When we think of the term "race", it is often followed by a trivial concern over whether we're discussing a left-turn circuit meet or a categorization of our fellow human. The topic of race is one that I greatly take to the heart, as I often speak aloud on various topics of racism. In current news, we've experienced a racial scenario that parallels to ridiculous; the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. is my topic of today.
While returning from a trip in China, a neighbor in Gates' Cambridge neighborhood phoned in police of a reported break-in. When Gates was confronted by Sgt. Crowley it wasn't a laughing matter. Gates was asked what he was doing on the grounds and was repeatedly harassed into showing identification - Gates promptly responded by demanding the officer's name and badge number, which was not given lightly. Gates was then arrested for disorderly conduct, on the porch of his own home because he refused to accept the profiling of a racially enraged neighbor and police officer.
Race isn't just an issue that is affecting African-Americans in this country; with the events of September 11th - and since then - Arab-Americans have become the new "fad" in racial profiling. It is often a frenzy to hear a friend describe any middle-easterner as a terrorist, when just a generation before our most feared "terrorists" were Russians.
We have reached an apex of human appreciation and our control over future conditions will define whether or not we spiral out of control or exit successfully. The time to sit down and discuss matters of race are long over due, especially since we've elected our first African-American President in the history of this country. Whether we can get over the stigma of racial supremacy or segregation will be a challenge for this generation, a feat for the future.
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