Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Obama Needs to Add One More To Beer at the White House

This incident is sad the whole way around.
It shows what kind of ripples incidents like these have on individuals, families, communities and the nation. People took sides either for or against Gates or Crowley, without considering nuances, and demonized the other. These days it's so easy to tear people apart on the Internet and in the media. Judging from the 9-11 call, she is NOT a racist. Looks like Obama needs to add one more to the gathering over beer.

The woman whose 911 call led to the arrest of Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. spoke publicly for the first time about the case Wednesday, contradicting the arresting police officer on a key point and saying she was unfairly labeled a racist.

A police report said the caller described the possible burglars as "two black males with backpacks" — leading some commentators to vilify the caller as racist since it turned out Gates was entering his own home.

But the 911 recording released by police showed that Lucia Whalen never said two black men were involved. She did not describe their race, acknowledged they might just be having a hard time with the door and said she saw two suitcases on the porch. MSNBC