In your own home?

Police were called to the home of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. regarding a possible break in. When officers arrived at the home, they found the Professor there. It seems he had trouble unlocking the door, so he proceeded to have it knocked down. Gates showed the officer his drivers license and Harvard ID card but was still handcuffed and taken into custody for what they are calling "disorderly conduct towards an officer". Professor Gates is claiming it was nothing less than racial profiling and I don't know that I disagree with him. The man is in his own home, he has proof of who he is as well as his address, which matches his location. What else would the officers need to prove he was who he says he is, unless they just wanted to make a spectacle out of him? Charges have been dropped, but that's not the point. There are to many abuses in the criminal justice system and unless someone stands up and says "no more", this will continue to haunt the black community.

Something else that disturbs me about this case is the media coverage of the story. Almost all of the media I've seen have placed photos of Professor Gates coming out of his house, obviously yelling, or pictures of his mugshot. Well, I'm not going to do that to him, in fact I'm going to put a picture of the distinguished black scholar that he is!

We've sure come a long way but stories like this show you just how far we've yet to come.