Beginning To Unpack Race, Class, and Privilege in the Case of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

I’ve been mulling over the incident regarding Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. over the last few days and I fell like there is a lot to unpack regarding the intersections of race, class, and privilege here. If you aren’t familiar with the incident, Dr. Gates was arrested last week after someone called and reported an attempted robbery into his home. It turned out that Dr. Gate’s himself was trying to get his own door open, but after an altercation with the cops, Gates found himself arrested. There are, as usually is the case with incidents where the police are accused of wrongdoing, two quite different versions of events.

Now, I’m pondering questions of Class and Privilege in this incident at the risk of seeming to minimizing the very real disproportionate abuse and harassment of people of color in the hands of police officers. I want to make it clear that under no circumstances can I condone Professor Gate’s arrest. That said, I found myself alarmed at what I perceived (rightly or wrongly?) as the notion that what outrages is not so much that a black man was arrested for trying to get into his own home, but that a prestigious Harvard Professor, who also happens to be black was arrested for trying to get into his own home. There are more than enough examples of police abusing people of color just over the past six months. Why did this incident gain so much currency amongst the blogs, the media, the Twitterers? Why is President Obama being asked to weigh in on this incident and not, say, the Oscar Grant murder?

I suspect that it all boils down to class and status privilege with who is often deemed worthy of our outrage.

The police report alleges that Professor Gates said something along the lines of “you don’t know who you’re messing with.” The claim is questionable only because it’s a “he said/he said” situation, and it wouldn’t be the first time a cop has lied on a police report to cover ass. Is it really that unthinkable that Gates would say this, though? I have a hard time believing that Gates was not fully aware that he was going to come out of all this relatively unscathed. Professor Gates surely knows who that cop “was messing with.” He had to know that he could count on the best legal representation you can get; he had to know that he would have an outpouring of support based on his reputation as a distinguished scholar. In other words, he had to know that he wasn’t going to find himself face down on the ground with a cop’s knee in his back; he had to know that he wasn’t going to be tasered for tumultuous behavior; or worse, find himself dead. The point being: while I feel that Gates was done wrong, I have a hard time seeing him as the poster child for police abuse of black people. There most certainly were racial overtones to his treatment, but ultimately the affront upon Professor Gates was one of class and status. He’s not one of those working-class or poor people that probably “brought it upon themselves.” He’s distinguished, damnit! And so we must be outraged!

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I also need to say a few things to ward off the inevitable:

Do not take this post as some sort of affirmation of a post-racial United States. This is where class and race intersect, and it is much more complicated than that half-assed, simple-minded notion. Don’t go there.

I still feel that Professor Gates was done wrong. This isn’t an “hate on Gates” post. This is me trying to scratch the surface of what is going on. I write this because I don’t want to see anyone, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation have to put up with stuff like this. I write this because a lot of us would never get off as easily as Professor Gates did.

This is one of those posts that I’m putting out there for serious discussion. I’m not saying that I have it all figured out. Let’s talk. I won’t, however, put up with the usual drive-by comments from people that want to display their bigotry under the guise of free speech. This post, and all others following will be heavily moderated. Don’t come with the bullshit and I won’t delete you.

Rest in Peace, Walter Cronkite.

He was a great journalist. I’m not old enough to have fully appreciated his talent, but I am old enough to remember watching him on TV and knowing that he was the real deal.

“And that’s the way it is…”

Complexion, Atmosphere, or Dirty Negroes and Latin@s? It’s All the Same, Right?

If you haven’t heard about the “whites only” pool yet, this one is a doozy.

More than 60 campers from Northeast Philadelphia were turned away from a private swim club and left to wonder if their race was the reason.

Kids at Creative Steps Day Camp were thrilled to go swimming once a week at the Valley Swim Club. But after only one trip to the private club, they were…

“I heard this lady, she was like, ‘Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?’ She’s like, ‘I’m scared they might do something to my child,’” said camper Dymire Baylor.

The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club. The Valley Swim Club is a private club that advertises open membership. But the campers’ first visit to the pool suggested otherwise.

“When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool,” Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. “The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately.”

The next day the club told the camp director that the camp’s membership was being suspended and their money would be refunded.

And then comes the money quotation, from the President of the club, John Duesler:

“There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club,”

“Complexion”? “Atmosphere”? Really? You really just went there, didn’t you, Mr. Duesler? You might have gotten away with that shit if you had just said “atmosphere,” but you had to go and throw in that bit about the “complexion” of the club, didn’t you?

Mr. Duesler, your shit is showing, and it ain’t pretty.

My first thought, upon reading about this, was the same as Elon James White of This Week in Blackness. Total shock. Not so much at the thought that people think this way, but that people in this day and age say this shit out loud and do this shit in public (for fear of someone suing their ass off, of course, not out of embarrassment for being a bigot).

I was born ‘78. I’m not supposed to write about White’s only pools. I’m supposed to write about the subtle racism one finds in corporate America or perhaps while being followed in a department store.

For reals. I swear we’ve become so post-racial these days we’ve come full circle back to just full on, outright, in-your-face, no-holds-barred, some-fool-might-burn-a-cross-in-my-yard-next week, blatant racism. If you were unfortunate enough to see the original comments thread at the NBC Philadelphia link above, you know exactly what I’m talking about. That thread made your average YouTube thread look educated and informed (the thread has since been taken down from the site). Don’t worry, however, Elon. There was plenty of subtle racism going on in the coverage of this story such that folks like you and I can keep on blogging a-plenty. Yes, even the commentary on this event that tried to be, erm, civil, was blatantly offensive.

There were the “well, this incident was obviously racist, but people wouldn’t have to be so obviously racist if folks like Jesse Jackson and Al sharpton would just shut up (and all those damn coloreds would just stop talking about Michael Jackson)” responses. [Update: I linked to the wrong post as an example of this sort of BS thinking. I apologize to the author, who was rightfully pissed off about my mis-characterizing his post. I do, however, still have some major issues with his post, just not the ones that I am talking about here. I've removed the link to his post and will try to find the post that I meant to link to and replace it.]

Then there was someone, going by the name of “Johnny Bean,” that seemed to take a lot of pride in pointing out on every website and blog he or she could find that John Duesler was an Obama supporter. I can only assume because that just proves beyond any doubt that all Obama supporters are the real racists. And terrorists. And communists. And vegetarians.

And then there was the completely inexplicable, like this (click to enlarge):

If I had it, I would pay good money to anyone who can explain to me why a “nobama” picture, one that portrays him as a friggin’ monkey no less, is in any way pertinent to this story (is that supposed to be another one of those “all the Obama supporters are the real racists” jab? or what?). Add that picture with what Jane Roh writes, and I’m almost at a loss for words.

That is either a most unfortunate choice of words or a brutally honest confession. Thanks to underdevelopment and that pesky brain drain Philly seems stuck in the 80s, segregation-wise. And all of our local ethnic groups are really awesome at living up to their worst stereotypes. Still, Valley Swim Club: the No Coloreds in the Pool thing, really?? Brave.

What the hell does that even mean? All I can get out of it is “yeah, those white folks might’ve acted wrongly this time, but you gotta admit those Negroes and Latin@s ethnic groups sure do like to act up and cause trouble. Next time, don’t be so blatant about it, k?” That this came from a woman of color makes it all the more disturbing. I wanted to think that she had no choice about that “nobama” pic, but after reading what she wrote, I’m not so sure.

Are you as pissed off about all of this as I am? Well you know there are actions to be taken. So, lets do this.

Contact the club (via Marcy Web at Feministe):

The Valley Club Contact Directory
Physical Address:
22 Tomlinson Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006
The Valley Club

Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 134, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006

Club Phone Number:
215-947-0700

Club E-mail:
info@thevalleyclub.com

Join the Color of Change action to publicly condemn the Valley Club and call on the Justice Department to investigate whether it violated civil rights laws (via Jack and Jill Politics–and the emails y’all should all be getting).

Two weeks ago outside Philadelphia, sixty-five children from a summer camp tried to go swimming at a club their camp had a contract to use. Evidently, the club didn’t know the kids were largely Black.

When the campers entered the pool, White parents took their kids out of the water, and the swimming club’s staff asked the campers to leave. The next day, the club told the summer camp that their membership would be canceled and that they would refund their money. When asked why, the club’s leader said the kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club.”

A “Whites only” pool in 2009 should not be tolerated. The club’s actions appear to be a violation of section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act. Whether or not any laws were violated, a “Whites only” pool should be something every American condemns.

Please join us in doing exactly that, and please email your friends and family and invite them to do the same. Your signature will also be used to call on the Department of Justice to evaluate suing the facility under federal law. It takes just a moment to do both, here:

http://colorofchange.org/swim/

Obama is President but that doesn’t mean that suddenly all is fine when it comes to race in America. This is a vivid reminder of what we know still lies beneath the surface.

We all know stories like this one — similar incidents play out quietly every day in different communities across the country. The difference in this case is that folks got caught and there was a contract in place that makes for a potentially illegal act.

Standing up now isn’t just about making things right for these kids in Philadelphia or bringing consequences to this swim club (called the Valley Swim Club). It’s about creating a climate of accountability everywhere. If we can publicly shame the Valley Swim Club and hold them accountable for this incident, it will make others think twice before engaging in this kind of discrimination.

Please join us in condemning the Valley Swim Club’s blatant discrimination and calling on the Justice Department to investigate whether they violated civil rights laws. And please ask your friends and family to do the same.

http://www.colorofchange.org/swim/

Thanks and Peace,

– James, Gabriel, William, Dani and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
July 9th, 2009

ColorOfChange.org Applauds Plea Deal in Jena 6 Case

This is what can happen when folks get organized.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, June 26, 2009

ColorOfChange.org applauds plea deal in Jena 6 case

Online civil rights group raised more than $275,000 for legal defense

Oakland, CA- The organization that led the online mobilization in support of the Jena Six today applauded news that five of the young men have pleaded no contest to greatly reduced charges–a development the group called a just resolution to the racially-charged case. Though the defendants had initially been charged with attempted murder and conspiracy, they ultimately pleaded no contest to simple battery, and will serve a sentence of just 7 days of probation.

ColorOfChange.org said Friday that the plea deal marked an acknowledgement by officials that the Louisiana justice system initially treated the then-teenage boys too harshly, privileging white students’ accounts of a schoolyard fight over those of black students in the largely segregated town of Jena.

“Today’s plea deal shows that the original charges in the case were unfair and vastly overblown,” said James Rucker, ColorOfChange.org’s executive director. “The story of the Jena 6 was an extreme example of what can happen when a justice system biased against black boys operates unchecked. But it’s also an example of what can happen when hundreds of thousands of people across the country stand up to challenge unequal justice. Together, we drew the country’s attention to this case and raised the money necessary to fund a strong legal defense.”

ColorOfChange.org, the first national organization involved in supporting the Jena 6, was instrumental in drawing national attention to the case, working alongside local activists in Jena and black bloggers across the country to spread word of the excessive charges and the story behind them.

More than 300,000 ColorOfChange.org members signed petitions to elected officials, urging that the charges be dropped and that then-Governor Kathleen Blanco intervene. The group organized more than 10,000 of its members to march in Jena on September 20, 2007. The same day, thousands of members in over 150 cities across the country held rallies and vigils and distributed flyers about the case; they also made more than 6,000 phone calls to public officials in Louisiana.

ColorOfChange members also contributed more than $275,000 toward high-quality legal teams, which succeeded in getting a biased judge removed from the cases and ultimately achieved today’s victory.

Rucker said that the collective effort–joined by bloggers, black radio personalities, and national and Louisiana-based activists–turned the tide in favor of the young men.

The sixth teenager charged, Mychal Bell, pleaded guilty to battery in juvenile court on December 3rd, 2007.

With more than half a million members, ColorOfChange.org is the largest African-American online political organization in the country.

Yes, This Fool Actually Went There

You really had to use a watermelon prop, didn’t you, Glenn Beck? Thanks for being, erm, subtle about it. Asshole.

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Voting Rights Act

Bloomberg:

June 23 (Bloomberg) — Consensus is back at the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts — at least for a day.

Issuing perhaps the most highly anticipated ruling of its nine-month term yesterday, the justices voted 8-1 to avoid ruling on whether a central provision of the Voting Rights Act is constitutional. Roberts’s opinion for the court circumvented that issue by instead making it easier for some jurisdictions to change election procedures and district lines.

The compromise ruling comes from a court that has divided along ideological lines in the past two years on race, terrorism, campaign finance, abortion and the death penalty. The decision recalled Roberts’s first term in 2005-06, when the court ruled unanimously in an abortion case and Roberts spoke publicly about his desire for consensus.

I could go on at length about that one dissenting vote, however, a picture really is worth a thousand words.

LGBT Groups Speak Out Against DOJ Defense of DOMA

What they said, yes.

From the ACLU

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org

We are very surprised and deeply disappointed in the manner in which the Obama administration has defended the so-called Defense of Marriage Act in a brief filed today in Smelt v. United States, a lawsuit brought in federal court in California by a married same-sex couple asking the federal government to treat them equally with respect to federal protections and benefits. The administration is using many of the same flawed legal arguments that the Bush administration used. These arguments rightly have been rejected by several state supreme courts as legally unsound and discriminatory.

We disagree with many of the administration’s arguments, for example, that DOMA is a valid exercise of Congress’s power, is consistent with Equal Protection or Due Process principles, and does not impinge upon rights that are recognized as fundamental.

We are also extremely disturbed by a new and nonsensical argument the administration has advanced suggesting that the federal government needs to be “neutral” with regard to its treatment of married same-sex couples in order to ensure that federal tax money collected from across the country not be used to assist same-sex couples duly married by their home states. There is nothing “neutral” about the federal government’s discriminatory denial of fair treatment to married same-sex couples: DOMA wrongly bars the federal government from providing any of the over one thousand federal protections to the many thousands of couples who marry in six states. This notion of “neutrality” ignores the fact that while married same-sex couples pay their full share of income and social security taxes, they are prevented by DOMA from receiving the corresponding same benefits that married heterosexual taxpayers receive. It is the married same-sex couples, not heterosexuals in other parts of the country, who are financially and personally damaged in significant ways by DOMA. For the Obama administration to suggest otherwise simply departs from both mathematical and legal reality.

When President Obama was courting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender voters, he said that he believed that DOMA should be repealed. We ask him to live up to his emphatic campaign promises, to stop making false and damaging legal arguments, and immediately to introduce a bill to repeal DOMA and ensure that every married couple in America has the same access to federal protections.

More later. I have some thoughts on this nation of laws argument that seems to be popping up all over the place. (*cough cough* I smell bullshit.)