It’s Hard Out Here for A Policeman

In the spirit of our president, I am going to make some definitive conclusions about an incident, despite lacking the full and complete knowledge of what actually happened.

I do not fully know what took place between Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley. I can take time to read the complete police report filed by Sgt. Crowley or sit down to listen to the side of the story Prof. Gates has offered in several news outlets. Without having read any of that, my understanding is that Sgt. Crowley responded to a call about a possible burglary and when he went to the scene to investigate, he was accused of racism. Again, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, or knowing what role the cop’s profession played, I think it is fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry in the cop’s situation; number two, that the Harvard professor acted stupidly in accusing somebody of racism without even giving the officer an opportunity to do his job properly.

And number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of police officers being disproportionately accused of racism compared to individuals of other professions. I think the recent incident is an example of how one’s profession remains a factor in society. Other examples in our society include popular film and television shows depicting police officers as racist, such as the movie “Crash,” or the repeated use of the word “pig” to refer to law enforcement. We are all too familiar with the de facto offense of “Working While a Policeman.”

And even when there are honest misunderstandings, the fact that police officers are accused more frequently of racism, and oftentime for no cause, casts suspicion even when there is good cause. And that’s why I think the more that we’re working with communities faced with high crime to improve cooperation and understanding with law enforcement so that we’re eliminating potential prejudices, the safer everybody’s going to be.

Sensitivity training would be a good start, and something from which Prof. Gates could benefit. It is important for our country to understand the hurtful stereotypes that persist about the police, and how these stereotypes divide communities and hinder opportunity. As an academic, Gates can understand the need to have established departments in our American universities dedicated to examining the issues affecting our police. A Police Studies department in every college would greatly advance the cause of tolerance.

What happened to Sgt. Crowley provides us with an important teachable moment. Despite the amazing progress we have made in police relations, there is certainly more work to be done. I applaud CNN’s recent television special that explores the stories and struggles of everyday Police in America.

No one should have to go to their jobs just to worry about being accused of something that they are not. We as a country should strive to understand each other, and not rush to make assumptions based on the type of uniform one wears. Moving forward from this event, we can remake a nation where police and professor work together toward one America, and presidents check their own prejudices at the door.

Conceived In Liberty

Happy Independence Day!

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776.
THE UNANIMOUS
DECLARATION
OF THE
THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

WHEN, in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s GOD entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the Causes which impel them to the Separation.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their CREATOR, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that Governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.