About That Beer...

Last week’s White House meeting with Professor Henry Louis Gates, Sergeant James Crowley, President Barack Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden must have been the most publicized happy hour of the last 50 years (assuming, that is, that happy hours have been around that long). We had pictures from every angle and accounts before, during, and after the meeting, including about who drank what and plans for a field trip to a Red Sox or Celtics game. All that was missing was slow-motion replay with sip-by-sip commentary. Sooner or later, maybe we will have that, too. Regrettably, we don’t have the same coverage of Gates and Crowley’s very first meeting – that would have been far more interesting and useful.

I’ve thought a lot about that Cambridge “meeting” in the context of what we teach in Civil Treatment^® and how it could have been avoided; yet, without knowing exactly what happened, it is difficult to fully understand the event. What I do believe, though, is that this could have been a different situation had there been more “listening” in Cambridge before this all unfolded, rather than after.

This past Wednesday, I had lunch with a recent graduate and current staff member of Morehouse College; he’s an outstanding person and leader. At 25, he does not have the lifetime of experience accumulated by Professor Gates. I learned a lot from his insights. A child of the ‘80s, he and others his age have already had experiences in their own lives as well as heard stories from their family histories that cause them to understand Professor Gates’ reaction and why encounters with police can be alarming or worse. Those are neither my experiences nor those of my family; the police experiences we’ve had have been completely helpful and kind. We’ve had police assistance in the midst of family emergencies. They saved us.

Thus, I see police officers as people to trust rather than to fear. At the same time, I grew up aware that law enforcement has grave perils. My whole life I’ve read and heard of how what appeared to be innocent encounters have led to police fatalities. I would imagine that learning not to underestimate risk even in seemingly innocent situations is part of officer training and a key to survival.

When I listened to my friend and others, it became obvious to me how two people with different identities, backgrounds, and histories could view the same event entirely differently and how Professor Gates could see prejudice and terror lurking from what to me would seem, at worst, an annoying or disturbing but not threatening event. I can also understand how Sergeant Crowley may have seen what to others was a case of simple mistaken identity rise to a risky, uncertain moment.

While we don’t know exactly what happened in Professor Gates’ home, I’m convinced that both Gates and Crowley each acted and reacted based not only on the events of the moment but also on their assumptions and perceptions, which were the product of lifetimes of experience, anecdotes told by family members and colleagues, and quick and unconscious thought patterns.

We are all like Gates and Crowley. None of us can consistently shed the accumulation of associations that cause us to interpret the same events differently –sometimes the results are good, sometimes bad, sometimes tragic. What we all need is knowledge of the experience of others so we can see things from their perspective to help change how we react to unfolding events and prevent bad history from repeating itself.

As to what happened at the White House last week, it should have happened earlier. And all of us should be involved. I don’t mean that literally, of course. Many of us are fascinated by our own heritage, genealogies, and family stories. In my view, it is just as important that we have an awareness, curiosity, and understanding of those who do not share these elements with us. We need to get together and talk informally over beer or a Coke now, rather than after events have caused problems that lead to more complex, expensive, and unnecessary resolutions. And as I’ve written elsewhere, the issue is not what we say but rather what we hear, absorb, and apply.