A commenter points to this AP news story:

Rock legend Bob Dylan was treated like a complete unknown by police in a New Jersey shore community when a resident called to report someone wandering around the neighborhood.

(more…)

I’ve been writing about Henry Louis Gates for 14 years, going back to this passing mention in a National Review article. Here, for instance, is a blog post about Gates’ televised adventures with genetic testing. And here’s my post on Gates’s sensible campaign to restrict affirmative action at Harvard to the descendants of American slaves, such as, say, Michelle Obama, and deny racial preferences to the children of immigrants and whites, such as, oh, Barack Obama.

Granted, Gates is, as we’ve seen in recent days, a race hustler. It’s completely in character for Gates to try to make money off his unfortunate temper tantrum by whipping it into a PBS documentary. Yet, for most of his long career he’s been the classiest race hustler in the racket.

But, my goodness, does he ever hustle.

I touched on his indefatigability in my 1997 book review, “The Ebony Tower,” in National Review of the (purportedly) Gates-edited Norton Anthology of African-American Literature: (more…)

Our postracial President demonstrates once again how he transcends race at today’s news conference:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. Recently, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested at his home in Cambridge. What does that incident say to you? And what does it say about race relations in America?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I — I should say at the outset that Skip Gates is a friend, so I may be a little biased here.

I don’t know all the facts. What’s been reported, though, is that the guy forgot his keys, jimmied his way to get into the house; there was a report called into the police station that there might be a burglary taking place.

So far, so good, right? I mean, if I was trying to jigger into — well, I guess this is my house now, so — (laughter) — it probably wouldn’t happen.

(Chuckling.) But let’s say my old house in Chicago — (laughter) — here I’d get shot. (Laughter.) But so far, so good. They’re — they’re — they’re reporting. The police are doing what they should. There’s a call. They go investigate. What happens?

My understanding is, at that point, Professor Gates is already in his house. The police officer comes in. I’m sure there’s some exchange of words. But my understanding is — is that Professor Gates then shows his ID to show that this is his house, and at that point he gets arrested for disorderly conduct, charges which are later dropped.

Now, I’ve — I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home.

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 African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcing disproportionately. That’s just a fact.

As you know, Lynn, when I was in the state legislature in Illinois, we worked on a racial profiling bill because there was indisputable evidence that blacks and Hispanics were being stopped disproportionately. And that is a sign, an example of how, you know, race remains a factor in the society.

That doesn’t lessen the incredible progress that has been made. I am standing here as testimony to the progress that’s been made. And yet the fact of the matter is, is that, you know, this still haunts us.

And even when there are honest misunderstandings, the fact that blacks and Hispanics are picked up more frequently, 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 local law enforcement to improve policing techniques so that we’re eliminating potential bias, the safer everybody’s going to be.

“The safer everybody’s going to be” – riiiiight.

Race-hustling Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is accusing the Cambridge Police of racially profiling him.  The amusing thing is that even the Boston media doesn’t seem to be buying it.

According to the police report, which is well worth reading, a neighbor called 911 to report a possible break-in at Gates’ Cambridge residence.  But when the officer responded, Gates belligerently berated him for being a racist.  When the officer then asked to speak to him outside, Gates shouted,

“Ya, I’ll speak to your mama outside.”

This, from “one of the nation’s pre-eminent African-American scholars”, as the Boston Globe describes him.

The officer arrested Gates for disorderly conduct and, from the police report, one can understand why.

Crime is a major problem in Cambridge, if only because Harvard, like Yale, foolishly allowed housing projects to built right near campus in order to show how tolerant they are. A drug-related murder recently occurred on the Harvard campus — and yes, those involved were all black.

No doubt, in the People’s Republic of Cambridge, policemen are forced to endure significant “sensitivity training” regarding race (Cambridge even has a “Peace Comission” ).  But the responding officers are white and Hispanic and their reports coincide. There also seem to be several witnesses who watched from the street.

Read this article from DigitalJournal for a good take on Cambridge, crime and Gates.