Defending the Cambridge Police

Cambridge police get a call about a man breaking into a house. They find the man at the house, and he refuses to identify himself. He says to the cops, "This is what happens to black men in America", and repeatedly calls the cops racists. Suspect also says, "You don't know who you're messing with."

So, because the suspect happened to be Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. trying to get into his own home, the Cambridge police are now racists.

Sorry, but if anybody is racist, it's the neighbor lady who called the cops. And I'm not necessarily willing to go that far.

Here's a sample of the write-up from The Root, where Gates is Editor-in-Chief (bold added):

Henry Louis Gates Jr., the nation's pre-eminent black scholar, is accusing Cambridge police of racism after he was arrested while trying to force open the locked front door of his home near Harvard University.

Cambridge police were called to the home Thursday afternoon after a woman reported seeing a man "wedging his shoulder into the front door as to pry the door open," according to a police report.

An officer ordered the man to identify himself, and Gates refused, according to the report. Gates began calling the officer a racist and said repeatedly, "This is what happens to black men in America."

Officers said they tried to calm down the 58-year-old academic, who responded, "You don't know who you're messing with," according to the police report.

Gates was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after police said he "exhibited loud and tumultuous behavior." He was released later that day on his own recognizance and arraignment was scheduled for Aug. 26.

With all the real racism in America, is it really helpful to call the cops racist when you act like a jackass?