Beer Diplomacy

By now, everyone has heard about the July 16th arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. by Cambridge police officer Sgt. James Crowley. It's been talked about so much that it probably contributed to the failure of President Obama to get America focused on his health care proposal. The interesting thing is that while this case has been framed by the media as another example of racial profiling, it turns out...it wasn't. In fact, both the media and the President prejudged this case before all the facts were known, and unfortunately for them, they were wrong. The 911 tapes released today show that the caller reporting the possible break in at Gates home, never specified the men's race. When asked by the 911 dispatcher what race the men were, she only stated "one might have been Hispanic. I don't know what the other one looked like." The caller was calm, and acknowledged that these men potentially lived or worked there, but felt the police should check to make sure.
It also turns out that there were black police officers on the scene at Gate's house when Sgt. Crowley made his arrest. They all contend race had nothing to do with this call, or arrest. The also vouch for Sgt. Crowley that they've never seen one instance of him exhibiting racism. The tapes from the scene appear to confirm no wrong-doing on the part of the cops, other than their arrest of Gates for disorderly conduct, might have been a bit legally flimsy. In the end, it appears the only ones that wanted to make this about race were Gates himself, the media, and to a lesser extent, the President.
Thankfully, the President has since retracted some of his comments and is working to try heal the wounds this arrest has caused throughout the country. "Beer Diplomacy", if effective at resolving things with Gates and Crowley, should perhaps be expanded to other conflicts around the globe. Perhaps that's all the Castro brothers need to finally let go of the Bay of Pigs debacle? But I digress...
The Gates case is another reminder that one should not respond until he or she has all the facts. It's also a reminder that for all the times law enforcement get things right, that in spite of countless people's lives they save on a daily basis, it is only their perceived failings that will ever make national news.