
If you’re from LA, your first instinct is to think Gates was correct in his accusations because cops here are stereotypical pigs. I don’t really blame Obama for jumping to the conclusion that Crowley was abusing his power – it’s common. His comment wouldn’t have been such a big deal except that Crowley seems to be the exception now and it’s something to politicize. Just another random note, all of the cops I’ve encountered in the Cambridge area were extremely helpful, polite, and professional, which is exact opposite of the LA police force. I was shocked at the difference. When a cop gets killed on the east coast he’s a hero, but when a cop gets killed in LA everyone celebrates.
July 24th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
[...] Jules Crittenden’s piece is a must-read. He lines up several nails and hits every one of them squarely on their flat [...]
July 24th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
“Bias, Racism, Being a Jerk, and Abuse of Power”
But enough about Henry Gates.
July 24th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
I actually think both parties acted with a bit of racism. Racism is not something you are born with. Children learn racism by watching other children and adults as they grow up. Please read a blog I wrote on teaching children tolerance and acceptance for other children through a series of online resources such as games, books, lessons and organizations.
http://www.squidoo.com/learnrespectearly
July 24th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
[...] those of the Chicago Daily Observer.] RCP Video. The more this goes on, the madder I get.More. Jules Crittenden, a teaching moment.Have you been threatened with being called a raaaacist? I have. How many [...]
July 24th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
[...] A Teaching Moment in a Post Racial Society [...]
July 25th, 2009 at 9:11 am
perhaps a weak aside to your excellent editorial…but i find it interesting that there is only a passing interest in the judgement displayed by the professor prior to the police officer’s arrival. rather than call harvard to open the door, he rummages through the trunk for a crow bar and damages property he does not own?
now it is possible he had a “personal needs” situation that drove him to this drastic action. but if we are to examine the actions of all parties involved, i think it prudent we start with the action that precipitated the incident.
July 25th, 2009 at 9:42 am
[...] phrase is so loaded with racial baggage that I had no idea what I would encounter when I clicked “Teaching Moment.” I was delighted: clear thinking, and a set of links to other views. Take a look. 9:42 AM, [...]
July 25th, 2009 at 11:51 am
General query, It wasn’t his house so why treat it properly?
Yeah ranita, them LA cops need to get shot and stabbed to death by NS13 and the Bloods and Crips. It’s good news for the people in the barrios.
When the last cop dies, the age of freedom will have arrived. ;)
July 25th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
BHO needs to NOT ONLY apologize (yesterdays “sorry” attempt was NOT an apology), but get out in front and show a sign of support and empathy for our police.
“What I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately,” Obama said. “That’s just a fact.”
Prejudicial bias in it’s purest form.
Who is the racist here?
2010 cannot come fast enough. Thank God for mid-term elections!
July 26th, 2009 at 12:33 am
[...] Louis Gates. For many, he is just one more in a long line of liberal race baitters. Here is what Jules Crittenden had to say on the matter: It’s getting a little awkward. It turns out Crowley might not be some [...]
July 26th, 2009 at 12:37 am
[...] Louis Gates. For many, he is just one more in a long line of liberal race baitters. Here is what Jules Crittenden had to say on the matter: It’s getting a little awkward. It turns out Crowley might not be some [...]