Gates Sends Flowers to 911 Caller

Pair at center of racial incident spotted at Cambridge bar

(NEWSER) - The black college professor and the white cop at the center of a racial firestorm this summer, and who later famously had beers on the White House, were spotted last night having a round at a bar in Cambridge, Mass. Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley chatted over suds for about an hour in a booth at a pub not far from Harvard, WBZ-TV reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Another black member of Harvard's faculty has accused the Cambridge Police Department of racism, the Boston Globe reports. S. Allen Counter, a Harvard Medical School professor, was arrested outside his home in 2006 on assault and battery charges. “I was polite, and yet police lied and said I was loud, just as they did with Professor Gates,” said Counter, who was acquitted. More»

Harvard prof kidded Cambridge cop at White House

(AP) - A black Harvard scholar said today he has been able to joke about his arrest by a white police officer that led to a national debate on race, despite receiving death threats and bomb threats. In his first public appearance since meeting with Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley at the White House, Henry Louis Gates said he and the officer found some humor in the incident and have since discussed going out to eat or taking in a Boston Red Sox or Celtics game. More»

(NEWSER) - Henry Louis Gates and Barack Obama have been “very publicly slapped down for speaking up and speaking out about police misbehavior,” but African-Americans “need to roar out their anger at such treatment,” Bob Herbert writes in the New York Times. Gates, not the officer who arrested him, is in the right, and we need to “focus a spotlight on such outrages and the urgent need to stop them.” More»

But don't forget about racial profiling

(NEWSER) - The beer meeting at the White House has come and gone, but Henry Louis Gates offers a postscript: "I thank God that I live in a country in which police officers put their lives at risk to protect us every day," he writes in the Root, where he is editor in chief. The Harvard professor also thanks President Obama for bringing him and Sgt. Crowley together. "Our country is blessed to have such a leader," he writes. More»