I didn’t want “Fuck tha Police” to be my last word on this subject. As I have blogged initially, I think there is a huge opportunity here. So does Obama.

As I explain in my last post, I believe that by asking Henry Louis Gates Jr. to step outside in his initial greeting to the man, Sergeant Crowley was engaging in a deep, personal provocation of Gates.

Cop says: “Would you step outside onto the porch.”

Translation: “I know you might be the owner/resident of this house. But there seems to be something fishy about you (e.g. maybe you’re running a drug lab inside). The 4th Amendment requires that you be outside in order for me to legally search you.”

Why would Crowley think there was something fishy about Gates? My guess is that Crowley has seen the prison statistics about black men and drug crimes, and so he simply has a 20-year habit of asking black folk to step outside of their cars and homes, in order to comply with the 4th Amendment.

I’ll bet this was standard operating procedure for Crowley and most cops in the area, for decades.

But then the suspected perp turns out to be a friend of the POTUS, and suddenly you’ve the national media camped out on your front lawn.

I think, as I have written before, Crowley is a good man at heart. He’s trying to do the right thing. I do think he’s had a bit of a racial bias thing going on, born of experience with the racist U.S. drug laws as applied to black folk.

But I think this incident will serve as an excellent teachable moment for Crowley and all similarly well-meaning cops. I hope he joins Obama and Gates for a beer at the White House. What a great, historic photo op that would be.

……

p.s. I do think Gates is a bit of a pompous jerk and that’s one thing that got him into trouble. But I don’t believe the grand “teachable moment” here is for Gates to learn how to bow his head, say “sir”, and roll-over to a badge and gun. Sure, that lesson might help Gates navigate America’s “justice” system better. But that lesson is not a new one for black folk. Instead, it’s a dark and painful history. The future of America is about cops treating black people as humans with dignity.