Prsident Obama's "Beer Summit" yesterday was not, 44 said, an attempt to get either or both principals in the Gates incident to apologize. Rather, it was to allow what diplomats call "a frank exchange of views"--diplo-speak for agreeing to disagree. Sergeant Crowley stood his ground in public. He intends to converse with Gates going forward. He anticipates "meaningful discussions" in the future. Beer is off the table, but Kool-Aid or ice tea is on (Crowley is too young to know about Jim Jones & Jonestown 1978). Asked if the President had made any contribution to the discussion, Crowley answered (short video): "He provided the beer." As for Joe, he "was very nice to the children" (Crowley's).
Here is an open letter from author Ruth Wisse to "Skip" Gates. and here is the 9-1-1 caller, Lucia Whalen, Wednesday press conference video (approx. 8 mins.) (I hope the link survives to Friday.) She presents a classic case of an innocent witness dragged into Hell, bewildered at the firestorm, and wishing for privacy & peace ASAP. Mike Barnicle said on "Morning Joe" yesterday that he would bet that a substantial number of people watched the 9-1-1- caller's press conference, and that they would not call 9-1-1 after seeing what happened to Lucia Whalen.
Also on Thursday's "Morning Joe," Joe Scarborough said that if his college-age son had been approached in Alabama by a cop & screamed at him, he'd go to jail too. Marc Morial, President & CEO of the National Urban League, let things slip when answering Scarborough he conceded that had Gates been white nothing would have made the news.
In a piquant twist Whalen's attorney, Wendy Murphy, said Wednesday that the three highly-trained guys who got it wrong are having a White House Beer, while the one person who got it all right, her client, was not invited--albeit, she does not like beer anyway.
Ann Coulter argues (correctly) that we need a national "conversation" about phony claims of racism. She notes the factors that saved Sergeant Crowley:
Suddenly, with the glare of the national spotlight being turned on a small local story, it became clear that there was no "racial profiling" involved – other than by the black Harvard professor, who lorded his credentials and connections over a white working-class cop.
We wouldn't have known about this case at all if the professor, Henry Louis Gates Jr., hadn't blast e-mailed the universe that he was harassed by racist cops. Gates thought it would be a feather in his cap, not realizing there are huge areas of the country where people don't think it's heroic to browbeat cops checking on you after you break into your own house, such as 99 percent of the country outside of Cambridge.
Contrary to liberals' ardent desire, Sgt. James Crowley was not on tape saying, "I know it's his house, but let's stick it to this uppity negro." (Curiously, the tape of Gates' call demanding to talk to the chief of police to "report" Crowley has been withheld. Some watchdog group has got to demand that tape.)
But what if Crowley hadn't been a model policeman who taught diversity classes and once famously gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a black athlete?
What if the 9-1-1 caller had identified the suspected burglars as black, which it turns out she did not?
What if Crowley hadn't been fully supported by other cops at the scene, one Hispanic and one black?
What if, at some point in his life, Crowley had been accused – falsely or not – of racism?
His life would be ruined.
And by the way, try screaming at a judge that he's a racist and see what happens. Why should police officers deserve less protection than judges? They're in more danger.
The disorderly conduct charge was not dropped because it wasn't a good arrest. It was dropped, according to Gates' own lawyer, because of Gates' connections.
Bottom Line. The Beer Summit brings to a close two weeks of roiling of the racial waters. Sergeant Crowley might have ignored Gates's no-class braggadocio ("Do you know who I am?"), threats (to call Big Shots and bring them in--the President qualifies as a Big Shot) and racial victim posturing ("You're just arresting me because I am a black man in America). Gates might be partly--not fully, given his outrageous verbal sallies--excused for his mean-spirited huffing and puffing, given that he had just gotten off a flight from China, was ticked off that he could not get in his home, etc., had he dropped the matter after disorderly conduct charges were dropped. (Gates's lawyer admitted that the charges were dropped because Gates himself is a Big Shot.)
But Gates cannot--ever--be forgiven for trying to use the press to create another Duke University Racial Moment and thus undercut the mostly post-racial tenor of the Obama Administration. This incident was, above all, not about race, or racism, let alone profiling. It was about the insufferable arrogance of an African-American Harvard professor who thinks he can get away saying anything, and was prepared to enhance his own national profile by stirring up racial animosity. Gates slandered and libeled the cop, the 9-1-1 caller who phoned in what she saw without mentioning race, and, by implication, anyone who came to their defense.
The election of America's first African-American President, with more white votes than Bill Clinton got, should have put paid to the racial grievance industry. it did not. But the rest of America can--and should--move on. By declining to offer an uncalled-for apology to Gates, and because the President was forced to walk back his original insults when facts proved him way off base, a "Teachable Moment" (Obama-speak for a learning experience) indeed arrived. Its lesson: We have come a long way from Duke University public lynching of three innocent white male students. Race hustlers like Gates we may always have with us, but they cannot make their shrill accusations stick when the facts prove them wrong. Thanks to a press that actually asked questions of both sides this time, the facts ultimately prevailed.
One last thought: As between Crowley & Gates, Crowley is a provider, Gates is a parasite--he lives and bloviates racially because Crowley protects his right to be a jerk. Gates seems to be learning, having praised police work after the Beer Summit.
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