Can I just say that after following the Saga of Skip Gates and His House Arrest, for the first time in a year I'm actually GLAD to be living outside America???
And remember, this comes from a woman who has been profiled, dissed and dismissed on 4 different continents now. This comes from a woman who walks into every situation expecting to be treated with respect and professionalism and politeness, and after all these years is still shocked when she is perceived as anything other than fiercely intelligent, grown-assed, law-abiding and NOTHING like the long list of stereotypes that are associated with women of African descent.
Yes, it still happens. I wish it didn't, but it does. I can still go to certain venues here and either be considered a "working gal," or as someone who should know better than to open her mouth unless given permission. I can still be followed, accosted, yada, yada, yada. (Incidentally, it hurts even more when I'm being treated that way by people with the same skin color as mine.) I imagine that even though the guards at my apartment complex know that I live by myself and pay my own rent, other people seeing me enter those gates probably assume I'm there as a carnal companion for some white male NGO employee.
Sure, it bugs the shit out of me, and I won't deny uttering some occasionally bitchy sentiments to get those situations straightened out. But from the moment I heard about the Gates arrest, I had a gut suspicion there was more to the story. When discussing it with a couple of other white Americans a few weeks ago, I could see the surprise on their faces when I mused, "If I had seen two guys I didn't recognize forcing their way into a house in my neighborhood, I might have called the cops, too." That feeling deepened when I learned that the woman who'd placed the call hadn't described them as black men. Just as two guys whotfor whatever reason she didn't recognize, and who were forcing their way into a house in her neighborhood.
I've followed all the sturm and drang that's unspooled since with a strange detachment. Yes, my heart ached a bit seeing a mugshot of the esteemed Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Yes, I know what it's like to be disrespected or accused of something just because of your skin color. It started happening to me shortly after birth in Southern Illinois. And even though I've had a bit of a breather, YES, I KNOW THAT RACE IS STILL A FLASHPOINT IN AMERCAN SOCIETY.
But if it's true that Skip Gates invoked the policeman's mother in a derogatory fashion during the incident, he's lucky he didn't get an ass whooping. I think that's what shocked me most of all, that someone of his stature, with his intelligence and deportment, could have responded in such an asinine way. I know he'd just gotten home from China, and was probably exhausted, and yes, it's kind of outrageous to be asked to show your ID in your own home, but none of that matters.
The bottom line of this story is not about race. It's about taste. Poor taste. Let's hope the learned professor is thinking about it that way.
"I'm just sayin', dawg..."
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