Only someone so arrogant as a Harvard professor would demand an apology after telling a cop, "Ya, I'll speak to your mama outside." Neither the policeman, nor his mother, have demanded that Henry Louis Gates, Jr. undergo sensitivity training. But Gates says that's just punishment for the cop (for doing his job). If you haven't been following the story, here's a refresher: a policeman showed up at esteemed Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates's home last Thursday after a neighbor reported to the cops that she witnessed a man attempting to muscle his way through the front door. The neighbor identified Gates to the police as the man she saw attempting to crash through the front door. Cops asked for identification, and Gates went into do-you-know-who-I-am mode--paradoxically refusing to identify himself. Gates taunted the cops with the "racist" tag, but it's clear his behavior rather than his race brought the police to his home. Instead of handing over his identification to quell the matter, Gates inflamed it by acting as though his front porch were a Harvard classroom. He lectured about racism and the police as though Cambridge were Birmingham and arresting officer James Crowley were Bull Connor. Ultimately, there's no law against being a jerk, particularly on private property, so it's right that the Cambridge police have dropped the charges. A cooler head hasn't prevailed for Gates. Unfortunately, the cops didn't catch Henry Louis Gates in a bad mood last Thursday; he is apparently a jerk, as his imperious calls for apologies and sensitivity training, and the avoidance of apologies and sensitivity on his part, have made a bad situation worse.

Somebody brought up a good point about this item this morning: he’s working for a PBS special. I think that and his knee jerk conditioning due the results he’s gotten his whole life when he screamed ‘racist’ at any opposition has made this bad behavior normal and acceptable to a person like him.

But it’s just all classic Harvard elitism, isn’t it? This guy fits the mold to a ‘T’ – Harvard professor heading the WEB DuBois (famous communist) black studies program acting like da’ man is keeping him down?

Let’s not consider that the police were acting in the interest of protecting everyone, including and more especially him as it was his property, and were following the same procedures that they would have followed with ANYBODY.

Classic case of and over-educated pampered tool who been given a pass his whole life and still thinks there is injustice.

Why would an employer tolerate an employee who acts like a meth fueled crack head when off the job? Am I missing something here? Has this guy been fired yet? Doesn't the employer have any standards?

I have been harrassed similarily by the police many times. I.E. One night I was interrogatted for walking home from work after 1am. Guess what I am 100% Scandanavian. Black people should accept the fact that the police herass everyone regardless of race. Certainly blacks get a little more suspicion from whites, but the majority of violent thieves are black.

Hopefully when cops see some black guys breaking into Gates's house a few years down the road they will be too scared to intervene, lest they be racist. But then Gates would claim cops didn't help him because he's black. Maybe Gates should move to Africa and live in harmony with his black brothers.

"Why would an employer tolerate an employee who acts like a meth fueled crack head when off the job?"

Man...I've been wondering that all the years I've lived in DC...

Here's one of the more recent (I'll spare you the link to yet another arrest for former Mayor-For-Life Mayor Marion S. Barry, Jr.).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/01/AR2009050102214.html

I find police tend to harass people who act in a manner indicating that the are up to no good. Its obvious the good professor is a professional race hustler and was just acting in his normal mode. This is called acting stupid. What did he expect, the police aren't students.

If acting beligerent is an arrestable offense, the Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson ought to be on DEATH ROW!

IF ACTING BELIGERENT IS AN ARRESTABLE OFFENSE, THEN AL SHARPTON AND JESSIE JACKSON OUGHT TO BE ON DEATH ROW!

OG, first of all arrest and booking are two different things. Look the words up in the dictionary. It is an arrestable offense to impede a police officer in the performance of his duty.

Justin, I know of what you speak. I am quite the white Irish guy--although I had long hair back then--and the police pulled over the car I had hitched a ride in. They had passed me right before I got picked up (by a carfull of babes) and thought a padlock on my belt loop might be a weapon. Finding it to be nothing but a padlock, they were still talking of taking me down the the station--for all that I could see having the bad judgment to hitchhike with a combination lock hooked around my belt-loop. When I didn't like the way the conversation was going, I raised my voice and said "Come on!" about five cops hands went to their nightsticks. So I threw up my hands like "I ain't going to fight you cowboys." I thought they acted like jerks, but my problem with their behavior wasn't worth taking a beat down to express it.