Supporters of a prominent Harvard University black scholar who was arrested at his own home by police responding to a report of a break-in say he is the victim of racial profiling.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. had forced his way through the front door of his home because it was jammed, his lawyer said Monday.
Cambridge police say they responded to the well-maintained two-story home near campus after a woman reported seeing “two black males with backpacks on the porch,” with one “wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry.”
By the time police arrived, Gates was already inside. Police say he refused to come outside to speak with an officer, who told him he was investigating a report of a break-in.
“Why, because I’m a black man in America?” Gates said, according to a police report written by Sgt. James Crowley. The Cambridge police refused to comment on the arrest Monday.
Al Sharpton is on the case.
“This arrest is indicative of at best police abuse of power or at worst the highest example of racial profiling I have seen,” Sharpton said. “I have heard of driving while black and even shopping while black but now even going to your own home while black is a new low in police community affairs.”
Call me crazy, but if there’s been a report of someone jamming their shoulder into a front door to get it open the police absolutely have the right to ask you what your business is there and to prove that it’s your home without throwing around the “racist” card. When you become belligerant at the audacity of having to prove that you live in the home you just forced your way into, kudos to the police for shutting you up by slapping on the cuffs. I hope the disorderly conduct charge gets dropped as this all was just a misunderstanding, but Gates should apologize for his conduct.
Instead of calling the police racists for doing their job and trying to keep the community safe, he should be thanking the people who work in his neighborhood for being vigilant and looking out for things that seem out of the ordinary.
UPDATE: Charges dropped.
