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From academia, an outpouring for Gates

July 27, 2009 05:12 PM

By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff

One week after the arrest of Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates caused an international firestorm, the noted African-American scholar is receiving an outpouring of support from academia.

The leaders of Harvard's Association of Black Faculty, Administrators, and Fellows released a strongly worded letter this morning expressing outrage at Gates's arrest by a white Cambridge police sergeant for disorderly conduct, a charge that was dropped last week.

The letter, jointly written by the co-chairmen of the association -- law professor Ronald S. Sullivan, who directs the Criminal Justice Institute of Harvard Law School, and Robert Mitchell, assistant dean and communications director in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences -- said they "would like to add our voices to the chorus of outraged people responding to the unjustified, illegal, and unwarranted arrest that you were forced to endure.

"As black men, we know what racial profiling and stereotyping is all about,'' Sullivan and Mitchell wrote. "Moreover, we regret the serious affront to your dignity in respect of the booking process. . . Regrettably, your arrest demonstrates how vulnerable some in our community still are to police abuse of power.''

Gates was arrested after Sergeant James Crowley, responding to a call about a possible burglary at Gates抯 home after Gates and his livery diver were seen pushing a broken door open, said the professor became verbally abusive during the investigation. Gates has said he did not yell at the officer and was only asking for his name and badge number to file a complaint.

In a phone interview today, Sullivan said that no matter whether outbursts actually occurred, "fits of language are not subject to criminal liability.''

"You抮e essentially cleared when you抮e in your own home to be rude and offensive,'' Sullivan said. "The first amendment guarantees it. And most experienced police sergeants should know this. ... When [Crowley] got the Harvard identification and the driver抯 license, it should have been 慓ood day, Professor Gates. Sorry to have bothered you.''

The Cambridge Police Department has defended Crowley抯 actions but said it would form an independent panel to review the confrontation and use it as a teaching moment.

Gates has also received support from other prominent African-American scholars around the country, including Cornel West of Princeton, who formerly taught at Harvard. West told the Globe last week that Gates 搵as a righteous indignation at injustice, and I think that抯 what you have there./p>

Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, chairwoman of Harvard抯 African and African American studies department, sent Gates a letter on behalf of his colleagues in the department.

揑 have never known you to exhibit tumultuous or disorderly conduct,Higginbotham wrote. 揑 believe your accounts of the events and support you in every wayto be black in America brings painful situations such as what you are now experiencing./p>

She went on to note that successful African-Americans have not been 搃mmune from police arrest or harassment, even though innocent of any crime. Racial profiling by the police has long been a subject of discussion by academics, lawyers, and ordinary citizens, and sensitivity sessions have clearly not yielded a transformed police force./p>

Perhaps the most unusual support for Gates came in the form of a poem titled 揂jar,by Middlebury College professor Gary Margolis, who heads the Vermont college's Mental Health Services. It begins: Who hasn抰 lost the keys to his
own house, searched for a window to crawl through, kicked a back door open, to see if it was left open? To read it in full, click here.

Margolis, who is white, said he was inspired to write the poem after President Obama' first commented on the arrest. He wrote it in just over an hour last Thursday after he arrived at work.

"Poetry can speak to a complex moment," Margolis said. "It seemed to be a very human moment, from all sides. ... It was in my head and in my heart."

Letter from Association of Black Faculty, Administrators and Fellows

July 25, 2009

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Alphonse Fletcher University Professor
Harvard University
W.E.B. Du Bois Institute
104 Mt Auburn St
Cambridge MA 02138

Dear Skip,

We, Co-chairs of the Harvard Association of Black Faculty, Administrators and Fellows, would like to add our voices to the chorus of outraged people responding to the unjustified, illegal, and unwarranted arrest that you were forced to endure. As black men, we know what racial profiling and stereotyping is all about. Moreover, we regret the serious affront to your dignity in respect of the booking process.

Inasmuch as enormous progress has been made, well exemplified by the election of President Obama, race nonetheless insinuates itself into far too many aspects our lives. As you know, not even the Harvard community has been immune from undue attention from law enforcement: a respected black Harvard professor is stopped in The Yard by police because they mistook him for a thief; a white police officer pulls a gun on a black teenager outside a Harvard building because the officer thought the student was stealing (his own) bicycle; black Harvard students having an annual game day in the Radcliffe Yard are questioned by police.

These are but a few examples of racial incidents in Cambridge over the last few years.

Regrettably, your arrest demonstrates how vulnerable some in our community still are to police abuse of power.

Skip, we are outraged and angry about how you were treated. We want you know that we support you, and stand ready to help in anyway possible. Please do not hesitate to call on us if you think we can be of service.

With respect,

Robert P. Mitchell
Co-Chair

Ronald S. Sullivan
Co-Chair

Letter from Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham

HARVARD DEPARTMENT OF AFRICAN AND AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES

Barker Center
12 Quincy Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138-3879

Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Chair
Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and of African and African American Studies

July 22, 2009

Dear Henry Louis Gates, Jr:

I and your colleagues in the Department of African and African American Studies at Harvard are outraged by your arrest by the Cambridge Police at your home on July 16, 2009. After seeing a filmed statement of the police spokeswoman, who described your arrest as tantamount to an unfortunate incident that was inspired by misbehavior on both your and the arresting officer’s part, I feel compelled to write to you. As your friend, co-author, co-teacher, and colleague, I can say honestly that in the many contexts in which I have seen you over many years, I have never known you to exhibit tumultuous or disorderly conduct. I certainly speak for myself and also, I trust, for all of AAAS, when I state that I believe your account of the events and support you in every way. Indeed, we are proud of you and rejoice that tonight you will receive acclaim by CNN for your scholarship and leadership in bringing knowledge of African and African American history and culture to a wide, even international public. We commend you for this, while also realizing that to be black in America brings painful situations such as what you are now experiencing.

I have known personally great people, specifically historian John Hope Franklin, federal appellate court judge Damon Keith, and Howard University law professor Patricia Worthy, to have experienced insult at the very height of their careers. The insidious nature of racial presumption is that the offending white person is often unaware of his or her insulting actions and has no deliberate intention to commit a racist act. For Franklin and Keith, the humiliating incidents were not police-related, but they were unfortunately all too common experiences for many black people. Nor have successful black persons been immune from police arrest or harassment, even though innocent of any crime. Racial profiling by the police has long been a subject of discussion by academics, lawyers, and ordinary citizens, and sensitivity sessions have clearly not yielded a transformed police force.

I was particularly proud to read your statement in which you identified and sympathized with black people far less privileged than yourself, who undergo similar arrest and even more suffering. As you remarked, their stories rarely make the national news. We will probably never know the full emotional state of the policeman who came to your own home in the belief that you were breaking and entering. We do know you, however. Rest assured we are in your corner.

Sincerely,