After Rose Garden Beer Blast, America Returns To Blissful Denial
Categories: Professor Henry Louis (Skip) Gates Jr., Racism, White House, President Barack H. Obama
Tags: Racial Profiling Professor Henry Louis (Skip) Gates Jr. Rose Garden racism Sgt James Crowley Vice President Joe Biden White House President Barack H. Obama
Professor Gates converses with President Obama, Vice President Biden and Sgt. Crowley over beer.
Les Payne
August 1, 2009
It is impossible to imagine another U.S. President, not even “Honest Abe Lincoln,” inviting the cop to the White House who’d humiliated “a friend” by arresting him at home on a charge so freakish that the DA tossed it as an embarrassment.
Yet, here was Sgt James Crowley knocking back Blue Moons Thursday as a white folk hero on the Rose Garden patio. The professor cuffed under false pretenses sat under the same magnolia tree across from the leader of the world’s lone superpower.
Did President Obama teach his point?
The White House photo op was aimed, of course, at that
majority white audience siding with Sgt Crowley. Poll numbers had dipped
against the president’s statement that in arresting his friend at his home, the
The beer blast didn’t change Gates’ sense of being wronged
racially, or
Supporters tend to break down along racial lines that in
miniature reflect the cleft stick of race relations in
African-Americans resent the White House showcasing of this
local, “rogue cop” as a participant in a constructive dialogue on race. They
tempered their critique, however, with respect for Obama as a brilliant,
political tactician, with skills that—unlike, say, complaining black
leaders—have earned him the presidency of the
Even among defenders, the mere sight of the tight-faced, Irish cop at the Rose Garden round-table raised second thoughts. To give Sgt Crowley the benefit of the doubt under the circumstances of the Gates’ arrest is a scary thought indeed.
Still, the very staging of the Obama beer blast itself, rounded off with a pretzel-snacking Joe Biden, appears to have worked at least in one aspect:
The
This could have been a teaching moment but President Obama dropped the ball. He continues to refuse to deal with the racism so prevalent in the United States today. Maybe this was a wakeup call for Professor Gates as well. Malcolm put it very much to the point when he said," whether you're educated or illiterate, live on the boulevard or in the alley, you're gonna catch hell just like I am". We're all in the same boat.
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Frankly,at this point [no pun intended] neither the pres,or dr gates,have created a "teachable"moment" this is more
a "missed" opportunity" than the latter. pres obama, is now "tasting" the wrath of a white racist america, more and
more. he was "rebuffed" forthwith by the white news media, law enforcement community, the white republican right-wingers, their talking heads, etc. the avalanche that came down, because he called an arrogant, irish cop/his dept "stupid" amazingly, caught pres obama off-guard" so,to stop the feeding frenzy" the pres invited the two combatants to the oval office. By doing this the president to me showed, he has no cohones" his predecessor the miserable George w, would never have backed down, the way obama did. my parents always told me, when you are right about something, you stick to your beliefs. when you are right, you are right. you only "recalibrate" if you feel
you said something wrong. maybe the pres feels he was wrong, but the evidence refutes that. whats even more sad for black people, is that what he said was "tame"or mild at best. believe me, stronger vocabulary could have been employed. mr gates, is the one who can take the bull by the horns" if he chooses to, by taking this stupid" sgt crowley to court,and really exposing him to the scrutiny he deserves. however, that remains to be seen. it seems that both the pres and his buddy" dr gates, need to go back to school, for a few teachable moments, that they need. i would recommend they take a few classes, the 1st one being: THE REALITY OF BEING BLACK
IN AMERICA 2009, and HOW DOES THE MYTH OF A POST-RACIAL AMERICA AFFECT BLACK ELITISTS/INTELLECTUALS? in closing,as much as i hate to say it, pres obama, our first black president, is not CHANGE we can count on.
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While I appreciated this piece as I do most of Mr. Payne's insightful work I'm left with an unsettling feeling about President Obama's real "teachable point" of the so-called "Beer Summit". As Les Payne pointed out the photo-op was indeed aimed at the majority white audience that sides with Sgt. Crowley- my concern is that President Obama is too attuned to appeasing white folk who he knows still represent a numerical majority (although diminishing) in this country, and who hold fast to virtually all the levers of power in the U.S., both political and economic. It should be shocking that white America holds a beer-guzzling cop in higher regard than a universally esteemed African-American Professor Gates; a writer, a teacher at the prestigious Harvard University, a television personality, and now, almost overnight, a would-be "Reverend Wright" or Minister Farrakhan to white folks. It should be shocking, but it isn't. With respect to whether Gates was wronged at his own home or not I'll call on the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass who said in paraphrase: "there's not a man under the canopy of heaven who doesn't know that Sgt. Crowley's arrest of Gates would be wrong- FOR HIM! And yet, Crowley, like the bigoted Detective Mark Fuhrman in the O.J. Simpson murder case, is the big winner here. I note with interest that Crowley volunteered following the Gates arrest that he "didn't vote for Obama": he volunteered after the "beer summit" that Gates and his family "approached him" in a greeting at the White House. Some of us can read these and other signals. Finally, as the Obama administration struggles to extend a minimal health care option to most Americans, including white Americans, we can see a spin-off racial venom in its full ugliness directed at both him and his family. This would not be the first occasion where race trumps personal interest for white folks. Say what you will about President Obama, but he is a moderate, decent, thoughtful, and accomplished man, but mainstream media is not with him, and will not be with him, on significant health care reform. It's all about media presentation. I'm afraid that's the hard truth whether or not the Cambridge soap opera has been defused as a distraction.
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I thought it would be awhile before I felt this way,But I am truley disappointed in our president.The things that I see going on its like nothing has changed,and unfortunately he's finding out,"CHANGE" is a slogan not a reality you can believe in.
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