On July 16, professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. returned home to Cambridge, Mass. from a trip to China and found the door to his house jammed.
He and his driver tried to force it open and a neighbor called the police to report a possible break-in.
Sgt. Jim Crowley responded to the call and eventually arrested Gates, charging him with disorderly conduct. Prosecutors later dropped the charges, but the incident has spurred a national debate about race relations and law enforcement.
What has been called a racially charged case definitely didn’t start that way. The 911 caller, later identified as Lucia Whalen, who reported the possible break-in was severely criticized until the tape was released.
Gates made it clear he felt that he was a victim of racial profiling, but the tape reveals that the caller never said the word black or African-American. In fact, the caller admits to being unsure of the men’s race because she was too far away from them. She also told the 911 operator the men might be residents, but she was concerned, unsure and hoping to err on the side of caution.
‘I don’t know if they live there and they just had a hard time with their key, but I did notice that they kind of used their shoulder to kind of barge in and they got in,’ Whalen said. ‘I don’t know if they had a key or not because I couldn’t see from my angle. But you know, when I looked a little closely, that’s what I saw.’
The events that unfolded at the house are still unclear, and the public may never know what actually happened.
We do know the U.S. president shouldn’t comment on cases he is not briefed on.
Matthew Keever is a communication junior and may be reached at [email protected]
