Gates' Real Offense? 'Speaking Truth to Power'

(NEWSER) - Money, power, and status count for little in the face of persistent racial profiling by police, African-American men tell the Los Angeles Times. Many say they know all too well how Henry Louis Gates Jr. must have felt in his home last week. The consensus generally seems to be that it's futile to put up a fight after, say, yet another traffic stop. "It's more important for me to make it home than to fight for a cause I'm not going to win," says one public school administrator who estimates he's been stopped 20 times in 10 years. 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»

Tapes show I'm not a racist, says woman who alerted police

(NEWSER) - The Massachusetts woman who called 911 on Henry Louis Gates and his chauffeur as they wrestled with the Harvard professor’s front door said today she never mentioned race to Sgt. James Crowley, the officer who arrested Gates. Lucia Whalen’s statement contradicts the police report filed by Crowley, which states that Whalen described “two black males with backpacks,” after he arrived in person, the New York Times reports. More»

Both sides overreacted; people should 'cooperate' with police

(NEWSER) - Speaking to Larry King about Henry Louis Gates’ arrest, Colin Powell said he’d faced racial profiling “many times,” and suggested both the professor and the police were at fault in the incident, the Huffington Post reports. Gates “should have reflected on whether or not this was the time to make that big a deal,” Powell said, while police shouldn’t have taken things so far. More»

Officer calls for more cars; 911 caller unsure on men's race

(NEWSER) - In audio from the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr, released today by Cambridge police, the arresting officer tells the dispatcher to “keep the cars coming” as he faces an “uncooperative” suspect, the Boston Herald reports. An earlier tape reveals the 911 call in the case, in which a Harvard magazine employee says another woman “had noticed two gentlemen” who “kind of had to barge in.” She notes, "They have suitcases." More»