Gates said he has gone out of his way in the past to avoid run-ins with police. When he first arrived at Harvard in 1991, he moved into a large house in the mostly white suburb of Lexington and promptly visited the police station to introduce himself.
“I wanted them to see my black face,’’ Gates said. “I would be driving home late from Harvard. I had a Mercedes. I didn’t want to be stopped for ‘driving while black.’ . . . I should have done that with the Cambridge Police Department.’’
In doing so, Gates was giving the police a heads up, that an African-American lived amongst them. In other words, Gates, Jr. had earned the right to live peacefully amongst them without police questioning his movement in the neighborhood.
Who does that? Folks who believe that playing nice with racial hatred works. It does not so fill out your NAACP members and contact the United States Justice Department. At least give other African-Americans a warning that these folks are in your town.
Gates, Jr, may have been recognized for speaking to African-American issues, but during his recent arrest better understands speaking is not enough, no matter how much whiteness is in his blood.
Gates, Jr. lesson, his manhood was challenged by the police officer, and the police officer reduced his name to boy. Gates, Jr, 50 degrees could not spare him from being shackled like his ancestors by a less educated and wealthy white man.
So, I am waiting for Gates, Jr. to embrace the blackness in him by taking an African name to show that raced white police officer a thing or two.
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