Professor Gates, Harvard's Pride

[Elspode]

For me, the question boils down to this: no one has claimed that the cop came on with attitude first. Why did Gates suppose that he could or should be a dick? Why did he just not say, "This is my residence, officer. If you'll follow me, I'll get my ID to prove that."

Cop looks at ID, apologizes for the inconvenience, explains the reason they are there if Gates asks, tells him they were just watching out for his property and safety, and leaves. No incident.

Having a king sized chip on your shoulder, even though you are within your rights, makes you a dick. A scholarly, educated, Harvard-tenured dick, but a dick nonetheless. And before anyone says it, yes, being a dick is legal. Covered by the First Amendment.

And now, I'm gonna say something, and you can all call *me* racist.

Having a major fucking attitude is verging on being a cultural imperative in the African American community - or at least a significant percentage of it. Making goddamn good and sure *everyone* knows that you are The Shit, all that and a bag of chips, seems to be foremost when asserting one's presence in the world. You don't have to actually *have* any substance to you, but everyone on the planet had damn well better treat you like you do, or you're gonna get even more attitude. And all of that respect is due up front, BTW, no matter how big a piece of shit the person may turn out to be.

So fire away, folks. Tell me what a racist, bigoted fuck I am. Personally, I don't see anything in what went down in the first minute or so at Hahvahd that day that warranted *anyone* being a dick, but then I generally don't get why people seem to feel compelled to be dicks to begin with...regardless of their racial heritage.