In case you have not been reading the papers for the past week, a friend of President Obama, Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., got arrested last week for disorderly conduct.  It seems that Prof. Gates lost his key on a trip to China and had to force his way into his home.  A neighbor saw someone "breaking in" and called the police.  Prof. Gates took great offense when the police officer asked him for ID and started yelling obscenities at the officer when he asked him to step outside.  The officer had finally had enough and arrested him.  The charges were later dropped.

Pres. Obama was asked about the situation at a news conference.  He replied that while he did not have all of the facts, the police "acted stupidly" in arresting Prof. Gates.  Ironically, the police officer did what he should have done.  First, ask the person who answers the door for ID to ensure that he or she is the proper occupant of the house.  Second, he asked the occupants step out of the house so the house can be searched to make sure that someone has not broken into the house.

Several years ago I came home right as the police were responding to an alarm at my house.  The first thing the officers did was ask me to confirm my identify.  They then searched my house before I went in to insure that no one was inside.   I am grateful they did.  Had I thrown a temper tantrum and interfered with their ability to clear the house, I should have been arrested for putting the officers' in danger and interfering with their work.

Walking into a house is one of the most dangerous things a police officer does.  An officer is far more likely to be killed in a house than during a bank robbery or other scenario you see on TV.   When an officer is attempting to clear a house, he or she needs to be able to focus his or her senses on the house and insuring that no one else is there.  Having someone yell profanities at the officer has no productive purpose.

While Prof. Gates' friends at various civil rights organizations decried that this could happen to a black man in America today, the officer was not going to Prof. Gates' house to persecute a black man.  He was answering a report of an attempted break-in.  There was no justification for a Harvard professor to throw a hissy fit and scream profanities at a police officer who is trying to do his job.   Likewise, there was also no justification for Pres. Obama to blame the police officer without having all of the facts.  In fact, the two people who were "acting stupidly" were Pres. Obama and his friend, Prof. Gates.

One of the reasons Prof. Gates behavior was so harmful is that it lessened the impact of real discrimination - just like the little boy who cried wolf.  Unfortunately, there are a few police officers who are racist and have no qualms about using the weight of their position to harass minorities.  I have had friends who were pulled over for dwb (driving while black) or otherwise singled out because they are a minority.  Racial profiling is a real problem - but it cheapens those who have really suffered it by claiming that it applies to a Harvard Professor who had too much of a chip on his shoulder to simply cooperate with an officer investigating the report of a crime. 

Having Gates step outside was for the safety of both the officer and Gates himself.  It was Gates temper tantrum that was stupid.  Likewise, it was stupid of Obama to blame the officers before he even had all of the facts.  So much for Obama as the first "post-racial" President.