Since nobody reads this blog, I can post these thoughts without fear...

Okay, I do not wish to dwell on the "he said-he said" dynamic of the Gates arrest and whether President Obama should or should not have applied value judgments to actions taken at the Gates home, but the debate and, specifically, the comments made by both Professor Gates and Sargent Crowley, fall under the general theme of this blog about being "Grownups." Here goes...

First, I agree that this is less a matter of race and the insecurity of law enforcement officers and more a matter of two men misbehaving and letting their testosterone (or their desire for a testosterone rush) get control of their judgment. Gates flew off the handle and Crowley let his defensiveness get the best of him. Both reactions seem to be understandable if not appropriate.

Second, I am deeply troubled with the notion that a person cannot rant in their own home without the threat of arrest. So long as it is fairly clear that it is a temper tantrum that does not present any kind of physical threat, such rants should not provide sufficient reason to arrest, no matter how insulting they may be.

Third, given Crowley's description of the incident where he noted that he sought to get Gates out onto his porch (which is afforded lesser constitutional protection of privacy), I see this as behavior aimed at manipulating circumstances to make an arrest "legal." This is, in my view, an indicator of premeditation on the part of Crowley, and will not serve him well as we eventually hear more about the details.

Fourth, Gates' explosive reaction should be a lesson to us all We should try to control our urges to act out in ways that result in making ourselves vulnerable to others having control over the meaning of our outbursts (in other words, we should control our temper). However, this is easily stated by me, a white guy who has never been stopped, followed, searched, harassed, or suspected by law enforcement officials. Gates clearly has deeply scarred experiences with authority (especially law enforcement officers), something that every black male I have known also shares. The closest thing I have experienced this myself is when an African colleague of mine was in the passenger seat of my car when I drove into the gates of my campus. The gate had been open, but the security guard--someone very familiar with me and my car--put the gate down for a few seconds, until he noticed the mistake.

Finally--and this is the statement that I will be criticized for if anyone besides my sister is reading--I am very distressed with the assumption that law officers should have a presumption of controlling interactions with citizens. They are public servants, not paramilitary officials. They are there to serve us, not to control us. In every case where there is not imminent threat of physical harm, police should defer to citizens' rights to express themselves. And, when they are in the home of a person, they must assume that they are guests, with law enforcement power only when there is a clear public safety threat.

It is my view that the real error was made after police were convinced that the call was a false alarm. They should have left, and apologized to Gates, while also noting that they were responding to a 911 call.