The kiss-and-makeup racial misunderstanding “mini-mee[ting]” between Sgt. Crowley and Professor Henry Louis Gates jr. seemed more like a Mexican Standoff than anything else. It doesn’t appear that any substantiate issues on race relations were discussed or resolved and neither Mr. Gates nor Sergeant Crowley offered an apology for their respective behaviors that gained national attention nearly two weeks ago; so what was the point of them coming together except as a photo opportunity to take some of the political heat off the president. It was truly damage control for the Imbiber-in-Chief who inadvertently was drawn into this local Cambridge Massachusetts police matter by a reporter’s surprise question. The President had a COORS LITE, Sgt. Crowley a BLUE MOON, and Professor Gates had SAM ADAMS. Vice-President Joe Biden was there and had something non-alcoholic for his “Non-Role” in the matter.
After the meeting, Sgt. Crowley said that although he may respect Mr. Gates but they will just have to “agree to disagree;” which means that things didn’t go over so well and both of them are still deeply entrenched in their belief of the rightness and legal standing of their actions. Perhaps the problem is that President Obama didn’t know the right kind of drink to serve his guests because if everybody had downed a 40 ounce (“OLDE ENGLISH 100”), then the conversation would have gotten a lot livelier but then again on the other hand, Gates and Crowley would have started brawlin’ afterwards for real. So, after another Presidential Stimulus Plan offered by President Obama, “beer” in this case, the lasting result of this allocated resource helped two people get their ‘buzz’ on for about an hour but nothing productive or lasting has come out of it nor has anything changed; and for a presidential Candidate who ran on a platform that was all about “CHANGE,” it may very well be that the American people may come to find out in the final analysis that they have been SHORTCHANGED instead.
Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
July 31, 2009
pbks@hotmail.com
