Page 44 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

18 racial, gender, and sexual-orientation microaggressions

officers who arrived at the scene. When he was asked to step out of the

house, Gates is reported to not have initially complied. When he fi nally did,
Gates was arrested, handcuffed, and taken to jail. The charges, however,
were subsequently dropped.
Within a short period of time, the incident made national headlines as

an example of police profiling of Black men, and news programs and talk
shows debated whether race had anything to do with the outcome. During
a news conference held by President Obama, he described the arrest of
Gates as “ stupid, ” and his remark brought on a huge outcry from primarily
White citizens who came to the defense of the police. The outcry resulted
in the President expressing regret at not “ calibrating ” his words more
carefully. He subsequently called both Gates and Crowley to invite them to
the White House to bridge misunderstandings over a glass of beer.
The Henry Louis Gates, Jr., incident is a prime example of the central
thesis of this book, microaggressions (racial, in this case).
• First, reports that Sergeant Crowley was a sensitive White offi cer, level -
headed, a role model to younger offi cers, and a man who devoted time
to training others on diversity and how not to racially profi le are docu-
mented by fellow officers. Gates is well known at Harvard and nationally

as someone who has worked for improved race relations, is good at
putting people at ease, cool and calm under fire, and devoted to social

justice. In other words, both men could be described as good, moral,
and decent human beings who believed in equality between the races.
Yet, as our future chapters indicate, no one is immune from inheriting
the racial biases of their forebears. While I cannot defi nitively conclude
that Crowley engaged in a series of microaggressions outside his level
of awareness, the arrest of Gates clearly reveals insensitivity to what it
must be like for a Black man (the resident of the home he was suspected

of breaking into) to be confronted with police officers. Even when he

showed pieces of identification that confirmed he was the legal resident

of the home, Crowley persisted in asking him to step out of the house
and onto the porch.
• This brings us to the second point. Both men are operating from differ-
ent racial realities. For Gates, his life has probably been fi lled with many
incidents of racial microaggressions (suspected of being a criminal, less
trustworthy, likely to be dangerous, etc.) that have been continuous
and cumulative. To be considered a criminal in his own home was the

(Continued)

1/20/10 2:55:40 PM
c01.indd 18
c01.indd 18 1/20/10 2:55:40 PM