Author and Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested last week. The 58-year-old professor had been locked out of his own house in Cambridge, and a neighbor called the police as the scholar tried to gain entry. UPDATE: The Boston Herald reports police will likely recommend dropping charges against Gates.
According to the LA Times, police accounts that the scholar “exhibited loud and tumultuous behavior” when officers showed up at his door. He is represented by attorney Charles Ogletree, who disputes these claims. Gates was released that same day, but others have alleged that racial profiling is a problem in Cambridge. Most recently, Gates is the author “Finding Oprah’s Roots.”
Here’s an excerpt from Gates’ memoir, “Colored People” about racial profiling, taken from the article: “Completely by the accident of racism, we have been bound together with people with whom we may or may not have something in common, just because we are ‘black.’ Thirty million Americans are black, and 30 million is a lot of people … So why do I feel implicated? And how can I not feel racial recrimination when I can feel racial pride?” (Via Sarah Weinman)