Black-White; Race in America

Yin-Yang

“Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!” George Bernard Shaw

Yin and Yang – the ancient Chinese symbol that represents the philosophy that complementary opposites exist within a greater whole. Everything has both yin and yang aspects, which constantly interact, never existing in absolute stasis.

This definition of our world would seem to define our continuing battle to balance black, white, brown, red, and so-called yellow in our society. The most recent example of this is the recent confrontation between Dr. Gates and Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge police department.

TV pundits have babbled incessantly for the last ten days about this event and will most likely never find the truth, or an understanding of what really happened that evening. I suspect their purpose is related more to ratings than solutions.

What I suspect is that both men behaved badly. Dr. Gates, having returned home from a trip, probably tired, and then having to put his shoulder to the door to get in his house, was probably not in a great mood.

Once confronted by a white cop who said he was investigating a reported break-in, it’s not hard to imagine that a black man like Dr. Gates would quickly move to the presumption that both a neighbor seeing two black men forcing open a door, and a white cop finding a black man inside a house in a predominantly white neighborhood, was operating on a model that our society has created of black crime.

Sgt. Crowley, as hard as he might try, and as good a person as he might be, is still the product of a white society, and though it would never be acknowledged by most people, likely subscribe to the belief that a majority of crimes are committed by black people. Arriving at the house, his instincts probably told him there was a high probability that he had arrived during the commission of a crime.

This is the point where both men allowed their baser instincts, rather than intellect and common sense, to rule the day. While both parties may be spinning the facts to their advantage now, it seems to me that Dr. Gates almost certainly became verbally abusive, and that Sgt. Crowley, perhaps embarrassed after discovering that Gates really did live in the house, and angered by Gates’ verbal attacks, sought some degree of vengence by arresting him and taking him to the precinct.

I excuse neither man for escalating this incident, but in the end, I have to hold Sgt. Crowley to a higher standard. Our police are charged with “keeping the peace”, not exacerbating a situation. Once Crowley understood that Gates lived in the house, no matter what Gates may have said he had not committed a crime, as evidenced by the dropping of charges.

I have a great deal of empathy for the men and women who police our cities – they have one of the most difficult jobs you can imagine. But, having said that, they have an obligation to rise above the behavior of citizens who may act out, may be verbally abusive, and have to become the Solomons  of society. That’s part of the job, whether anyone thinks it’s fair or not. They must aspire to a much higher standard of tolerance, intelligence, and understanding than the average citizen.