1/x On July 16, 2009, Harvard professor Skip Gates was arrested as he tried to enter his home in Cambridge. It caused a a bit of a controversy: Black Harvard Professor arrested as he tried to enter his home. 
2/x problem wasn’t just that police suspected Gates of trying to break into his own house but that the officer said he felt threatened. This is funny for anyone who’s seen Gates: wire rim glasses, barely 5 feet tall, maybe 130 lbs when wet, a limp from a childhood illness.
3/x Days after, on July 22, Obama, barely 6 months in office weighed in with the statement below. As these things go, the statement is pretty mild. The key, though, was that Obama said the officer acted “stupidly” in arresting Gates.
4/x From the moment Obama spoke, the controversy went from the police arresting Gates as he tried to open his own door to Obama “insulting” the police. Fox News hosts lost their minds. Republicans in Congress fainted on their couches. So Obama released this apology.
5/x But that still wasn’t enough. For days on end, you got opeds from the usual suspects about Obama being “divisive”. So the man actually went ahead and held a “beer summit” between Gates and the arresting officer. Biden attended the summit. Here’s a picture.
6/x I’m not saying this to make the cliche point about contrasting Obama’s civility to Trump’s loose talk. Nor am I writing this to critique Obama for being too timid and too quick to back down when it came to matters of race.
7/x I’m writing this to say 2 things. first is that, believe it or not, that’s the incident that launched narratives by conservative commentators about Obama being “racially divisive”. So bear that in mind when you hear him still being blamed now for the current shit show
8/x This was way before the Trayvon Martin killing in 2012 when Obama made the equally mild statement that if he had a son he’d look like Trayvon and he was excoriated for being divisive.
9/x The second point is that part of the reason Obama backed down so quickly in the Gates case is that for a long time, among mainstream politicians of both parties, the police (like the military) was and still is beyond criticism.
10/10 This has changed the last few years, particularly as the criminal justice movement becomes more mainstream. But, if recent events show anything, it’s that you always pay a price in a democratic society it’s when mainstream politicians are too afraid to critique the police.
One postscript: the Gates arrest was the subject of private gallows humor among black academics. Gates is a charming, erudite man, with an easy manner and knowing sense of humor. All that also adds up to a sharp tongue. So we all guessed he “mouthed off” and the rest is history.
Sorry can’t let this thread go. There was also a not very hidden undercurrent of social class conflict in the whole affair: wealthy black law Professor in swanky neighborhood versus regular joe White cop on his beat. Gates himself didn’t push things hard publicly. Two reasons:
First, Gates & Obama went around in similar circles. He must have known it wouldn’t have been helpful for the elite black Professor and black President to be seen as “ganging up” on a White cop. Second, yeah, I think Brother Gates said some choice words for the officer.
Of course, that was his right and it’s certainly not illegal to talk back to the police even if you’re cussing them out. But my guess is that all things considered Gates probably thought it best that he not turn himself into a crusader at that particular moment.
Scene: (2 black academics during Gates affair)
BA#1: That’s fucked up. Even Skip? None of us is safe!
BA#2: Man! I’m sick of the constant struggle.
BA#1: (*whispers*) Of course you know Skip probably called him a motherfucker while quoting DuBois right?
BA#2: You know it!
BA#1: That’s fucked up. Even Skip? None of us is safe!
BA#2: Man! I’m sick of the constant struggle.
BA#1: (*whispers*) Of course you know Skip probably called him a motherfucker while quoting DuBois right?
BA#2: You know it!
