Day: July 22, 2009

I am saddened and outraged at the same time that the famous African American historian, Henry Louis Gates, Jr,  was arrested, handcuffed, photographed and booked over a misunderstanding,  when he had problems opening up his front door in Cambridge, Massachusetts,  after a research trip to China.

A neighbor had called saying she believed that the house was being broken into, and even Gates said later that he does not blame the neighbor,  as he would want his house protected from burglars, especially with all of his art and books contained inside the house.  But the white officer refused to accept his identifications of a driver’s license and Harvard ID card as legitimate,  entered his home without a warrant,  and handcuffed him outside the house after refusing to give his name and badge number to Gates.

As Gates has said, this demonstrates the problems that African Americans and other minorities face in America,  even in the time of the first African American President in the White House.  If Gates can become a victim,  then literally any African American   (and particularly males)  is indeed subject to the possibility of police abuse and brutality.  Many whites have not been willing to admit this is the case,  but the Gates situation proves that even in an enlightened city such as Cambridge, Massachusetts,  there is still a double standard based on race and ethnicity.

This is very troubling, and the fact that Gates’s arrest has been overturned does not solve the issue, as he was put through humiliating treatment and his mugshot was advertised all  over the news media.  This is an emotionally disturbing matter, and not only to people of minority background, but also to whites like myself who are deeply upset that such a situation still exists in America and even in the North in 2009.

So much work needs to be done before we can say that race does not  matter, as indeed this tragic event proves that it DOES matter, in a negative way!

There has long been a right wing promotion of the belief that Barack Obama was not a US citizen and was born in Kenya, despite the documented evidence available in Hawaii, which is found with magnification of the document in nine parts on FactCheck.org.    This has always been seen as the loonies stating such things, but the idea has not died and is spreading among a portion of the American people as another example of a conspiracy.

As outrageous as this is, now Lou Dobbs of CNN has joined the crowd and promoted a similar conspiracy belief on his tv and radio shows.  Lou Dobbs once had some credibility, but this has been deteriorating in the past couple of years with his rants and smirks on his CNN show,  so much so that I finally had to give up watching his show because it made me sick to the stomach.

Although once regarded as a leading business commentator,  Lou Dobbs has lost all sense of respectability and reputation,  not only with this ridiculous assertion, but with other over the wall statements in the past two years.  While he retains the right of freedom of speech,  I wonder if he is happy to be put into the same category as Rush Limbaugh,  Sean Hannity,  Bill O’Reilly,  Michael Savage,  and other right wing whackos.

I think Lou Dobbs needs to examine the website FactCheck.org,  and then issue a profuse apology to President Obama and condemn the continued assault on this President who is doing his very best to address the issues of the nation, and does not need to be confronted with outrageous, looney assertions that have no basis.   Somehow, though, well aware of Lou Dobb’s arrogance and egotistic nature,  such an appropriate apology is unlikely to be forthcoming,  but it is at the expense of his reputation.  He should be totally ashamed!