On July 16, 2009, Harvard University professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. was arrested at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by local police officer Sgt. James Crowley, who was responding to a 911 caller's report of men breaking and entering the residence. The arrest initiated a series of events that unfolded under the spotlight of the international news media.
The arrest occurred just after Gates returned home to Cambridge after a trip to China to research the ancestry of Yo-Yo Ma for Faces of America. Gates found the front door to his home jammed shut and, with the help of his driver, tried to force it open. A local witness reported their activity to the police as a potential burglary in progress. Accounts regarding the ensuing confrontation differ, but Gates was arrested by the responding officer, Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley, and charged with disorderly conduct. On July 21, five days following the arrest, the charges against Gates were dropped. The arrest generated a national debate about whether or not it represented an example of racial profiling by police.
On July 22, President Barack Obama said about the incident, "I should say at the outset that Skip Gates is a friend, so I may be a little biased here. I don’t know all the facts," said Obama. "What’s been reported though, is that the guy forgot his keys, jimmied his way to get into the house, there was a report called into the police station that there might be a burglary taking place. So far so good, all right. I mean, if I was trying to jigger into — well I guess this is my house now, so it probably wouldn’t happen. But let’s say my own house in Chicago. Here I’d get shot." Speaking further, "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's a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately." Law enforcement organizations and members objected to Obama's comments and criticized his handling of the issue. In the aftermath, Obama stated that he regretted his comments and hoped that the situation could become a "teachable moment".
On July 24, Obama invited both parties to the White House to discuss the issue over a beer, and on July 30, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden joined Crowley and Gates in a private, cordial meeting in a courtyard near the White House Rose Garden; this became known colloquially as the "Beer Summit".
Arrest On July 16, 2009, Gates had just returned from a trip to China. As the front door of his home would not open, Gates entered through the back door. Once inside, he still could not open the front door. Gates later stated that the lock was damaged and speculated that someone had attempted to "jimmy" it. Gates went back outside and, with help from his driver, forced the door open. Since the house is university-owned, he then reported the problem to Harvard's maintenance department.
After Gates's driver left, the Cambridge police arrived, alerted by the 911 call of a neighbor. There are multiple published accounts of the subsequent events which led to the arrest of Gates, including the police report, interviews with Sgt. Crowley and other officers on the scene; and published interviews with Gates and Lucia Whalen.
Police report and 911 dispatcher recordings
According to the police report, Sergeant Crowley arrived at the scene, went up to the front door, and asked Gates to step outside. Crowley explained he was investigating the report of a break-in in progress; as he did so, Gates opened the front door and said, "Why, because I'm a black man in America?"
Crowley's report states that he believed Gates was lawfully in the residence, but that he was surprised and confused by Gates's behavior, which included a threat that Crowley did not know who he was "messing with." Crowley then asked Gates for a photo ID so as to verify he was the resident of the house. Gates initially refused, but then supplied his Harvard University identification card. Crowley wrote that Gates repeatedly shouted requests for his police identification. Crowley then told Gates that he was leaving his residence and that if Gates wanted to continue discussing the matter, he would speak to him outside. Gates replied, "Yeah, I'll speak with your mama outside." On the 911 dispatcher audio recordings, a man's loud voice is heard in the background at several points during Sgt. Crowley's transmissions.
Gates stepped onto his front porch and continued to yell at Crowley, accusing him of racial bias and saying he had not heard the last of him. Faced with this behavior from Gates, who was still standing on his own front porch, Crowley warned Gates that he was becoming disorderly. When Gates ignored this warning and persisted in his behavior, and likewise ignored a second warning from Crowley, Crowley informed him that he was under arrest.
Gates's accounts Gates's account of the events first appeared in The Root on July 20. According to the statement, Gates saw Crowley at the door as he was speaking to the Harvard Real Estate Office to have his front door fixed. When he opened the front door, Crowley immediately asked him to step outside. Gates did not comply and asked Crowley why he was there. When told that Crowley was a police officer investigating a reported breaking and entering, Gates replied that it was his house, and he was a Harvard faculty member. Crowley asked Gates whether he could prove it; Gates told him he could, and turned to go to the kitchen to fetch his wallet. Crowley followed him into the house. Gates then handed Crowley his Harvard University ID and a current driver's license, both including his photograph, the license also giving his address.
Gates then asked Crowley for his name and badge number, but Crowley did not respond. Following repeated requests for Crowley's name and badge number, the officer left the kitchen; Gates followed him to the front door. As he stepped out the front door and asked the other officers for Crowley's name and badge number, Crowley said, "Thank you for accommodating my earlier request," and arrested Gates on his front porch.
In an interview published in The Root on July 21, Gates said that when Crowley first asked him to step outside onto the porch, "the way he said it, I knew he wasn't canvassing for the police benevolent association. All the hairs stood up on the back of my neck, and I realized that I was in danger. And I said to him no, out of instinct. I said, 'No, I will not.' He demanded that I step out on the porch, and I don't think he would have done that if I was a white person." Gates called the references to loud and tumultuous behavior in the police report a "joke"; he had been physically incapable of yelling at the time, due to a severe bronchial infection. As he was walked to the car in handcuffs, he asked, "Is this how you treat a black man in America?" In an interview with columnist Maureen Dowd, Gates denied he had made a reference to the mother of the arresting officer.
Lucia Whalen Lucia Whalen was the witness and original 911 caller reporting the incident. Sgt. Crowley stated in the police report that when he arrived at the scene, he spoke to Whalen, who told him she had "observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks" trying to force entry. Whalen subsequently denied making any such comment to Crowley. Whalen was hurt by widespread comments labeling her a racist, based on the "two black males with backpacks" quote in the police report.
A recording of her 911 call was released on July 27; in it, Whalen could be heard saying, "I don't know if they live there and they just had a hard time with their key." When asked for a more detailed description by the dispatcher, her reply on the tape was, "One looked kind of Hispanic, but I'm not really sure. And the other one entered and I didn't see what he looked like at all."
Charges and resolution Gates was held for four hours and charged with disorderly conduct. The charges were dropped five days later, on July 21, 2009, by the Middlesex County district attorney's office, upon the recommendation of the city of Cambridge and the Cambridge Police Department. A joint press release by the authorities and Professor Gates said all parties had agreed that this was "a just resolution to an unfortunate set of circumstances" and that the incident "should not be viewed as one that demeans the character and reputation of Professor Gates or the character of the Cambridge Police Department."
Sgt. Crowley said he would not apologize for his actions. He was backed up by the Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association, which released a statement saying his actions had been consistent with police training, policies and applicable legal standards.
Response The incident was first reported in The Harvard Crimson, the campus newspaper, the Monday morning after the arrest. Following a write-up by the Associated Press that afternoon, the story spread quickly. Public interest in the arrest grew when newspapers published the photograph showing a handcuffed Gates being escorted away from the front door.
A number of individuals commented on the incident in the days that followed. The Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, stated that he felt "troubled" about the situation. The Mayor of Cambridge, E. Denise Simmons, suggested that the incident was a "teachable moment" and that she hoped there would be meaningful dialogue between Mr. Gates, the police force, and the general public.
Some members of the Harvard community raised questions about racial profiling. The Reverend Al Sharpton discussed the incident and referred to it as one of "police abuse or racial profiling", calling it "outrageous" and "unbelievable." Gates argued that the police picked on him because of his race, and said that he would use the incident to raise awareness of alleged police mistreatment of blacks, suggesting that he may plan a documentary about it.
Sgt. Crowley's supporters noted he was chosen by a black police commissioner to serve as an instructor for a Lowell Police Academy course entitled "Racial Profiling", which Crowley has taught since 2004. While working as a campus police officer at Brandeis University in 1993, Crowley had tried to revive African American Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation after the latter suffered a fatal heart attack. Crowley received public support from many police officers, including African Americans, who portrayed him as a good and fair officer.
Sgt. Leon Lashley, a black officer who was present at Gates's arrest, said he supported Sgt. Crowley's actions "100 percent." Lashley added that he thought it would have gone differently, with no arrest, if he had been the first officer to arrive on the scene and the initial encounter with Gates had been "black man to black man." Another officer in the Cambridge police department said "racism is not part of it, and that is what is frustrating."