Easing racial Tension Obama Style

(RPRN) 07/31/09 — Kevin R. Meagher, staff writer

President Obama shares a beer with Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Cambridge MA police officer Sgt. James Crowley at the White House


San Francisco CA (RPRN) 7/31/2009--“This is not a summit, guys,” said President Obama. “This is three folks having a drink at the end of the day, and hopefully giving people an opportunity to listen to each other.”

But three men turned into four when Vice President Joe Biden joined the President, Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Cambridge MA police officer Sgt. James Crowley at what many had been touting as the 'beer summit'.

After near ten days of racial fire-bombing, the President attempted to douse the flames and start the conversation over a beer beneath a magnolia tree outside the oval office on evening of Thursday July 30th.

Having had their families initially cross paths on their respective White House tours before the sit down, Gates first approached Crowley with an outstretched hand which was well received, killing the awkwardness of the moment. Their families then continued on as one group at what was later expressed during Crowley's press-conference to be a "cordial" meeting.

“We hit it off right from the beginning. When he’s not arresting you, Sergeant Crowley is a really likable guy.” Gates told the New York Times after their meeting.

"We all agreed to look forward rather than backward", Crowley shared of their conversation after the gentleman had concluded their less than hour long sip-and-chat.

It will be Monday before anyone knows if Obama can get this story back ahead of health care reform in the news as has been one suspected reason for holding the meeting in the first place.

On Thursday July 16, Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. had returned from a trip to China and with the assistance of his driver, was attempting to open the door  to his Ware Street residence in in Cambridge MA.

According to the police report filed by Cambridge police officer Sgt. James Crowley, it was 12:44 PM when he received a radio call concerning a “break-in in progress” and due to his “proximity” to the address, responded to the call.

Passerby and local resident Lucia Whalen told Sgt Crowley that she “observed what appeared to be two black men with backpacks on the porch” of the Ware Street residence. Her “suspicion had been aroused when she saw one of two men wedge his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry”. This is, according to the report, when she placed the call to the police.

Upon arriving at Gate’s residence, Crowley observed that Gates had already entered his home and was standing in the foyer. As the police report reads, “I asked him if he would step out on the front porch and speak with me. He replied ‘No, I will not.’ He then demanded to know who I was. I told him that I was ‘Sgt Crowley from the Cambridge police’ and that I was ‘investigating a report of a break in progress’ at the residence. While I was making that statement, Gates opened the front door and exclaimed ‘Why, because I’m a black man in America!’”

According to Sgt. Crowley, Gates continued to berate him as Crowley followed Gates inside to get his identification. Claiming that he was unable to relay information to dispatch over the volume of Gates barrage and requested that he step outside to continue his conversation with the officer.

It was then, according to Crowley that Gates imparted “I’ll meet your momma outside”.

Accounts of the remainder of the incident vary depending if the information is coming from Sgt. Crowley and the Cambridge MA police department or Prof. Gates. As there is no video or audio recording available from said incident, it seems that the public has been left to read between the lines of whichever source they turn to for news to determine on their own as to how best interpret the incident.

Irrespective, as most are aware now, Gates “was placed under arrest…after being observed exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior in a public place” and charged with disorderly conduct.

Later that evening, while holding a prime-time press conference on the health-care reform initiative currently being pushed by President Obama, the President was asked by Lynn Sweet (Chicago-Sun Times) about the incident and what it says about “race relations in America”.

The President was quick to mention “at the outset, Skip Gates is a friend, so I may be a little biased here”. He went on to explain his current knowledge of the events as he had heard reported and added in his summation of the events as he knew them, that the “Cambridge police acted stupidly…”

According to commentators from MSNBC to NPR and CNN, this marks the first time ‘no drama Obama’ has stepped into the mire of what many see, including himself, as the quicksand of racial politics; the first time he has given a seemingly emotional response to what he has led most in the news media to be a non-starter for him. The first time he has ever had to publicly address his own prejudices and apologize for what came off as an inflammatory, but honest reaction to what he saw as the unfair treatment of a friend, who happens to be black, while being the first black President of the United States.