Both Sides Are Correct In Gates Arrest Saga

CLEVELAND - I've been watching the aftermath of Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s arrest for several days now and I'm very conflicted at who was "in the right."

Gates or the police?

Gates, an African-American professor at Harvard was arrested last week for disorderly conduct after an incident with an officer in his own home. Cambridge, Massachusetts Sergeant James Crowley was the arresting officer of the esteemed professor and the confrontation has ignited a national discussion on the viability of the arrest as well as racial profiling.

Many in the Black community have expressed outrage at the arrest of such a prestigious man in his own home and cite it as a tangible example of racist agendas by law enforcement. President Obama commented on the situation during a press conference on health care and famously stated that the Cambridge Police Department "acted stupidly" in their tactics which led to the arrest.

Of course, Obama came under fire for those "strong words."

The Cambridge Police Department dropped the charge against Gates, but Crowley has refused to apologize for the arrest. In fact, the department feels that Obama should issue an apology to Crowley for making his statement without knowledge of all the facts, a point that the president himself admitted to being unaware of.

I can see both sides as being right. People that agree with the arrest and feel that it was the proper thing to do are justified because of the circumstances. Gates was being a bit "unruly" and even behaved arrogantly, according to the official report. However, folks that believe that Gates was the victim of racism and should never have been arrested in his own home are justified in their beliefs due to the long history of police misconduct with minorities. It is very difficult, if not impossible for Whites to understand that even if they've been "victimized" themselves. When you're Black, it feels as though you're constantly under the cops' thumb because it has happened so much. It's easy to see how people can think Gates was just being "picked on" because of his race and status. Conversely, Blacks may ignore the fact that he didn't exactly behave like an esteemed member of the community while dealing with Crowley which may have actually led to the arrest.

Bottom line, Blacks will forever be suspicious and untrusting of cops because of their own harrowing and unjust experiences with the boys in blue, not to mention hundreds of years of pervasive racism that still exists in a more "discreet" way. White folks will always think Blacks are just grasping for excuses and crying wolf.

We all need to try and walk in each other's shoes every now and then.