JIM CROW vs. JAMES CROWLEY

POLICE BEAT vs. HARVARD ELITE

It had to happen eventually - all the break-ins occurring in the upscale Cambridge neighborhoods that serve as home to the Harvard elite - eventually one Cambridge police officer was going to ask one Harvard professor to produce identification paperwork - the story would become a major political circus as it contained the confluence of historical prejudice against the police as well as historical elements of racism against the alleged perpetrator.

It seems that Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates was caught up in the historical fear of racism - a case of mistaken identity between Jim Crow and Sergeant James Crowley. Flight fatigue may have overwhelmed the Harvard professor, yet clearly it would have served the protection of his household to produce the identification paperwork that the police officer requested - and respect for the law. Professor Gates could have dealt with other matters later on should suspicions of racism linger or prove to be true.

It is the generational experience of fighting Jim Crow that drove the Harvard professor - any middle-aged black man or woman might feel suspicious and outraged at being asked to present identification in order to secure the right to enter their own home in the middle of the day with luggage sitting on the porch. Jim Crow was not a person but a government system of laws that sanctioned racial oppression and segregation in the United States. Jim Crow affected millions of African Americans - any middle aged black man or woman will remember the fight of Martin Luther King to stand up against the Jim Crow laws that took away the rights granted to blacks in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments - the end of slavery, the right to equal protection under the law, the right to due process, the right to site anywhere on the bus, and most importantly, the right to vote.

The separatist Jim Crow laws began in 1877 and continued right into the mid-1960s in numerous states throughout the country - Martin Luther King Jr. stands as a monumental figure in the Civil Rights struggle - the centerpiece of the Civil Rights movement was the negation of the Jim Crow laws.

Sergeant James Crowley is the police officer who taught racial sensitivity workshops over the years throughout the police department. Sergeant Crowley is also the police officer who gave mouth to mouth resusitation to a young black athlete of great promise - Reggis Lewis - as he lay dying on the gym floor in Brandeis. The history of the man as well as the picture of the police office trying to save Reggie Lewis' life conflicts with the image that James Crowley would be a man of racial prejudice.

Clearly, the call by Lucia Whalen, the Good Samaritan, was created by some impulse in an elderly witness who wanted help calling in the "crime in progress" - Generational prejudice held court in this scenario - the middle of the day, two older gentlemen with suitcases visible on the porch, the gentlemen dressed in neat middle-class wardrobe - some crime scene.

The testament to Officer James Crowley is that he did not know the name Henry Louis Gates - that was clear in the taped phone call with Whalen. Crowley was not aware of the political connections that would erupt with the arrest of the professor. Even with the scenario that the Harvard professor had gone wild with disrespect - the police officer should have known that arresting a Harvard professor would bring on the whirlwind of political and academic connections in the Harvard-centric state of Massachusetts.

Essentially, this was a testosterone battle of wills that has been left at a standstill......... between the Harvard Elite vs. Police Beat....... between those who believe an emotional connection to the past entitles them to rage against the symbol of the historical oppressor versus those who wear the badge, putting their lives at risk in the line of duty - who believe no one is above the law nor entitled to ignore the law and disrespect the badge. Perhaps Lucia Whalen should have been invited to the Beer Fest with the President and the Guys at the White House.