It took less than a day for the arrest of Henry Louis Gates to become racial lore. When one of America's most prominent black intellectuals winds up in handcuffs, it's not just another episode of profiling — it's a signpost on the nation's bumpy road to equality.

The news was parsed and Tweeted, rued and debated. This was, after all Henry "Skip" Gates: Summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Yale. MacArthur "genius grant" recipient. Acclaimed historian, Harvard professor and PBS documentarian. One of Time magazine's "25 Most Influential Americans" in 1997. Holder of 50 honorary degrees.

If this man can be taken away by police officers from the porch of his own home, what does it say about the treatment that average blacks can expect in 2009?

Earl Graves Jr., CEO of the company that publishes Black Enterprise magazine, was once stopped by police during his train commute to work, dressed in a suit and tie.

"My case took place back in 1995, and here we are 14 years later dealing with the same madness," he said Tuesday. "Barack Obama being the president has meant absolutely nothing to white law enforcement officers. Zero. So I have zero confidence that (Gates' case) will lead to any change whatsoever."

The 58-year-old professor had returned from a trip to China last Thursday afternoon and found the front door of his Cambridge, Mass., home stuck shut. Gates entered the back door, forced open the front door with help from a car service driver, and was on the phone with the Harvard leasing company when a white police sergeant arrived.

Gates and the sergeant gave differing accounts of what happened next. But for many people, that doesn't matter.

They don't care that Gates was charged not with breaking and entering, but with disorderly conduct after repeatedly demanding the sergeant's name and badge number. It doesn't matter whether Gates was yelling, or accused Sgt. James Crowley of being racist, or that all charges were dropped Tuesday.

All they see is pure, naked racial profiling.

"Under any account ... all of it is totally uncalled for," said Graves.

"It never would have happened — imagine a white professor, a distinguished white professor at Harvard, walking around with a cane, going into his own house, being harassed or stopped by the police. It would never happen."

Racial profiling became a national issue in the 1990s, when highway police on major drug delivery routes were accused of stopping drivers simply for being black. Lawsuits were filed, studies were commissioned, data was analyzed. "It is wrong, and we will end it in America," President George W. Bush said in 2001.

Yet for every study that concluded police disproportionately stop, search and arrest minorities, another expert came to a different conclusion. "That's always going to be the case," Greg Ridgeway, who has a Ph.D in statistics and studies racial profiling for the RAND research group, said on Monday. "You're never going to be able to (statistically) prove racial profiling. ... There's always a plausible explanation."

Federal legislation to ban racial profiling has languished since being introduced in 2007 by a dozen Democratic senators, including then-Sen. Barack Obama.

U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., said that was partly because "when you look at statistics, and you're trying to prove the extent, the information comes back that there's not nearly as much (profiling) as we continue to experience."

But Davis has no doubt that profiling is real: He says he was stopped while driving in Chicago in 2007 for no reason other than the fact he is black. Police gave him a ticket for swerving over the center line; a judge said the ticket didn't make sense and dismissed it.

"Trying to reach this balance of equity, equal treatment, equal protection under the law, equal understanding, equal opportunity, is something that we will always be confronted with. We may as well be prepared for it," he said.

Amid the indignation over Gates' case, a few people pointed out that he may have violated the cardinal rule of avoiding arrest: Do not antagonize the cops.

The police report said that Gates yelled at the officer, refused to calm down and behaved in a "tumultuous" manner. Gates said he simply asked for the officer's identification, followed him into his porch when the information was not forthcoming, and was arrested for no reason. But something about being asked to prove that you live in your own home clearly struck a nerve — both for Gates and his defenders.

"You feel violated, embarrassed, not sure what is taking place, especially when you haven't done anything," said Graves of his own experience, when police made him face the wall and frisked him in Grand Central Station in New York City. "You feel shocked, then you realize what's happening, and then you feel it's a violation of everything you stand for."

And that this should happen to "Skip" Gates — the unblemished embodiment of President Obama's recent admonition to black America not to search for handouts or favors, but to "seize our own future, each and every day" — shook many people to the core.

Wrote Lawrence Bobo, Gates' Harvard colleague, who picked his friend up from jail: "Ain't nothing post-racial about the United States of America."

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Jesse Washington covers race and ethnicity for The Associated Press.

Henry did not have anything to do with his arrest? Personal responsibility as Bill Cosby said. Henry was arrested for resisting or disturbing, am I wrong. Maybe he should have cooperated instead of resisting, if he was only trying to get into his house. I know I would have explained it to the police what was going on, instead of playing the race card right away....jmo

Why the hell didn't the officer simply ask for the man's id to prove he was the owner of the home. Seems to me it could have been over and done with by that one simple act.

See like I said nothing has changed!
The fact that you made this quote and think it's in any way the fault of this man is preposterous!


"The 58-year-old professor had returned from a trip to China last Thursday afternoon and found the front door of his Cambridge, Mass., home stuck shut. Gates entered the back door, forced open the front door with help from a car service driver, and was on the phone with the Harvard leasing company when a white police sergeant arrived".

He was already in his house and came out the front and this atrocity happened on HIS front porch!
You are just the kind of person blind to the everyday racial profiling that goes on and nothing is done about it. As long as it doesn't affect you or any of your many African American friends I suppose.

THANK YOU

That is my point Boo, apparently Henry did not let the cops run his ID. I was a cop. Witnesses have to be talked to, ID's have to be checked out. It's not simply, "Here's my ID" now let me go. Henry was arrested for a misdemeanor and is shouting racism..maybe he should be glad people were looking out for his house. jmo

cause thats not how the cops roll...

"Cops roll" just a point here, from a former cop. Have you ever walked up on a tinted window SUV at midnight? Or a robbery in progress? Or a domestic violence scene? It s not easy. You have seconds to make the right or wrong decision. Judge Lest You Be Judged. I invite everyone here to be like Shaq, become a cop and try it out. It sucks...jmo

yeah my dad was a cop.... I know how they roll.

Cops today are soooo underpaid and unappreciated. Most people ***** about them but could not live without them.

Remember the "Don't taze me Bro" guy?

i have little use for cops. must are on the take. they beat up people and get away with it.if they would arrest real criminals and leave bs charges alone we might be safer.

Ive had something like this happen to me... The officer did apoligise to me later...

However he was told via radio that a white male was seen breaking into the back door of a house.

He saw a white male as he approached... He secured me before he asked for ID...

I doubt this was a case of racial profiling cause I bet that officer was simply told 'black male suspect... possible robbery'.

If you pick fights over ever thing you think is a slight... When there really is a REASON to stand and shout... NO ONE WILL BELIEVE IT.

I don't think it's racial...it's swine flu....the pigs treat all with contempt.....in my experience...anyone that uses intellect to challenge a cop will be forcibly taken out

must cops don't have a clue what intellect is. must are basic dumb people. if not for their gun. they would be someones girl.

Maybe in Russia...but American Police are much better...Geeze.

I was one and know plenty of good cops that will take a bullet for me or you.

no i lived here must of my life. so must cops are not real smart. you see the video where cop took some weed from a crime seen. then calls the cops because he thinks he is to high and is going to die,

Wow that is so uncalled for. It does not matter what organization you choose, there are going to be good and bad. I don't like arrogant cops, but I have found in most cases that cops like anyone else will treat you the way you treat them. If you start by being antagonistic you will most likely get the same.

I am sure this man might have thought differently if his home was really being robbed. However I don't think we know the whole story here. If the cop saw that the man was already in the house and came out to meet him that wouldn't suggest a robber, so I would have first asked for ID. His status in life shouldn't be the thing here, everyone should be treated with respect.

If he refused to show ID, then he was part of the problem. Did the officer know this man by sight? If he did not, I would expect that he take precautions no matter who he might face, white or any other color.

If we send the message that all cops are worthless, then we get what we expect. I would not want to face what cops face, frankly, and I would not want to be with out people with the ball$ to face down those that would harm others.

I am very sympathetic to those profiled, we know damn well it happens and it should be addressed. I still would like to have seen what exactly happened between the man and the officer.

Police conduct in the US varies a lot with the region! Some places have so many lawsuit they are highly motivated to keep their cops (relatively) honest. Some departments have the budget to be more selective about who they hire. Also, things HAVE changed over time.

I'm just thankful everyone these days carries a cell-phone camera - lets put the really bad cops behind bars, heres a big THANK YOU to the good cops. I have personally dealt with thugs whose aggression was restrained by police presence. One day we may mature to the point where we don't need cops, but as it is now, without cops, we are just a few steps away from Lord of the Flies.