The Gates Debate

(Future Boy Scout)

Race did play a factor in the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, and it is a shame that those thoughts were coursing along the professor's gray matter. All I know is that had it been me who called the police over, I would have responded with either "Yes, sir," "No, sir," "Thank you, sir," and "How high would you like me to jump, sir?"

I would not refuse to step outside for a little tete-a-tete, or utter the "I'll speak with your mama outside" phrase unless I wanted to feel any metal on my skin.

The truth is had it been a white man getting arrested by a black officer for the same offenses, it would barely have left a ripple across the local news station unless that dynamic duo, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, had gotten wind of it. Then the officer would get a citation for outstanding professional conduct while Jackson and Sharpton stood around at the banquet and posed for pictures and shook hands.

In the end, the arresting officer, Sergeant James Crowley, will probably be disciplined so that the public won't have to deal with the likes of that duo, the president or their royal band of merry men.