Henry Louis Gates Interview on Being Arrested

Beyond the racial aspects of this, it seems like the officer arrested Prof. Gates mostly for an offense against the officer's ego, rather than a real offense against the law. I'm not a knee-jerk police hater and have seen many NYPD officers doing great work, but I've seen this happen way too many times in NY as well, officers contriving a reason to arrest someone, simply for committing an ego offense rather than a legal offense.

Looking forward to seeing the new work this inspired from the Professor. By the way, one lesson here seems to be: don't step out on the porch! The cops seem to have been waiting for him to step outside of hsi own property, because they couldn't make the arrest until he did so.

Henry Louis Gates Interview on Being Arrested
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"There are one million black men in jail in this country and last Thursday I was one of them," he said in an interview with The Washington Post Tuesday morning. "This is outrageous and that this is how poor black men across the country are treated everyday in the criminal justice system. It's one thing to write about it, but altogether another to experience it..."

"I am appalled that any American could be treated as capriciously by an individual police officer. He should look into his soul and he should apologize to me," Gates said. "If so, I will be prepared to forgive him. I think that poor people in general and black people in general are vulnerable to the whims of rogue cops, and we all have to fight to protect the weakest among us. No matter how bad it was going to get, I knew that sooner or later I would get to a phone and one of my friends would be there to help..."

Henry Louis Gates Interview on Being Arrested