07/24/2009
I wrote recently that "The obvious point here is that if anyone was being a racist here, it’s Gates. He sees a policeman come to his door, judges him by the color of his skin and his blue uniform, and starts yelling." Mickey Kaus reads Gates’s account and says
a) Isn’t it pretty clear that Gates had a narrative in his head too? b) What was the question he refused to answer? c) Just reading this passage–Gates’ own words–it seems to me he pops into litigious mode a little quickly. He says he wanted to file a complaint “because of the way he treated me at the front door.” How had he mistreated him at the front door? He asked him ‘Would you step outside onto the porch’ (where, as Gates notes, the cop would have more rights). When Gates refuses and instead gives the cop an ID, the cop looks at the ID. And at that point Gates has already determined he’s been treated unfairly. He’s already refusing to answer questions and planning to file a complaint. Again, from his own words it looks like he rushes a bit to the conclusion that a white man in a similar situation would have been treated differently. Is that really true? I’m not saying that Gates wasn’t stereotyped in a deeply annoying and disturbing way. Just saying the stereotypes can run boths ways. … …
[Kausfiles : Maybe Henry Louis Gates Has Stereotypes Too]
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