Race: The Final Frontier - The arrest of Professor Gates

It occurred to me yesterday, while reading as much bullshit on the black Harvard professor's arrest as I could stomach, that race is truly the final frontier. It's the one thing that is still incredibly taboo and annoyingly tiptoed over at all costs. If you aren't aware of the case, an African-American scholar named Henry Louis Gates, Jr., was arrested a few weeks ago in his own ritzy home in Cambridge. Why? Because a "white" woman called 911 to report that she thought someone was breaking into the house. Police went to investigate the call and found Gates in the foyer of the home. When the officer asked him to identify himself, instead of following the rules, Professor Gates played the ever-overused race card. He walked to the door of the house shouting, "You're treating me like this because I'm BLACK!" Instead of following the rules, he immediately assumed the officer only asked him for his name because he was a black man, and there's no way a black man could own such a nice house.

Can you see me rolling my eyes right now? I highly doubt that the police officer is trained to make assumptions like that. Especially when the black man in question is 60 years old, wearing glass and a fucking suit. BUT... he probably IS trained to investigate 911 calls, and if there is a suspected robbery taking place, he is probably trained to question and identify all individuals on the premises. The news media, the president (who called the officer 'stupid' for arresting such a prominent black scholar), everyone has been on this officer's case, but why is everyone so scared to talk back against the professor? Because he's black and everyone's scared to death that they'll seem racists. But who is the first one on the scene that brought up race and started throwing a fit with his assumptions? GATES! That's who! If he had simply told the officer, "My name is Gates, I live here." The officer could have verified that, apologized, done a sweep of the property, and then left peacefully. Gates should have been happy they were trying to protect his home from intruders. If anyone was guilty of racial profiling, it was the old lady who told the "white" woman to call 911. Now, I put "white" in parenthesis because both of her parents are Portuguese.

My frustration here is that everyone has seemed to make such a HUGE deal out of this case, because they are abhorred and appalled at a prominent black man being arrested in his own home. Many wealthy blacks have come forward to say that anytime they open their door, they get asked, "May I speak to the man of the house?" assuming that the black man must be a servant. I don't doubt that it happens, but shit, when I open the door, most kids or people will ask, "Are you the person who makes decisions for your household?' I don't fucking automatically shout that the person is a gender profiler who assumes a woman can't make decisions. Instead, I understand that the person at my door is only interested in one thing: making a sale. They don't give a shit if the black woman next door makes the decisions for all us white folk or if it's the Indian man sitting on the stoop. All they care about is getting an audience with the main cheese and trying to convince them to buy something. I just don't understand why so many people jump to those awful conclusions, calling themselves "Victims". The only victims are the people who get accused and hung out to dry for being "racist" when all they were doing is the job they were fucking trained to do.

When we listen to people like Gates and we jump on his bandwagon and say Yes! If you were white, this never would have happened! (which is bullshit), we are just flaunting our own stupidity. And the fact that our own President called the police 'stupid' for arresting Gates? Don't even get me started on how stupid that fucker can be. The bottom line for me is that Gates was asked a simple question, and instead of answering it and clearing up any confusion, he immediately started throwing a fit, going on about the injustice. Maybe he shouldn't have been arrested, I'll give you that. But he shouldn't have gone crazy over it in the first place. Anyone acting disorderly like that will be arrested. Black or white. Haven't these people ever watched COPS? They'll arrest a white fucker for shouting and running around crazy just as fast as a black dude.

In my opinion, the time for 'minorities' (which is a fucking crazy word now because how truly minority are blacks in America these days? are we talking like 55/45? Seriously) to shout and stamp their feet about slavery and civil rights is gone. It's almost like it's become a crutch and a staple in our society that a minority, namely someone who is black, can attribute anything wrong that happens in their life to the fact that white people don't treat them right. And we put up with it! Why? Because we're scared to death of sounding racist or being accused of being racist. If you're accused or seem like you are racist, you will lose your job and be threatened by society. The lady who called 911 has gotten death threats! For reporting suspicious behavoir in her community! Why does no one see the horrible degrees of WRONG in this whole situation? It's the media that keeps dishing it out, I know. But it's too bad they are completely missing the point and truthfully only serving to fuel the fire for race issue anger.

Race, my friends, is the final frontier. It's the last true taboo. Be careful what you say, even if you are right and even if you are speaking in an intelligent manner. If anyone can interpret it to be racist, you'll be raked over the coals my friend. Beware!