Henry Gates can draw the race card quicker than Matt Dillon can draw a Colt six-shooter; tiresome as this kind of story is and still all too common. Of course the news media couldn’t get on it fast enough.
It’s disturbing in this day and time, when such accomplished men still rely on the color of their skin as a dependable old standby. I suppose, when Gates applied to Yale University to earn his undergraduate degree and wrote “As always, whitey now sits in judgment of me, preparing to cast my fate. It is your decision either to let me blow with the wind as a nonentity or to encourage the development of self. Allow me to prove myself”, the hand writing was on the wall. Makes one wonder if his success was acquired by sucking the benevolent tit of affirmative action, or by the good graces of quotas. Makes one cringe when you consider all the black men and women who struggle through their successes and failures like everyone else.
Even more disturbing is the fact that Barack Obama sanctioned it. Like so many others, I thought, once elected, he would lead the United States down a new path of more enlightened understanding; show us that blacks, like so many already believe, have the capacity for individual success without relying on all the old crutches. Looks like we may have to continue to depend on some future generation to end this kind of thinking. In the mean time, seems a significant percentage of our black population is going to hang on to their prejudices and hatreds.
Just food for thought: Not not ago, while driving down a New Mexico highway late at night, I was pulled over by two over-zealous patrol officers for making what they called an improper lane change. They had roared up out of nowhere and drove along side my rear bumper for several irritating miles . I thought it was teenagers giving me a hard time. I eventually sped up and pulled in front of them to pass a slow moving car in my lane (improper lane change). When they pulled me over, I told them it looked like they were goading me by tailing so close in the next lane, which led to an angry exchange. They told me to get out of the car, searched me, decided I needed to be cited for three additional violations and threatened to haul me to jail. I thought of this incident when I first heard this story involving Henry Gates. Had it happened to him, it would have been because he’s black. In my case, the whole affair ended with my apology, a handshake, and a warning to use my signal when changing lanes.
What did Mr. Gates achieve? If the police ever spot someone breaking into his house, will they dare profile the burglar if he’s black?