- George Jonas: Co-operate with cops, argue in court, and save being witty for dinner parties
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Two weeks ago in Cambridge, Mass., a black academic took umbrage at being mistaken for a burglar in his own home just for not being white, while a white cop took umbrage at being mistaken for a racist just for not being clairvoyant. Before the dust settled, Sgt. James Crowley was feeling disrespected, Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was being led away in handcuffs, and soon the Leader of the Free World was calling the Cambridge Police Department “stupid,” which, while possibly accurate, wasn’t very wise.
Two stupidities don’t make a smart. Few disagree that it was dumb for Sgt. Crowley to arrest Prof. Gates in what by then he knew was the professor’s own home, no matter how obtusely Prof. Gates may have flung the race card at an officer who came to protect the man’s property. Having stirred up the dust with his own unwise remark, Barack Obama tried to redeem himself this week by inviting the two combatants to chill out over a beer in the White House.
July 29, 2009
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