The debate is heating over the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who was handcuffed on his front porch after Cambridge, Mass. police received a call from a neighbor that Gates, who had been stuck outside dealing with a broken door, was attempting to break into and enter the home.
Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree released a statement on the website for The Root, the online magazine founded by Gates:
When Professor Gates opened the door, the officer immediately asked him to step outside. Professor Gates remained inside his home and asked the officer why he was there. The officer indicated that he was responding to a 911 call about a breaking and entering in progress at this address. Professor Gates informed the officer that he lived there and was a faculty member at Harvard University. The officer then asked Professor Gates whether he could prove that he lived there and taught at Harvard. Professor Gates said that he could, and turned to walk into his kitchen, where he had left his wallet. The officer followed him. Professor Gates handed both his Harvard University identification and his valid Massachusetts driver’s license to the officer.
The police report, written by Sgt. James Crowley, paints Gates as being more confrontational, initially refusing to show his identification and yelling at the officer. In the report, Crowley wrote that Gates accused him of racial profiling and, when Crowley told him he was investigating a possible home invasion, Gates responded with,
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Lindsay Eanet is an In These Times editorial intern and a journalism student at the University of Missouri.
