Whiteous Indignation: The Smugness of Sgt. Crowley

"How cute!" my adults would say when they passed a black baby or a small black child. They'd grin approvingly at the baby and smile their acceptance at the baby's mom. Sometimes they'd extend a hand to brush the baby's cheek to prove their gentility. And then they'd walk a bit further, lean into each other and snark the zinger that angered me then and now, "yeah, they're cute now but wait till they get older." There it was. There it is. The not so subtle prejudice I witnessed in my family that millions of impressionable children witnessed in theirs.

As far back as I can remember I was offended by this language. But others in my family, in my generation, were not. Many assumed the attitudes and language of our adults andcontinued these prejudices into their adulthoods. Some more strongly than others. Some used the "N word." Some used "ditsoon," the Italian pejorative for blacks. In my large extended family, that includes several police, racial insensitivity was the norm.

That same racial insensitivity ran throughout my New York community. They weren't violent racists. They didn't burn crosses on black people's lawns. They held no memberships in the Klan. They never attended segregated schools or used "white only" bathrooms. But somehow they just knew that they were "better." They had that white smugness - that air of superiority I still witness on some faces. I see it on the faces of certain whites in the House and Senate when they speak of President Obama. I see it on the face of CNN's Lou Dobbs when he conspires against President Obama. I saw it on the faces of the thick blue line of police unions on July 24th when they challenged three Black officials (President Obama, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Cambridge Mayor Denise Simmons) for speaking against racial profiling and the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Gates.

I've seen persistent smugness from Gates' arresting officer, Sergeant James Crowley, in his encounters with the press. This supposed expert on racial sensitivity has shown no sensitivity at all. But he does seem pleasantly taken with his fame. And why shouldn't he be? He out-maneuvered the President. He arrested a man for yelling-while-at-home and scored a beer at the White House as reward!

And, of course, there's no chance of an apology. Not from smug Sergeant Crowley!! He's the winner! Here, see for yourselves:

The police unions, the few officers of color who fell meekly behind their blue line, and the many who won't acknowledge their part in perpetuating inequality, made a dreadful error in supporting Crowley's arrest of Gates. This is a win for racism. Rather than narrow the gap of insensitivity, they've expanded the racial divide.