(Originally published 2010, Paperback edition 261)
When the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. first became public, I felt the media
and public in general had completely lost leave of their senses. Few were
willing to step back and take a deep breath before jumping to conclusions.
Demagogues and lunatic exclamations such as Glenn Beck's remarks about President
Obama being racist against whites were carrying the day. A six-minute event came
to highlight the large racial divide which still plagues our country. Speaking
as a white man married to an white woman and father of two, adopted
African-American sons, it was truly a disheartening moment. We live in Maine
which is the whitest state in our country, yet, has a reputation of being very
tolerant. This we've found to be true. There are many people in our community
who have been extremely supportive of our family dynamic and, yet, our two
now-teenage sons have been at the receiving end of racist stereotypes. Some of
them based on ignorance and others likely because the people were flaming
A-holes.
Mr. Ogletree covers well-trodded ground showing examples and discussing racial profiling. As he so aptly puts, "Those who believe that we are in a post-racial environment are naive at best or racially insensitive at worst." The Henry Louis Gates Jr. incident is used as a launching pad for a more broader discussion about how black MEN are perceived in America. Despite the author being a close friend of Professor Gates as well as a faculty member of Harvard, Mr. Ogletree does not set his sights on tarnishing Sargent Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department. He shows the officer to be well-respected by both black and white men in blue. Instead, the author convincingly shows that electing an African-American president hasn't changed our perspective of racial stereotypes. The best that can be said about President Obama's historic accomplishment is it brought out into the open bigotry or bigotry disguised as something else.
The author also explains what were the other factors that caused the LA riots after the police officers were found not guilty of beating the living daylights out of Rodney King. The book contains statistics from numerous studies showing consistent bias against blacks being targeted by the justice system. Racial profiling by law enforcement as well as in regular, everyday interactions with the public is not a rare phenomenon. What is especially discouraging is the afterword where 100, very well-accomplished men describe how despite their ascension into a higher economic class are still victims of prejudice. Part of the obligation of being parents to African-American children is that my wife and I are continually discussing issues white people can ignore; driving while black, being shadowed in department stores by security or staff, the dos-and-don'ts of interacting with people who don't know them, and the stereotypes about blacks that could get them either arrested or worse killed. These factors are reality. I live in fear for my sons. Mr. Ogletree's short, very informative book is well worth reading for anyone who believes everyone should be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.
Mr. Ogletree covers well-trodded ground showing examples and discussing racial profiling. As he so aptly puts, "Those who believe that we are in a post-racial environment are naive at best or racially insensitive at worst." The Henry Louis Gates Jr. incident is used as a launching pad for a more broader discussion about how black MEN are perceived in America. Despite the author being a close friend of Professor Gates as well as a faculty member of Harvard, Mr. Ogletree does not set his sights on tarnishing Sargent Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department. He shows the officer to be well-respected by both black and white men in blue. Instead, the author convincingly shows that electing an African-American president hasn't changed our perspective of racial stereotypes. The best that can be said about President Obama's historic accomplishment is it brought out into the open bigotry or bigotry disguised as something else.
The author also explains what were the other factors that caused the LA riots after the police officers were found not guilty of beating the living daylights out of Rodney King. The book contains statistics from numerous studies showing consistent bias against blacks being targeted by the justice system. Racial profiling by law enforcement as well as in regular, everyday interactions with the public is not a rare phenomenon. What is especially discouraging is the afterword where 100, very well-accomplished men describe how despite their ascension into a higher economic class are still victims of prejudice. Part of the obligation of being parents to African-American children is that my wife and I are continually discussing issues white people can ignore; driving while black, being shadowed in department stores by security or staff, the dos-and-don'ts of interacting with people who don't know them, and the stereotypes about blacks that could get them either arrested or worse killed. These factors are reality. I live in fear for my sons. Mr. Ogletree's short, very informative book is well worth reading for anyone who believes everyone should be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.
(Meyers - A few years ago, I
started writing, under the pseudonym Franklin the Mouse, short
reviews at Amazon's web site. This is my most recent review #308)
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