Elitism is the latest discrimination rage

By Kevin Price

There appears to be a new discrimination that is rampant across our country. This past week there was an arrest of an African American Professor (Henry Louis Gates) of Harvard by the Cambridge police and I found it interesting that President Obama and Governor (Deval) Patrick came out and immediately cried "racism" by law enforcement without asking a single question. They didn't ask about the protocol used by the police, they didn't ask what witnesses saw, they appeared to simply just jumped to conclusions. The reason why is because 'one of their own' had to have been mistreated, in their minds. Before you accuse me of using the "race card," I am not. I recognize that Obama, Patrick, and Gates are all African American and the arresting office was white. But that isn't what I mean. Gates and his supporters have something else in common, they are elitists.

• Patrick graduated from Harvard University for both his undergraduate degree and a law degree. Furthermore, he went to the prestigious Milton Academy.
  
  
• Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and then went on to Harvard Law School, becoming the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review.
  
  
• Henry Louis Gates, the man at the center of the storm, has his BA in History from Yale and a PhD in English from Cambridge University.
  
  

What seems to be playing a bigger role in the things these men have in common is elitism, rather than race. We don't want to miss, in this story, the poor police officer, Sgt. James Crowley, who could not be more "blue collar" in his uniform. Like most police officers today, he likely has some college experience. A couple of years of college maybe or, who knows, an undergraduate degree from a solid college some where. His academic credentials are not nearly as easy to find of those of his accusers. I do know he teaches a course on race relations at the police academy because of his years of experience and exceptional conduct in this area. Now being tarnished by a Governor and President who don't know enough about the situation and a professor who knows more than exists in the hearts of men. At least, it appears, this man.

All we have are some facts, laid out nicely by The New York Daily News. The information surrounding the case that all parties agreed on:

"Crowley, an 11-year veteran of the Cambridge Police Department, responded to a reported break-in at the renowned scholar's home last Thursday. A neighbor reported seeing two black men break into the professor's home. She was unaware the man forcing his way inside was Gates, who had locked himself out. When Crowley arrived, he told an incensed Gates he was investigating a report of a break-in and asked for his identification. 'Why? Because I'm a black man in America,' Gates responded, the police report says. Gates initially refused to hand over his ID, instead angrily accusing the officer of being a racist and 'leveling threats that he wasn't someone to mess with,' the report says. After Gates produced his Harvard University ID, he repeatedly demanded Crowley state his name, which the officer claims he had already done. Crowley said Gates continued hurling insults at him as he left the home. Crowley arrested the scholar for disorderly conduct. The charge was later dropped. 'He was arrested after following me outside the house, continuing the tirade even after being warned multiple times — probably a few more times than the average person would,' Crowley told the radio station." You can hear the entire interview here.

Comedian Bill Cosby, who has become something of a conscious to many in the African American community, commented on the controversy with three simple words, "I wasn't there." He wants both sides to simply speak the truth and the facts to be examined. He doesn't conclude that the person with the better credentials is a better person, an impression that the Governor of Massachusetts and the President of the United States seems to be conveying.

© Kevin Price