http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/07/28/2009-07-28_911_tapes_in_gates_case_are_colorblind.html
Questions on race aspect of Henry Louis Gates case show sublety of racism
Tuesday, July 28th 2009, 4:00 AM
Frankin/APDr.Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s anger at the Cambridge police officers whoarrived at his home was totally understandable, if not completelyjustified.
Spencer/Getty Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley will join Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and President Obama for a beer on Thursday.
The question remains: How exactly did the word "black" get into the police report?
Tapes released Monday show that neither the woman who called 911 nor the Cambridge police dispatcher who put out the alarm described the race of the twomen seen forcing the door at the home of world-renowned Harvard Prof.Henry Louis Gates Jr.
"Are they white, black or Hispanic?" the 911 operator asks the caller.
"Um, well, they were two larger men. One looked kind of Hispanic,but I'm not really sure," the caller says. "And the other one enteredand I didn't see what he looked like at all. I just saw it from adistance."
So much for accusations that the caller assumed the men were criminals because of their race.
The caller says she noticed the men only because an older woman pointed them out and is not even sure they are burglars:
"I noticed two suitcases. I don't know if these are the twoindividuals that actually work there, I mean, who live there. ... Ihave no idea."
The police dispatcher who puts out a call of a possible burglar describes the two only as "SPs," or suspects, with suitcases.
"Unknown on the race. One may be Hispanic. ... I'm not sure," the dispatcher says.
The word "black" comes only in the Cambridge Police Department Incident Report filed by the responding cop, Sgt. James Crowley. He describes in detail arriving at the scene and encountering a woman with a cell phone who identified herself as the caller.
"She went on to tell me that she observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks," the report states.
The caller, Lucia Whalen, says through a lawyer that she said nothing to Crowley at the scene beyond, "I'm the one who called."
She insists she never described the two men by race.
Just as Crowley insists everything in the report is true "or it wouldn't be there."
Whalen works at Harvard Magazine. Maybe her memory is influenced by the tumult involving one of the university's biggest stars.
Crowley is widely regarded as an eminently fair officer. Maybe hismemory was influenced by being berated as a racist cop after he askedthe man he saw in the house to step outside.
"I was quite surprised and confused by the behavior he exhibited toward me," the report states.
Gates' words are unintelligible, but his fury is unmistakable on thetape of Crowley radioing in: "I'm up with a gentleman says he resideshere. He's uncooperative. ... Keep the cars coming."
Gates' anger, totally understandable if not completely justified,can again be heard when Crowley radios an update: "I have an ID of a Henry Louis Gates."
Crowley seems unaware this is one of the world's preeminentacademics. A backup cop says in his own report that Gates called out,"This is what happens to black men in America!" to a handful of onlookers.
Crowley warned Gates to calm down, then arrested him for disorderlyconduct. The charge was dropped, but the ensuing controversy only grew,soon reaching the White House.
Gates and Crowley have agreed to have a beer with the President whose election was a historic victory over racism.
The sickness is still with us, though sometimes so subtle nobody seems sure exactly how "black" got into a police report.
Other Harvard professors have demonstrated how the memory can be reworked by experience.
Maybe the word just slipped in the same way suitcases became backpacks.
