RACE/DISGRACE

In 2002 the much celebrated Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. presented a mini-series on PBS titled America Beyond the Color Line. The series explored the status of prominent and not so prominent African-Americans in America today. From the projects of south side Chicago to the upscale golf courses of New Jersey, Professor Gates gave the viewer a fascinating account of the African American experience.

On July 16, 2009 professor Gates, a black man, found himself on the wrong side of the color line when a white police officer arrested him for breaking into his own home. Professor Gates, who has taught at Harvard for nearly two decades, arrived home from a trip to China to find his front door jammed. With the help of his taxi driver he managed to pry it open and entered his house. Minutes later a policeman came knocking at his door asking suspecting questions. A white female neighbor had called in the police thinking her neighbor's house was being burglarized. What transpired between Professor Gates and the policeman materialized into the arrest and disgrace of a scholar and the Boston police department.

Whether this was a case of "racial profiling" is a question that has been debated to death in the frenzy of the relentless media. Even President Obama, who in the past has stealthily walked on water when responding to questions on race, could not escape the onslaught. His answer in defense of a personal friend came across as less than presidential, but understandable. But what we all can agree, is that there was no reason for this to be played out the way it did. While the police by their action disgraced an eminent scholar, the media did its fare share by plastering the professor's mug shot across the screen over and over again. Another photograph that was relentlessly zoomed and panned across was that of the professor being lead away in handcuffs. The indignity Professor Gates suffered has been sobering in every sense of the word.

Then came the explanations from the very characters who were involved in this circus, in the same media that had earlier maligned them. Even the president had to clarify his position in the most overt sense, so as not to come across as biased. That goes to show how sensitive an issue "race" is, more so because Obama is president.

Despite the truth behind the details of what happened that night, one cannot resist wondering how this would have played out if the person breaking in was a white person dressed in a mint suit. Would the neighbor still have felt unsafe? Would the police at the scene have behaved differently? And if it was not a celebrated Harvard Professor and a friend of the president, would the media have paid any attention at all? What makes the situation complicated is not what happened that night, but what may have happened if the parameters were different.

The color line in America is always charged by the nature of this nation's past. Obama's presidency in many ways may have softened that line, but in other instances has also hardened it. The overt polarization in the views expressed on television and in politics these days, is a telling sign of the times. The color line always remains present. It is its manifestation that is hidden. It is what it is.