Presidential Shenanigans: Barack Obama and the Beer Summit
On July 16, 2009, Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., was arrested at his Cambridge, Massachusetts home by a local police officer responding to a 9-1-1 caller's report of men breaking and entering the residence. The arrest caused a controversy that garnered the attention of international media as well as the attention of President Barack Obama.
The arrest occurred just after Gates returned home to Cambridge from a trip to China. He had been researching the ancestry of famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma for the TV program Faces of America. The front door of Gates' home had jammed shut so he and his driver tried to force it open. A neighbor called 911 to report this to the police as a potential break and entry in progress. Gates was arrested by the responding officer, Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department. Gates was charged with disorderly conduct, but on July 21, the charges were dropped.
On July 22nd, President Barack Obama was holding a news conference about health care reform. At the conference, columnist Lynn Sweet, Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times, asked the President this question: "Recently, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested at his home in Cambridge. What does that incident say to you? And what does it say about race relations in America?" Obama replied, "Now, I've – I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact."
Obama's remarks sparked a reaction from law-enforcement spokespersons. For example, James Preston, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Florida State Lodge, said: "To make such an off-handed comment about a subject without benefit of the facts, in such a public forum, hurts police/community relations and is a setback to all of the years of progress". The Cambridge police commissioner, Robert Haas, in describing the impact of the accusations, commented that "this department is deeply pained. It takes its professional pride seriously". On July 24, 2009, a multiracial group of police officers demanded an apology from President Obama and Governor Deval Patrick for making comments which the police described as insulting. Republican congressman Thaddeus McCotter said he would introduce a resolution in the House of Representatives calling on the president to apologize to Crowley. An opinion poll released by Pew Research found that 41 percent disapproved of Obama's "handling of the situation", while only 29 percent approved, and support from white voters dropped from 53 percent to 46 percent.
President Obama appeared unannounced at a White House press briefing on July 24, and said, "I want to make clear that in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically — and I could have calibrated those words differently." Also, that "I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted as well."
President Obama called Professor Gates and Sgt. Crowley on July 24, and invited them to the White House to discuss the situation over a beer. Both men accepted the offer. Gates told The Boston Globe that "My entire academic career has been based on improving race relations, not exacerbating them. I am hopeful that my experience will lead to greater sensitivity to issues of racial profiling in the criminal justice system." Steve Killion, president of the Cambridge patrol officers association, also stated "I'm absolutely pleased with [Obama's call]. I think it was a good thing for the president to do. We all want to see this behind us." On July 30, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Professor Gates, and Sergeant Crowley met at the White House. The Gates and Crowley families were given tours of the White House Obama, Gates and Crowley had a friendly conversation over beer. Crowley and Gates told Obama that they already had planned to meet again soon for lunch. Obama said he believed "what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart" and that after the meeting he was "hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode."
Both Crowley and Gates issued post-meeting statements. Crowley commented that he and Gates discussed the topic "like two gentlemen, instead of fighting it out either in the physical sense or in the mental sense, in the court of public opinion." Gates commented that he hoped "that this experience will prove an occasion for education, not recrimination. I know that Sergeant Crowley shares this goal." In an interview with The New York Times, Gates further commented on the meeting, "I don't think anybody but Barack Obama would have thought about bringing us together [...] the president was great – he was very wise, very sage, very Solomonic." When asked for his impression of Crowley, Gates joked: "We hit it off right from the very beginning [...] when he's not arresting you, Sergeant Crowley is a really likable guy."
Here is a video of the press conference that started the whole mess:
The arrest occurred just after Gates returned home to Cambridge from a trip to China. He had been researching the ancestry of famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma for the TV program Faces of America. The front door of Gates' home had jammed shut so he and his driver tried to force it open. A neighbor called 911 to report this to the police as a potential break and entry in progress. Gates was arrested by the responding officer, Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department. Gates was charged with disorderly conduct, but on July 21, the charges were dropped.
On July 22nd, President Barack Obama was holding a news conference about health care reform. At the conference, columnist Lynn Sweet, Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times, asked the President this question: "Recently, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested at his home in Cambridge. What does that incident say to you? And what does it say about race relations in America?" Obama replied, "Now, I've – I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact."
Obama's remarks sparked a reaction from law-enforcement spokespersons. For example, James Preston, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Florida State Lodge, said: "To make such an off-handed comment about a subject without benefit of the facts, in such a public forum, hurts police/community relations and is a setback to all of the years of progress". The Cambridge police commissioner, Robert Haas, in describing the impact of the accusations, commented that "this department is deeply pained. It takes its professional pride seriously". On July 24, 2009, a multiracial group of police officers demanded an apology from President Obama and Governor Deval Patrick for making comments which the police described as insulting. Republican congressman Thaddeus McCotter said he would introduce a resolution in the House of Representatives calling on the president to apologize to Crowley. An opinion poll released by Pew Research found that 41 percent disapproved of Obama's "handling of the situation", while only 29 percent approved, and support from white voters dropped from 53 percent to 46 percent.
President Obama appeared unannounced at a White House press briefing on July 24, and said, "I want to make clear that in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically — and I could have calibrated those words differently." Also, that "I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted as well."
President Obama called Professor Gates and Sgt. Crowley on July 24, and invited them to the White House to discuss the situation over a beer. Both men accepted the offer. Gates told The Boston Globe that "My entire academic career has been based on improving race relations, not exacerbating them. I am hopeful that my experience will lead to greater sensitivity to issues of racial profiling in the criminal justice system." Steve Killion, president of the Cambridge patrol officers association, also stated "I'm absolutely pleased with [Obama's call]. I think it was a good thing for the president to do. We all want to see this behind us." On July 30, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Professor Gates, and Sergeant Crowley met at the White House. The Gates and Crowley families were given tours of the White House Obama, Gates and Crowley had a friendly conversation over beer. Crowley and Gates told Obama that they already had planned to meet again soon for lunch. Obama said he believed "what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart" and that after the meeting he was "hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode."
Both Crowley and Gates issued post-meeting statements. Crowley commented that he and Gates discussed the topic "like two gentlemen, instead of fighting it out either in the physical sense or in the mental sense, in the court of public opinion." Gates commented that he hoped "that this experience will prove an occasion for education, not recrimination. I know that Sergeant Crowley shares this goal." In an interview with The New York Times, Gates further commented on the meeting, "I don't think anybody but Barack Obama would have thought about bringing us together [...] the president was great – he was very wise, very sage, very Solomonic." When asked for his impression of Crowley, Gates joked: "We hit it off right from the very beginning [...] when he's not arresting you, Sergeant Crowley is a really likable guy."
Here is a video of the press conference that started the whole mess: