Published on 07/26/2009

By D. Kevin McNeir
Editor/Senior Correspondent

If you read the paper, watch CNN or BET, listen to Tom Joyner every morning on the radio or surf websites like BlackAmericaWeb.com, then the brouhaha that continues to unfold following the arrest of the prominent Harvard University professor, Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., is old news.
But the irony is that what seems to have him so steamed up, racial profiling in America is nothing new - at least not for every day brothers like me.

According to Cambridge police who were called on the scene of the professor's home because of a call about a suspected break-in, Gates initially refused to show his identification to Officer Crowley but eventually produced a Harvard University ID card.

Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.

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By D. Kevin McNeir
Editor/Senior Correspondent

If you read the paper, watch CNN or BET, listen to Tom Joyner every morning on the radio or surf websites like BlackAmericaWeb.com, then the brouhaha that continues to unfold following the arrest of the prominent Harvard University professor, Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., is old news.

But the irony is that what seems to have him so steamed up, racial profiling in America is nothing new - at least not for every day brothers like me.

Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Gates in a prepared statement said, "It made me realize how vulnerable Blacks, Latinos and all poor people are when it comes to rogue policeman."

Come on Doc! You know the deal. Beatings, arrests, harassment at the hands of "rogue" police officers happen from Arizona to Alaska.

A brother in what this writer assumes to be a predominantly white neighborhood refusing to show ID and showing attitude to boot. That sounds like a ride downtown. And that's just what Gates received.

I certainly do not wish to condone the actions of the officer, especially if he was truly inappropriate in his dealings with Dr. Gates. But as a Black man who has been pulled over by cops because I was in a "high profile automobile," and who was even arrested and detained because of "walking while black in a suspected drug area," I can only say to the eminent scholar, "Welcome to America."

These situations and others far worse, are what Black men deal with every day. We are told we looked suspicious, we were walking suspiciously, we were acting in a deviant or surreptitious manner - the excuses go on. But the reality is that there is still a bounty for Black males - young and old alike.

One of my favorite films, Boyz in the Hood, has a great scene where the main character is stopped by two police officers, one black and one white. The black officer actually puts a gun to the frightened teenager's head and threatens him. And the young boy, afraid and humiliated, is unable to hold back his tears of anger. That's racial profiling.

Even President Barack Obama commented on his friend's encounter at the end of his recent press conference when he said, " the Cambridge police acted stupidly." I was delighted to see that our president was willing to discuss the controversy but similarly disheartened to hear that he has since recanted his statement. But that's politics for you.

One CNN correspondent raises an interesting question: Is this a clash of egos rather than politics? And given the kind of carte blanche treatment that our black scholars receive, and given my own experiences as a doctoral candidate at Princeton Theological Seminary, I wonder the same thing myself.

Many members of the black intelligentsia have no clue as to the daily struggles and concerns faced by their less fortunate black brothers and sisters. And many don't want to know. And who can blame them? Life in the ivory tower is pretty sweet.