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There is so much wrong with this incident it's hard to list them all.
I may not know all my neighbors personally but I recognize them and would not call the police if I saw one of them trying to get into their own house.
It is neither unreasonable nor illegal to ask a police officer for his/her name and badge number. Dr. Gates provided his identification. The officer was obligated to provide his information.
It is neither unreasonable nor illegal to become angry when confronted by the police in one's own home for trying to unstick the front door. Especially after a long flight from China. One wonders if the cop has flown anywhere lately - or ever.
We may have an African-American president who happened to have graduated from Harvard Law but we still have a long, long way to go. Harvard does not have a great recent record - a professor questioned for simply walking across Harvard Yard; an African-American woman denied the degree she earned because someone from the old neighborhood showed up on campus dealing drugs and killed someone. I will not argue that was a horrible crime but I can't help but wonder if this young woman had been a rich white legacy student and a friend from her rich white neighborhood showed up and killed someone in a drug deal gone wrong the outcome would have been different. I'm guessing the legacy would have gotten his/her degree and there would have been some kind of cover-up.
Dr. Gates deserves an apology from the Cambridge PD. They were way out of line and Dr. Gates' reaction was completely understandable. and anyone who argues that this incident wasn't racially motivated is lying or stupid.
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