Saturday, August 22, 2009
How the Great Beer Summit Failed
If you didn't hear about the "beer summit" and the events that led to it, then clearly you were not paying attention to the mainstream media during the latter part of the month of July. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a very famous and well known professor to any regular viewer of PBS television, was arrested on his front porch by a police officer near (or actually on) the Harvard campus. CLICK FOR: summary of events.
We're not particularly interested in debating who was "right" and "wrong" in this mess, nor whether the arrest was fueled by racial profiling or racism. What is interesting is the follow-up and it's impact on race relations. So is this it? We give two aggrieved parties a beer and, as Laurie Mulvey says in the video, they agree to disagree and we call it "dialogue"?
Tell us what you think about what she's saying. Is the event (and the spillover) indicative of our need for racial dialogue and racial healing...or is it merely another case of a small incident getting blown out of proportion by mass media outlets in search of sales?
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158 comments:
Journals are EASY points!
Barack Obama’s initial action to invite the African American Harvard professor and the arresting officer Sergeant James Crowley for a beer should have been the setting for touching on the issue of black profiling, and different look on it from the officer’s side. It should have been reconciliation amongst not only them but also between other cases similar to this one. “The Great Beer Summit” had a lot of potential to come out in a very positive outlook but I think Obama failed in doing that for a good reason.
Obama’s goal was to reconcile this issue but instead he tried to facilitate it and bury it in the sand. He didn’t want to get into the logistics and details of what happened. I don’t believe that they both came out with a proper understanding of why what occurred, occurred. But it wasn’t Obama’s fault. His decision to play it cool was simply a smart political move. If he had dig deeper into the situation, it would probably force him to chose a side and make opinions on the issue, which would be political suicide. It was very critical because of other controversies like healthcare and his lowering president approval rate. It wouldn’t be smart of him to take a side because when you take one side, the other side is not going to like you so well.
I believe he wanted to do the correct thing but politics always seems to get in the way. This invitation and its outcome and result attest to more then just the obvious. It attests to American politics and how the complexities of it sometimes get in the way of doing what is right. Politicians would rather do what is more politically correct then what is the right thing to do and I honesty don’t blame them because it is the way society has made it as well the way the citizens themselves have made it.
So we can take a lot from this “beer summit” like the issue on racial profiling or how police how supposed to respond to certain things but I think the most important but oblivious thing is how Obama really couldn’t make this effective because of politics. His job was to make everyone happy for the sake of politics and he did, even though he could have done more to improve the situation. I don’t think anything was solved through this invitation.
I think the real question here is why was the president of the United States even involved in this non issue? And worse, what does it say about his decision making capabilities when he would take a public position without gathering and weighing the facts?
It’s never good enough is it? Her solution to the ideal “Beer Summit”: “light bulbs should go on”…and productive conversation should include statements like “oh I’ve never heard that before...and...WOAH I would’ve done the same thing.” Is this not the type of solution that she would ALSO classify as typical, disappointing, and backing away from the table playing it safe? I don't get it. 1. People CAN and SHOULD put things behind them. 2. People DO NOT have to agree. 3. Sometimes you have to choose your battles. The “Beer Summit” is no place for getting to the root of racism or whatever it is she is looking to be solved. What’s the solution? The solution is to stop deconstructing! Her opinions on the matter do nothing to solve anything. I’m sure she is a very bright woman, but while she confesses that she does not know exactly what they talked about she apparently does know what they did not talk about based off a few remarks by Pres. Obama “the past is behind us.” They skimmed the surface? OK. Even if they did, who cares? She makes it seem like a crime that they would want to have another beer together. Maybe that next meeting…MAYBE without the beer and within a more formal setting…THAT would be the place to dig a little deeper. On another note, one thing that I feel discredits somebody is their distortion that they can address the president like they are his superior. It makes me cringe every time Keith Olbermann feels elitist enough to speak mono to mono to Bush, to Bill O’Reilly, or whoever. “So here’s the deal, Barrack Obama, next time perhaps a Hookah Summit…” …that statement right there sums up this entire video. I hate to say it but this is bitching at its best. Unproductive and just irritating to watch. Just let it go. You're going to die right? so who cares.
The original idea by Barack Obama to have The Great Beer Summit was initially a step in the right direction. By inviting both the arresting officer and the Harvard professor, it seemed like Obama was prepared to tackle the race topic that has plagued our country for so long. However, The Great Beer Summit did not solve hundreds of years old race problems. Since the race issue was swept under the rug at The Great Beer Summit, people blame Obama. Sure, Obama had this meeting to discuss the issue at hand, but Americans cannot blame him for the race issue in our society these days. He is criticized for just skimming the surface and not solving the complete problem. Do people forget how long this issue has gone on? Do people realize that other people can make changes as well? It is true that Obama could have done more to fix the problem that caused The Great Beer Summit, but he did not. So are we just going to sit around and criticize him alone? Other people, past presidents, past political figures, members of the church, have tried to fix this issue and yet it is still not completely fixed. That is because Americans have to fix it themselves. Barack Obama cannot have The Great Beer Summit and expect all the racial problems in America to be corrected. And yet, Americans are infuriated that he did not go deeper into the subject. One man cannot change every person in America’s racial views, they have to want to change themselves. Sure, Barack Obama is the first black president America has had, but he can’t change America in one day, let alone one meeting. He only scratched the surface, like all great politicians do, but wait for tomorrow. Who’s to say that he would not fix things in the months, or years to come? Things like this take time, obviously, we have been dealing with this issue since the time of our ancestors. So, for us to sit back and criticize Barack Obama for not going deep enough into the matter is ridiculous. He did not even have to get involved in the first place. We need to reflect upon ourselves and realize that we, not him, have to change for ourselves. Obama cannot change our own personal opinions on everything. We also need to realize that some people just do not want to change their racial ways. Even though they should, one meeting by Obama won’t change them by tomorrow. So yeah, Obama could have done a better job at The Great Beer Summit, by digging into the situation deeper. But tomorrow he could dig more, at least he is taking steps in the right direction. They are baby steps, but at least they are steps.
I think the beer summit was absolutely the media blowing an unfortunate event out of proportion. Clearly it got the attention the media wanted it to and had people all over spilling their views on who was right and wrong. I also think the beer summit was an attempt for President Obama to make people believe he has all the answers by trying out a new way to solve a heated situation. Unfortunately it is going to take a lot more than a beer to solve the actual problems that matter out there. Laurie Mulvey was right when she said that the conversation was probably very polite and didn’t delve into the problem at hand. They probably had more discussion on how the Harvard fencing team did last season and if they picked up any new prospects for this year. The fact that on nine out of ten news stations there was four people sitting around a table and having a beer was ridiculous. The biggest news story of the day beside the actual event was what brand of beer the host purchased and if it matched the winner of the online poll. Either way the media focused everyone’s attention away from the failing economy, the national debt, the Americans that are dying overseas in war, and Michael Vick moving from killing dogs to flying with the Eagles. The problem with this situation, in discussing who was right and who was wrong, is no one actually knows what happened. Memories get distorted and exaggerations become unavoidable. The cop probably thought he was doing the right thing because he did not know the professor and the professor was probably just very upset that he was being questioned inside his own home. Sadly, these types of occurrences happen often but get no attention. Sometimes it is fueled by racism and racial profiling, and other times it’s just following protocol. But, once again a beer is not going to solve anything but a hangover. I do feel that the media can spin a story anyway they want to. They can turn a trial over a burglary into the next Michael Jackson trials. This is unfortunate because there are too many people out there that will accept everything there told if it is from the media or an authority figure. They will agree and press their point of view onto others which is the danger in the media. Clearly America is at a point were we needed to start fixing our racial problems. The blame needs to stop being passed around and we as a country need to find a way to put our differences aside and come to a middle ground were we can all live in peace and harmony with out any beer summits.
The beer summit was initially a well-intentioned idea by President Obama that was construed by the media into something much different. I applaud Obama for even holding the meeting, as many presidents would simply take no notice of the issue and sweep it under the rug like countless other social issues. During Obama’s presidency, he has shown a consistent willingness to discuss race in this country with an open mind and remove all that is taboo from the topic. While it may be true that the meeting did not get to the bottom of racial tension, this was not the intended point of the meeting between these two men. It was Obama’s goal to display the fact that two men of different races could get past the issue and nullify any racial tension that was present. Moreover, why is it President Obama’s responsibility to eliminate racism? Is it because he is black? I would find it interesting to see how people would react if a white man held this “beer summit”. Race is something that is ever-present in society and will never go away. People must understand that it is not one man’s job to rid of racial tension that has haunted society for hundreds of years. The media itself had already discussed the racial notions behind the controversy between Sgt. James Crowley and Henry Louis Gates Jr. There is no need for Obama to make an already awkward situation even more so by delving into deep issues that have already been thoroughly discussed by people across the country and are for no place with beer and cameras. By holding the meeting in the first place and holding a good-natured conversation Obama was indirectly addressing the topic of race. He was saying that all of society must get past this issue and realize race is nothing more than a color and if society continually makes a big deal out every occurrence involving racial tension and demanding a lengthy discussion it will last forever. I would be interested in knowing what the woman felt would come out of a meeting that deeply discussed race in the country. Would it end racism in America? No. Would it get rid of all racial tension and stereotypes? No. Would it make her happy? Yes. People must realize that racism is something that at the heart of it is about people. It is not a lock that needs a missing key and it is not something that can be solved in a couple hours or a day. If issues of race are to be ended that perhaps all people should have their own discussions in their own heads and stop relying on others to do the talking for them.
The Great Beer summit was a major failure in furthering race relations. Like so many others, I was disappointed by the fact that Obama did not address these crucial issues head-on. Obama, such a powerful influence in our country, could have set a standard for developing race relations. In our society, this subject is avoided by most people at all costs. When this topic is dealt with, almost everyone in the room feels awkward and uncomfortable. Many people are afraid to delve into the subject because they think that they will offend others or seem racist themselves. However, by our president not addressing these issues at all, we are not solving one of the greatest problems facing our society.
One key statement that stuck out to me was the phrase about peering over the fence to learn about our neighbors. Unfortunately, in our fast paced society, people do not take the time to actually sit down and discover why people live their lives the way that they choose. Instead, they decide to just make assumptions and act cordially in order to “get by” from day to day. Sadly, however, by not learning about our neighbors and the world around us, we cannot help to break down these “invisible fences” that have been created.
After watching this video, a part of me began to wonder what Obama’s intentions were when he invited this professor and the policeman over to the White House. Did he invite them over just to talk about the future over a beer? Or was his intention truly to talk about race issues only to fail for whatever reason? I would be curious to find out why they were invited by Obama in the first place. Unfortunately, I think the only one that knows the answer to this question is Obama himself and possibly the two who were invited.
Another issue that I thought about was what would have happened if the racial roles were reversed. What would have happened if it had been a White professor at Harvard and a Black policeman? Would it have made such national news? Would Obama have invited the two individuals over to the White House? After thinking about it for a few minutes, I had made my decision. Overall, I did not think it would have become so press worthy since there is no huge race issue that would have occurred. It would have been hard for the professor to claim that the cop was racist if the roles would have been reversed. However, I think that there would have been a lot of press if an altercation ensued and the professor did not think that the policeman acted professionally. In addition, I do not believe Obama would have invited them over to the White House if the racial positions had been switched. In the future, it will be interesting to see if there are any similar situations to this incident in which the roles are reversed.
The idea of having a beer summit doesn’t seem to be appropriate considering the reason both the police officer and Harvard professor were invited to the White House. From the begging of the video I had some questions that I need to be answered. Was this supposed to be a hate crime ? If it was I don’t think they should’ve been invited to the white house. I doubt there was a shoot out or any kind of riot so I don’t know why it would be different than any other situation of a police officer arresting someone of a different race on Cops.
I think the only reason that this situation was augmented was because it’s a high profile professor from Harvard. What exactly happened to cause him to get arrested ? He got locked out of his home and got arrested for it because someone made a mistake. Regardless of the circumstances I don’t think Obama should’ve had a Beer Summit . I understand that sometimes that showing that you’re a leader is to bring yourself to the level of your people and to go through and solve problems with them on a personal basis. However in this situation, if in fact a hate crime or discrimination of any kind occurred I don’t believe that inviting them for beer is going to solve a thing. From my experiences when you’re faced with someone that’s in a position of power and that person suggests something like reconciliation you tend to go along with it. So, since Obama is the leader of the nation I don’t think that neither the professor or officer would want to disagree or go against the things being suggested to them.
I feel like if people were to solve all of their problems by simply skimming the surface of a situation and then just putting things aside that things would never change for the better. I think that some people just take the easy way out of things instead of taking their time because its easier than actually thoroughly solving a situation. To see that same kind of behavior coming from the president says something about the country as a whole. I don’t believe that the two people involved in the situation should be made out as either a victim or villain. In this case it was a simple mistake that was taken to another level because of the countries past with police and racial profiling.
Even though the Beer Summit was created with positive intentions, it seemed to just raise more questions about the decision making capabilities of the Obama. This situation wasn’t even about racial profiling, rather it was a case of mistaken identity. I don’t believe that the officer arrested the professor with malicious intent however, the past officers that have racially profiled people are the cause for the situation being made out to be larger than it actually is.
The Great Beer Summit had the beginnings of what could have been a monumental moment on the issue of race relations. President Barack Obama, I feel, took a step in the right direction, by meeting with the figure heads of this issue, however I do not feel that his initial comments were well thought out. Although, the way Obama handled the situation was not of many people’s choosing, I do feel that it was an improvement to past Presidents who we have recently seen. Even if this meeting would have truly drove home the issue of race relations, I do not think the issue would have been solved. Obama took a giant risk in just inviting these two people to the White House. I feel that if he had attempted to go deeper into the subject, an even bigger media circus would have erupted. Sure, in our heads, taking on the issue directly is a better idea, but in reality I’m not so sure it is, or even is possible. Changing the way we think on the issue of race relations takes more than just one person. It will take a nationwide effort to subliminally, for lack of a better term, change our corrupted way of thinking. President Obama cannot bring racism to an end simply by standing up against it. This issue is similar to the economic and environmental issues we are also currently facing. It will take change from the entire nation, not just a small group of people, to actually have on impact. With this being said, I do feel that the media was blowing an event out of proportion in one aspect. Reading a CNN report, a whole paragraph focused on the four different types of beers the foursome was drinking. On the positive side, if it were not for the media blowing this out of proportion, we would probably not be discussing this issue right now. To me, this is a small step forward in an issue that has little end in sight. To even be discussing such topics on a national scale seems like a step forward to me. Even if it was just “skimming the surface,” isn’t this better than not skimming it at all? Or on the other side of the coin, should we not have even flared up this issue? Should we have just let the courts deal with it and continue in a silent “agreement”? I personally feel that discussing the issue is better than silently beginning to become fed up with such actions. It’s time to bring some of the issues involved in racial relations to the national scale. I’d be happy to watch a five to seven minute discussion on the Today Show about racial relations, with two intelligent individuals debating the issue. Why not start to discuss the issue, because we all know how long it takes Washington, and the media to come to an agreement on major issues.
Personally I believe the Summit was both a failure and a success. I can agree with Ms. Mulvey to a certain extent, that President Obama did not provide a catalyst on what could have been a great forum for racial discussion and understanding. The summit had no effect on changing how both aggrieved parties felt about the situation. I’m sure after their quick drinks and such, both the arresting officer and professor Gates still felt that he was in the right and the other man was wrong. In fact the summit had zero effect on how our nation interprets and feels about racial issues, so Ms. Mulvey is correct here. I do however feel that her expectations of this summit were a bit high. It would have been very unlikely after a few drinks of beer (more so a quick sip) for both men and our nation as a whole to come away with any substantial lesson that relates to race and racial interactions.
Mr. Usual eloquently said (I’m paraphrasing here) that it would have been hard for President Obama to force the conversation of race into this little “peace meeting” because that would be political suicide. If he chose one side over the other then the opposing side would be outraged and his already slipping popularity numbers would have taken even more of a tumble, so he made the safest political move—a quasi-peace party—where he would not be subjected to offending anyone. President Obama reaching out and arranging this summit and then not digging into the essence of why the summit was arranged was a success when we look at it from a politician’s point of view. Reach out and show concern, but don’t offend anyone—keep your cards close to your chest.
Now back tracking to answer the question at hand, the event and the summit do show our nation’s need for more racial discussions. The discussion of race has been the elephant in the room for quite some time and the more we ignore it, the larger it grows. Attorney General Eric Holder bluntly correctly said in February of this past year when he said “the U.S. is still a nation of cowards when it comes to race relations”. While we celebrate having a bi-racial president or our first black president, and while we have teenagers of colour listening to rock and white teenagers listening to rap; I’m sure we’d be hard pressed to find a white family going on vacation with a black family or any other family of colour. As Attorney General Holder put it we have “voluntarily segregated” ourselves. We have no qualms about working side by side with someone of a different colour, but as I stated in my previous sentence the prospect of finding families or individuals of mixed races participating in socially recreational activities is extremely slim. The fact that we ignore such alarming signs is very distressing because while the colour of an individual’s skin has a powerful effect on how he or she views the world and how the world views him or her, that same skin colour is only superficial because studies have shown that there is no race gene. When you get down to the nitty gritty of biology there is no DNA strand that can tell you if a person is black, white, red or yellow.
This event, from Gates getting arrested to the Beer Summit to the press conference following the summit has been given the amount of attention needed when something like this (race related) happens. If the media had not brought attention to it, America(the general public at least) would not know that this kind of racism still exists. I will admit that I have false judgments all the time, on white people, black people, fat people, kids, who ever, we all pre-judge people but how we act on that judgement and whether or not we attempt to make that judgement right is what sets people apart.
In this example of how Obama reacted by inviting the gentlemen over for a beer seemed like a good idea. Hey guys, lets take a couple drinks, talk about a couple of things, and realize our mistakes, maybe come up with a solution, come on over to my house, I’ll bring the beer.... Of coarse it didn’t happen like that, first of all when will having a beer with the president ever be casual? You would think a meeting with Obama, with anyone about a racial issue, would create some kind of statement to be made or that the elephant in the room would be exposed but even with the president, the main issue was still skimmed over. The meeting ended with the two men involved in the mishap to “agree to disagree” I understand that nobody wants to say ‘my bad’, but why didn’t the meeting end with answers to questions like: why is this such a big deal, why do we both think we are right, why is it a white police officer and a respected black professor, if it was a white officer and a white harvard professor would this be such an issue in the media..would there even be an issue, would the white officer arrest the white professor?
I’m not sure what the intentions of Obama holding this meeting were, but if it was just for two guys to come together and agree to disagree, that might have been a waste of time. I think we might have already knew they felt that way. If anything this should raise question in everybody's mind like: does racism, especially black racism, still exist? What is it that causes the color of ones skin to immediately be put into x,y, or z category. Is there a way to change that initial stereotype.
One answer to a question Officer Crowley said at a press conference (post-beer summit) was “We didn’t dwell to much on the past, we focused on the future.” Now why do you suppose they didn’t focus on the past? Is it because re-living something bad that happen is to hard to handle for a harvard professor and a police officer? Or is it because like most people, we see that racism exists and choose not to bring it up because ‘that would be awkward.’
I was actually studying abroad while the “The Great Beer Summit” occurred, and never heard of the incident until today. The initial action taken by Lucia Whalen was the correct action to be taken. If I were to see two men trying to force open a door I most likely would have reacted in the same way. What was reported by Crowley and on the audio tapes was ludicrous behavior by Gates. Sometimes an innocent bystander does not know facts occurring and therefore creates an immediate reaction to the situation, whether it is right or wrong; in this situation, it caused police to arrive at Gates’ home. For gate to react by saying “Why, because I'm a black man in America?” is, in my opinion, racist on his end. It is an official’s job to investigate a possible crime scene. I also found it hypocritical that later Gates stated “My entire academic career has been based on improving race relations, not exacerbating them. I am hopeful that my experience will lead to greater sensitivity to issues of racial profiling in the criminal justice system.”
The entire racism-fiasco lead up to Obama’s “The Great Beer Summit.” Obama had only good intentions for this meeting, but in my opinion poorly planned the beer date. He invited the families of Crowley and Gates to tour the Whitehouse while the three gentlemen and Biden discussed the issue at hand. However, the only issues discussed were small talk compared to what really should have happened. As Gates previously had explained to the Boston Globe he is about “improving race relations, not exacerbating them.” All of the gentlemen should have sat around the table, and attempt to discuss the racial matters at hand: How could have the situation could have been approved for Gates to feel less offended, how the matter could have been solved differently, what can be done in the future to reconcile matters in a better way, and why they think the incident escalated in the way it did.
If those questions were to be answered at the beer summit instead of having a conversation you might find in a cafeteria, something more might have been able to come out of this situation. Do I think they should have another, and better, beer summit? Yes, this time they should invite more people of all races to help decide what can be done to help prevent racism in these odd situations.
The media did not blow this out of proportion in my opinion, I had not even heard about it overseas at all, and racism is global. If anything I wish this issue was better televised and in the news more. Racism is a thing of the past, and should be left there.
What Barack Obama did may not have been about race at all. It may have been about simply cooling the flames from the media’s fire. Personally, I believe that the entire situation was blown out of porportion. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. used his prestige and race to create a media outrage. In this country race and race relaions has always been a topic of high concern, but has always been pushed to the back burner. It is something that no one wants to talk about. Maybe Obama did it just to show everyone that he was cool. That he is perfectly capabale of handiling an out of control situation when it comes to a person of interest. Having a beer is a very casual meeting you do with some one whom you consider a friend.
Obama could not have intervened at all. The situation could have been handled a little more formally. It just shows us that two perfectly, grown man can not sit down by themselves and have a conversation about a misunderstanding. Being a president who goes as far as to prove himself a simple person, Obama did a very human thing. He had a beer with two other gentlemen, most likely asked questions about the wife, and like any one else in that uncomfortable situation, he turned away from the issues. He overlooked the possiblity of this being racially motivated and why it would be racially motivated at all.
Obama took the correct apporach, but did not go in for the kill. He did not go in for a real conclusion. By simply having all men agree and drinking doesn’t improve the situation. Race relations is a consistent problem. This doesn’t end because one black professor is arrested by one white police officer. He may have been giving the public an example of what we can do. Yet there is no real conclusion. Will we really be seeing Gates and Crowley sitting at a table joking about the arrest in the near future? Highly unlikely.
By getting to the root of real race relations conflicts, there will be a lot less white elephants in a room. The root is the basis for any relationship any where. It is how a tree grows and how a family thrives. The root of race relations is one that is uncomfortable and is continually growing into a tree of death and forbideness. If the president really sat down and talked out what was really going on, one of those men, both possibly admired for the prestige and bravey, would have slammed the napkin on the table and walked away. But that didn’t happen and that deadly tree will continue to grow.
None of us know exactly what was said between the President and the two parties. I think the main point is that agreeing is NOT necessarily beneficial. So this Beer Summit may not have been as productive as some of us would have liked it to be, but so what? It sparked enough for it to be discussed in a 700 person soc class, which to me is a lot more than nothing. People are going to clash heads until the end of time. It’s just what’s going to happen and there’s not a whole lot people can do about it, unless everyone wants to give up their opinions. While I agree with the concept of understanding both sides of any given argument (“…oh, I would’ve done that too…”), I don’t think there is anything wrong with typical. Yes, I’m a person who likes to think outside of the box but at the same time, it is quite possible that figuring out a conflict CAN, in fact, be to typical way out. And certain things should be put in the past. We can learn from every minor event, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t put them behind us. Otherwise there would be no room for moving forward.
Even though this “Great Beer Summit” wasn’t successful in what a majority of the public was rooting for, it’s a start. And really, even small things today can get us moving on the right track for the future. I feel as though the media wants to start this kind of controversy, not to help all of us come to some kind of resolution, but for just their own benefit. It’s despicable that people think the only way to get to this reconciliation is through Barack Obama. I could ask hundreds and thousands of people what they’ve done to confront the issue of racial incidents, and the distinct minority of the group would be able to give me a valid way that they’ve interacted with the issue. I agree that he could have taken this opportunity to address the issue, or at least initiated some kind of discussion. We all know that Obama is not blind to race-related situations, but he cannot be the only person to spark conversation about the issue. It’s unfair to target him while the rest of us sit here and THINK about what we can do and not actually take any action.
Who knows if the issue of race related issues will ever fully be resolved? People are brought into this world and as soon as they are exposed to these issues, they go back to the ideas that they were brought up on.
Oh, and if the opposing parties wanted to go have another beer together, it’s not the end of the world.
We’re all going to die anyway.
Does it matter what the two parties talked about in the White House? Of course it matters. How is the public to know anything about the president’s intentions of the meeting if they don’t know what they talked about. All we have to go off of is the media’s thoughts on what was said. Even then, there is no way of telling if their interpretations are biased because they are Obama supporters, Obama opposers, or just people strictly bent on spinning this story into a story bent on race. I don’t think you can assume this “Beer Summit” was supposed to be a historical breakthrough in race, but why does it have to be?
Attempts have been made to bridge the gap of skin color, yet not much progress has been made in that attempt, particularly. Whites are complaining that it’s been long enough—that it’s just water under the bridge. Blacks are still hostile to how skewed this country is in favoring whites. Everybody’s guilty. But will there ever truly be an ultimate epitome of realisation where everyone accepts everyone with no feelings of resentment towards any other race? Never. But Obama and the cops are willing to accept that by having a casual beer together like friends. There isn’t anything wrong with that. So what if they are happy as they leave the White House. So what if they want to do it again. Maybe they are being genuinely accepting of one another and not just trying to show the public that when forced to, blacks and whites can have a casual drink together.
The media didn’t seem to think it genuine though; neither did Ms. Mulvey. I don’t see it as black and white as she saw the meeting. They obviously weren’t just “locking heads and not getting anywhere,” but I don’t think they needed to talk about “the real stuff” either. Is she suggesting the meeting was meant to be a compromise where they talked about the years of oppression and what blacks or whites still needed to feel equal?
In many ways, I see Ms. Mulvey acting like the media acted here, saying how much race was involved in this situation. I don’t know what was said in the White House either, but maybe this was just the first step in showing how whites and blacks can hang out at leisure without bringing up the issue of race. I don’t apologize for my ancestors’ actions for every Native American I see for taking their land, but I don’t find that necessary or productive. Instead I do more by simply treating them as I would anyone else—helping them out with anything they ask for, spending time with them if they seem interesting, or offering them a beer to have a conversation with if they are friendly. I don’t want to ignore the fact that years of racial discrimination have existed, but I don’t want to forcibly bring up the issue when it isn’t particularly useful or relevant as I see the media doing here.
As Americans, most of us probably believe that there are two good ways to solve our problems with someone else: bomb the crap out of them or talk about it like civilized people. With the great “beer summit,” President Obama, Henry Lewis Gates and James Crowley went with the latter option. The only problem is that, while we all don’t know exactly what their conversation entailed, we can only assume it didn’t get down to the big issue at hand with the situation.
While all parties agreed to put the past behind them, isn’t that what got us all here in the first place? Racial profiling is clearly a problem in the United States. We may never know if Sergeant Crowley was racially profiling Henry Lewis Gates or not. But do you think Crowley, Gates and Obama brought that subject up during their “beer summit?” Probably not.
Race is a controversial topic in the United States, as we’re finding out more and more in class. It’s hard for anyone to bring up the topic of race in normal, everyday conversation, let alone when you’re sitting in the courtyard with the first black President of the United States! While difficult, I think it would have been very helpful to all parties had it been brought up. The whole ordeal stemmed from the possibility of racial profiling. If Crowley was merely doing his job and was goaded into arresting Gates, then he should have said so, and if Gates thought that he was being profiled, he had every right to ask Crowley the simple question “why?”
If Crowley were to answer the question honestly, I think progress would have been made on the race front. Whether or not he was racially profiling Gates, if it were brought up then you could definitely say the conversation was important. For all we know, the three men could have talked about sports, politics, drugs, or their sex lives.
If I were Crowley, I know I’d have a hard time talking about it, especially if I did racially profile Gates. If that were not the case, I don’t understand why Crowley couldn’t have sat down with Gates alone and talked about what the two said to each other when Gates was arrested and what may have caused Crowley to arrest him.
As a white man, I find it’s sometimes hard to deal with people of the opposite race. I worked at a public pool once and was called a racist because I couldn’t let one black child into the pool due to the fact that we were over capacity. The child’s mother called the local news on me, telling whoever was on the other end of the phone that I was being racist. The pool was probably 80% full of black children. It can work both ways, even if it doesn’t make sense. If I were a black person, do you think I’d have been called racist that day?
I found the Gates incident extremely interesting because it was quickly brought to the publics attention. I am sure racial incidents of these kinds happen everyday, yet the public never seems to hear about every single one of them. I think the “beer summit” is an example of the media blowing everything out of proportion and trying to make a news story that probably should be privately handled. But given that this story made it into the mainstream media, it should be developed into a good example for everyone. The problems that occurred on this day can be worked out and made better, if the parties involved truly hash out the events that took place that day.
The fact that the “beer summit” was so public and all over the media was aggravating to me because I believe it should have been a private meeting to work out the mistakes and errors that were made involving the situation with the Harvard Professor. I believe President Obama was trying to bring the men together to apologize for his remark calling the police department, “stupid”, and to just bring peace to all members involved.
I agree with Laurie Mulvey how they did not really work out the problems, but rather put all the problems in the past behind them and just “agreed to disagree”. It was important they meet because it was a really racist incident that took place. Talking about these issues is important so that people can grow and learn. Maybe this cop has been racist his whole life and this situation could have really opened up his eyes to understanding people better and thinking about all different races. But when he left the “beer summit” that day he knew that he was forgiven easily instead of having to really discuss the issue.
I also think Laurie is right that by talking about the problems that occurred on the day the professor was arrested will help everyone understand why the event happened in the way it did Maybe the police officer was thinking in a way different than what Gates assumes. Maybe Gates would understand better why he was arrested if he knew what was going through the police officers mind. We will never gain insight or mature as people with regard to racism if we just “agree to disagree”. I know that I am person that runs from conflict even though resolution would be a better idea and a good learning process.
Before I watched this blog video I thought that the “beer summit” was a good idea and I was almost proud that people, with such differences and conflict, could join together and “resolve” an issue. But I see the point that Laurie is making, the issue is still out there, it’s just that these three people have decided to move on and accept that they have silently given up. This story is a good wake up call to everyone, while police protect us, they are humans, and they do have all types of feelings (racism, sexism, and other hypocritical ideas).
The issue and event being scrutinized is one that has no answer. It is not only the racial implications that make the issue one impossible to resolve or come to agreement on, it is the mere fact that when the media blows something so out or proportion like they did here, the public will take sides and create opinions that cannot be reversed. Had it been a white person breaking into this house would the police call ever have been made? These are questions that we will never have answers to but the media continues to plug at them consistently. This issue received so much publicity that Obama clearly felt a need to intervene. The success and failure of the “The Beer Summit” is a tough issue to conclude on. Whether an individual considers the summit a success or a failure is largely based on what they probably expected of the summit before it occurred. If you were one who was looking for closure, and deep answers to the issue at hand you probably came out disappointed. However, if your one (as I am) who just wanted to see this nonsense kind of be put behind us and put in the past. You were pretty satisfied. Obama is our president, the man who is supposed to lead our nation in every aspect. However, he is not mother Theresa, he is not ghandi, and hes not jesus. His peacemaking ability is not what he was elected for. Maybe we elected him to create peace among ourselves and other nations, however his resistancy to really get down to the grimey details and dirty memories of the issue in which the summit was called for is not and should not be part of his intentions. He was successful in providing both citizens involved a little bit of closure, and enough satisfaction to shake hands and walk away with this event behind them. Another important aspect of the beer summit that I personally admire is the fact that theirs nothing more “regular” then a few guys sitting down throwing back a few beers. I think Obama, through the summit, and his other appearances in society (i.e picking the superbowl winner, publicizing the white house search for which family dog to get, filling out march madness brackets) Obama is showing the nation he is no greater or above any other citizens. He’s bringing a sense of humility and regularity to his position, and it is no better exemplified then with the beer summit. A few dudes getting together, talking their issues out, throw down a few beers; shake hands and that’s the end of it. I commend Obama, and like usual I’m pointing the finger at the media.
There are so many things wrong with this issue; I don’t even know where to begin. After watching the CBS News Video on the Beer Summit (http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5199551n), I did not know who I should be more infuriated with, the Harvard professor and race relation’s expert, the Sergeant of the Cambridge police department, or the African American President of the United States of America! All of these powerful figures had an amazing opportunity to set a tone for how we, as a nation, should address racial discrepancies. But instead of making an impact on the country, they decided to drink beers (provided by President Obama) and exchange idle pleasantries.
During the CBS News Video I watched (which consisted of a post Beer Summit interview/debrief with Sergeant Crowley), one reporter stated, “Did anyone apologize?”
Sgt. Crowley responded, “No.” This response startled me. This was supposed to be a gathering in which Sgt. Crowley was to address why he suspiciously arrested Professor Gates, and there were zero apologies? Clearly the issue at hand was not discussed at all.
The irritated reporter then asked, “Was anything solved today Sgt. Crowley?”
“We agreed to move forward…we agree to disagree on a particular issue,” Sgt. Crowley vaguely responded.
The reporter then proceeded to ask Sgt. Crowley what he learned from this meeting, in which Sgt. Crowley appallingly responded, “I learned that the media can find you no matter where you live.”
“Agree to disagree?!,” “…the media can find you no matter where you live?!” These assertions imply to me that no ones mind was opened. In fact, it is obvious that no ones mind was opened, and it is obvious that no one learned a single thing about the other person. How can a Harvard professor and a supposed race relations’ expert not jump at this opportunity to alter humanity’s perspective on race? Everyone just remained in a close-minded state and idleness prevailed.
An even more startling response, however, was when Crowley stated that he needed, “…a few days off to reflect on the events of the past couple of weeks.” What is there to reflect upon? After watching this interview and reading articles, it is obvious that this was the most superfluous meeting ever.
My favorite part of this interview, however, was when the reporter asked Sgt. Crowley what contributions President Obama gave to the discussion, in which Sgt. Crwoley responded, “He provided the beer.”
This disgusts me. President Obama had an opportunity to make a statement with this discrepancy between Professor Gates and Sgt. Crowley, but instead he brought beer. When one has an opportunity to CHANGE the mind of others but does not seize it, it is negligence. I really believed President Obama could influence people, CHANGE people, just like his campaign slogan stated, but I guess we can all “agree to disagree” and just chose to ignore the problems regarding race that are at stake. Nothing needs to CHANGE.
I feel that President Obama had good intentions in initiating this intervention between the black professor, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and the white sergeant whom arrested him. Unfortunately, with the times we live in I feel that this nice-gesture soon backfired against our black President. With the initial invite, one would assume President Obama was ready to tackle the issues that occurred. Instead of addressing the racial issues that happened President Obama and his “guests” moved forward, not mentioning what happened in the past. How can you have an intervention and not discuss the reason there is an intervention in the first place? The main goal was to work through the problems and find common grounds between the two. However, there was not even a need to find common grounds because the differences in opinions among the two were not even mentioned! In my opinion President Obama made a huge mistake. I feel that Obamas decision to not take a stance on the issue was almost an amateur move. I find that he made this decision to avoid media bashing. Sure with every decision the president makes the media will have something to say, but the Great Beer Summit almost required a stance by our president. Like Sam’s wife said…”The President is supposed to give us a model of how people walk through the path of reconciliation” and he really did disappoint me with the lack of recognition to this situation. This could have been a strong part of President Obamas Presidency but instead he ruined a big chance to make a difference.
I don’t find it fair to sit back and blame the failure of the “beer summit” all on President Obama. Sure Obama could have handled the affair a little more formally but I also think its appropriate to say that Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and the sergeant are also to blame. There is no way they felt that they were entering the White House and not going to discuss the prior events. Easily they could have spoke up and demanded some form of recognition of the arrest. Not only could the two have sought through their problems but also it could have potentially impacted the way the rest of the world chooses to deal with similar issues.
I really do feel that President Obama had high intentions with the “beer summit” but unfortunately executed the actual meeting very poorly. It was a big step for him to even initiate the meet up but by not addressing the actual issues that occurred, President Obama actually hyped up the media even more. Maybe next time the president could forget about what the media will say about him, and actually do the job he had set out to accomplish.
This is an issue that I discussed in detail over the summer at my internship in the district attorney's office. And to be honest we all came to the same conclusion, that it is something that did not need media attention.
The idea that a police officer should be criticized for doing his job and responding to a call is ridiculous. I believe that the whole "Beer Summit" idea was unnecessary and definitely blown out of proportion.
I understand what was being said in the video that everything kind of got swept under the rug, and no real issues were discussed at the meeting at the white house but isn't that what our society is used to doing. Like Sam said in class, usually when the issue of race is brought up at a table, someone (usually the white man) just sits back and doesn't say what they are really thinking or feeling because they feel as though they can't offend anyone. So to honestly believe that in a meeting where there was a black man, who felt as though he was done wrong and a white man who is accused of doing wrong, that they could open up and discuss real racial issues is naive.
I think Barack Obama did what he thought was right to try and solve this issue, or at least satisfy the media. Even though I don't think inviting them over for a beer was the right thing to do, I think it was very unprofessional. But that is a whole other story. I also don't think that Obama wanted to bring the racial issues with this incident to the table. I think that because the media likes to make problems worse when they can easily be solved he had to respond in some way. Even though everyone is looking to Barack Obama for change, I don’t think we as a country can expect him to be open with racial issues right away and try and solve a problem that has existed as long as the United States of America has. No matter what the issue is when it comes to race, someone is going to be unhappy and feel like they are done an injustice.
Society for some reason likes to turn everything into a bigger issue than it needs to be. For example, if this was either two white people involved or two black people involved or even a white man getting arrested by a black cop there would have not been any attention drawn to this incident. I don’t think I will truly understand why things get as blown out of proportion when it comes to race as they do. I would like to believe that we one day will live in a world that is truly colorblind but I don’t think we will ever see that day. No matter how many generations pass, there are always going to people taking issues that are negative and turning them into racial problems. This "Beer Summit" is a perfect example.
In elementary school, I was chosen by my peers to take a course given by our guidance counselor that would give me the ability to help two feuding parties reconcile. This position is given the title “peer mediator”. If a fight would break out during recess, I would bring in the two students and have them give their sides of the story and help them come up with their own reconciliation plan that does not involve violence.
This seems to be the idea that Barack Obama took. The only problem is that it’s a way to stop elementary school students from bickering. It’s used by immature kids who have not realized that they have the ability to say one thing but do another. This “Beer Summit” is reconciliation with no substance behind it. It is what the public wanted to see. There is no way that either side has changed their views about race and equality. The Harvard professor still feels slighted and the officer will certainly believe that a black man is more likely to be a part of a breaking and entering crime than a Caucasian man. This was simply a heartless apology.
The president only decided to have this friendly dialogue because the crime received media publicity. A white policeman falsely accusing a black man of a crime is a frequent act. Why is it that not every black man gets to have a beer with the officer that discriminated against him? Obama was simply trying to save face. If he is the president of “change”, why does the discrimination continue?
Racism is so embedded into the minds of American people still, that it is going to take more than just a black president to change it. How about this Obama: in addition to the punishments levied by the courts on discrimination cases, both parties should attend racial counseling. Reconciliation is far too big of a job for just one man to handle by himself, but if you relegate cases to counselors in local areas change is possible. Wait! Doesn’t this create more jobs in the socio-science field as well? This would be a step in the right direction for the United States. It would be one necessary action needed to curb our discrimination problem and slightly improve our economy by creating more jobs.
As of now the “Beer Summit” is a failure because it does not involve enough of the parties who have been affected. This is like giving an apology to Rev. Jessie Jackson. Neither Rev. Jackson, nor Prof. Gate can speak for the entire black race. Of course this summit is unsuccessful. Barack, your heart is in the right place, but even you do not have the power and influence to fix this problem.
President Obama initially constructed the beer summit with positive intentions of bringing the two men at the center of the controversy together for a discussion. Did he or anyone else expect a few hours of discussion to change years of racial history? Of course not. But he wanted to show that facing issues head-on is the best method of solving issues. While President Obama has promised many changes to our country, he cannot be expected to persuade others to let go of years of resentment and racial tension that he personally is not responsible for creating. The media would not have made the incident such a big deal had the professor been white and arrested by a white officer or been black and arrested by a black officer. Yet that was not the case and the moment President Obama made a comment about the incident he therefore put responsibility on himself to mend the situation. So he chose to hold the beer summit. That said, I do not think that the beer summit should have been made as publically accessible as it was already an incident blown of proportion. I agree with the President’s decision to take the matter on but I disagree with the idea of a beer summit, not because I disagree with talking over a beer, but because of the media’s tendency to over-analyze and refusal to focus on the important aspects of situations. The topics and issues that created the tension filled situation to begin with are complex and to pair such complexity with the simplicity of a couple of men chatting over a beer is setting up the media with a perfect opportunity to blow the situation even more out of proportion. After the beer summit was held, news stations felt the need to discuss the types of beer that the men were drinking and how this played a role in the summit. It’s hard to believe that the real issues and the reasons the men were initially upset were discussed in full detail at the beer summit with so many distractions. However, none of us were there listening in on the conversation, so who’s to say that the men didn’t actually walk away from the summit feeling like their opinions were heard? Perhaps the men actually felt satisfied with how the summit unfolded. I completely agree that a conversation between Sgt. James Crowley and Henry Louis Gates Jr. was a necessary step to both attempt to please all parties involved, including the media, however the beer summit method was probably not the most tactful way of doing so. With all of the attention it has received, I would be surprised if something like it happened again anytime soon.
The great beer summit was less than significant. The whole situation was quite a mess that was over hyped. Obama tried to make a public showing of understanding and forgiveness but, in my opinion, it failed. Like Laurie Mulvey said they just put the past behind them and didn’t really talk about the situation. The only reason why they were there was to talk about the past and share their sides and their ideals and it seemed like they failed to do what they were basically brought there for. The only way to solve a problem whether it is a racial problem, a fight between couples, or even co-workers it is imperative to talk about what happened and why each party believed it occurred. If you do not do this how is it remotely possible to understand how the other person thinks and functions. Even though, the media overhyped the event, I believe that it was a strong gesture by Obama. I think this situation is indicative of our need of racial healing and ideas to be out in the open. There is still too much hostility out there and with just more sharing of ideas and openness the problem will start to heal itself. Laurie Mulvey was completely right when she expressed her ideas on what happens when people are brought together. Usually people either butt heads and cannot see the other side or they just give in and apologize without ever speaking about what really happened. Only skimming the surface is not going to solve anything. You have to delve into the issues and open up the minds of the parties involved to experience different ideas and why they hold them. I am a little surprised that Obama did not take more initiative during this great beer summit because that was one of his major campaigning ideas and principals. However, he is still a politician and you cannot expect a politician to choose sides. It is their nature to try to please everyone and be subjective and be general enough to bring up ideas, but not to follow through. There have been so many times that I have been absolutely perplexed why a person did this or that because I just do not have the same train of thought. However, like what Laurie Mulvey said, once you really hear the reasoning behind the decision light reveals the darkness that was there. It is extremely easy to understand another human or ideal as long as the initiative is there to want to learn. You have to be open minded and tolerant of what you do not know to become more enlightened. The only way to do this, however, is to reveal the past and get into the issues.
I think that it is very interesting that while in the USA, as Sam says, it would have been more likely for a white man to be photo shopped into a black man, but in Poland there was a reversal. It seems like US advertisers do try very hard to avoid discriminating, by including at least one African American in every group of white people. Penn State is especially good at this–in every pamphlet I received in the mail from the school I could be sure to find at least one smiling black student in the mix of grinning white men and women, just to prove that the university does indeed have some diversity, (much of which I’ve yet to actually discover on campus). But the point is, I was really shocked when I read this article because I assumed the rest of the world was just as concerned with political correctness as us here in America. If this photo shopping had happened here, the country would be in an uproar. Is our country really less racist? Or are we just better at hiding it? If we are moving towards a truly “color blind” society should advertisers in the US really worry about filling their “color quota” by throwing in the “token black man”? If a white man was photo shopped to become a black man would there be as much controversy surrounding the issue? Probably not. I think when actors or models are chosen to appear in advertisements or commercials they should be chosen strictly on their abilities and not their ethnicities. If that means having a Microsoft ad depicting a room full of just Asians, just Whites, or just Blacks, then so be it. To me, by putting too much focus on “diversity” we are creating even larger barriers between us, instead of learning to not really see color at all, (even though I doubt a truly colorblind society can exist).
This ad also makes me wonder too if research has actually been conducted to show that consumers in Poland are more likely to respond to an ad with all white faces. If this is true, I would be surprised. Maybe growing up with friends from so many different races has made me naive, but I would never think that a black man selling a product like software would make people more or less likely to buy it. I mean, this wasn’t a J-Crew ad. The photo shopping just doesn’t seem to make any sense and I don’t understand it. Maybe Microsoft really is racist.
Then again, maybe some advertisers knew what they were doing all along and were just attempting to open up a race dialogue to the world. After all, how could such a big company make such a huge mistake by not changing those hands?
I think this story was completely blown out of proportion. I think that the media heard about it and ran with the story because they knew it would raise so much controversy. They couldn’t have asked for a better kicker when the President of the United States talked about the situation and threw new controversy into the story. With that being said, I also think that there were underlying issues in this story that never really were discussed. Over the first few weeks that this story was released there were tons of interviews about what this all meant and how the President should or shouldn’t have handled it, but it doesn’t really matter. I don’t think the real issue was discussed, not in the media or in the beer summit. We will never know what was said at that beer summit, although it would be nice. For all we know the President chatted about sports and movies with them. I can only hope that the man I think Barack Obama is would have discussed the issue in its entirety.
There are many issues that this one story contains and it would be hard to discuss all of them. I think the first issue that came to my mind was the arresting of a man outside his own house. I find it difficult to believe that none of the professor’s neighbors were home during this incident. And since I am probably correct in thinking that someone was home nearby, why wouldn’t someone defend him? Why would no one even open his or her front door for a closer looks? I know as a neighbor of many people myself; the sound of a siren and the flash of a police light would get me to a window or door in a flash. I think that was the first thing that bothered me about the incident. Was there not a caring neighbor nearby that thought, this looks suspicious?
The other thing that really bothered me was that everyone felt so uncomfortable talking about it to begin with. I am not saying that I myself did not fell a bit awkward talking about a black man being arrested by a white police officer, but I think it was why this was such a big deal. The racial barriers we have made us feel uncomfortable, myself included.
The entire story was definitely thought about much more after President Obama became involved. I think the beer summit was a way for him to cover his tracks and make it look like he was ultimately just trying to solve a touchy problem. I am big supporter of Obama, but I have to say I was sort of disappointed and confused as to why he though that was the best answer to this awkward problem.
I definitely agree that this “Great Beer Summit” was a failure in trying to finally get some communication between races, especially about the past. Barack Obama did take the right step when he invited them to sit down in a relaxed setting and encouraged “dialogue” between the two parties. However, as the speaker in the video said, the truly desired result was not reached. Yes, the two parties shook hands but also “agreed to disagree.” No real communication about race relations occurred. The “uncomfortable areas” of conversation were avoided and the conversation was brought to an end.
If you think about it, how can any disagreement or argument be resolved without laying the truth out on the table? This doesn’t mean we should let our emotions get the best of us in the moment. The officer and professor probably didn’t really mean most of the things they said to each other when the event occurred; it was probably just because of the heat of the moment. For instance, someone might have nothing at all against Jews, but if a Jew did something to offend or hurt them, they might snap with emotions running high and say something that he or she didn’t actually mean. However, I’d like to reiterate that I think it is extremely important to lay everything out there, especially what has happened between races in the past.
Most people know the conflicting history of whites and blacks, especially in the United States. Whites, my ancestors included, were wrong for what they did to blacks. Keeping them as slaves in a new nation where we bragged of liberty, and denying them rights in a country where we’re proud of all men being created equal was very unjust. I am a devout Roman Catholic and I agree that the church was wrong in many of things it did over the past 2000 years. It burned people at the stake for not having the beliefs it taught. And it didn’t help its brother and sister Jews (who believe in the same God as them) when they needed help during the Holocaust. The problem, until about 9 years ago, was that the no one would ever speak of it. It was kept under wraps for years until Pope John Paul II finally publicly apologized for the wrongdoings of the church over the past two millenniums. He was also the first pope to ever step inside a Jewish synagogue and make peace with the Jews. Maybe this is what we need to get the race relations ball rolling. We may need someone with both political power and a good head on their shoulders to bring up the issue publicly, apologize for mistakes, maybe receive apologies in return, and finally get communication going between races like John Paul II did between religions. Perhaps this event involving Barack Obama was a good opportunity, but I think he really dropped the ball.
In response to “How the Great Beer Summit Failed” I would conclude that it didn’t fail at all. It was a private issue that was handled in a somewhat private matter. I don’t understand why some believe the situation should have been dealt with differently. Now of course the issue at hand or the cause for the summit could be addressed as a public racial matter.
Although, I view the dilemma as the officer just making a dumb ass mistake .It sucks for him that the media felt the need to blow it out of proportion. However, I will not deny he was wrong and ignorant. The officer allowed his ignorance to affect his judgment, which led to a media up-roar .This then intern allowed him to receive the opportunity to be enlightened by the president of the United States. How the president handled the situation does not interest me. I believe he educated the man of prejudices and gave the two men involved the opportunity to discuss their feelings on matter and move on.
This event didn’t need to be publicized the way it was. After the authorities noticed the wrong doing of the officer and the person who called the police they should have been made to apologize and if the “victim” felt the need to take the case further, i.e. court, than that could have been their way to settle the issue. It should have never reached the attention of the president unless he/victim received further discrimination by the courts. It seems to me that you all expected Obama to make this minor racial dispute a historic event. You all fail to realize he is a man, not God, not a profit, or what have you. He chose a simple way to handle a simple dispute. I did not see anyone of you arguing Bush’s problem solving skills with highly publicized Jena Six incidents. That was an actually event worth making an example of.
Maybe I’m too desensitized to this matter to see the reason for it to be taken the way it was. I guess I have heard about and seen too many black men get locked up; pulled over, or beat up because they fit the profile. They just happen to be black. Is it because Obama is mixed you think he should have came down with an iron fist and lay the law against any form of racial discrimination that happens? If so please enlighten yourself and “get real”. We all must fight this war against discrimination. Our president is a product of that fight’s victories. His duty is not to weigh heavily on the “light” issues, but to leave them for us to fight while he handles those issues that may seem out of our control or will to overcome.
I was not even aware of the beer summit until now but it is not shocking to me at all that things like this happen. Who is to blame and how do we get to the solution. I think that it is just something that people don’t talk about because we want to believe that RASICM does not exist but it is alive and well. I believe that the beer summit was suppose to solve the issue but they just hush hushed it and agreed to disagree. Its like an argument you have with someone you ask specific questions and you don’t get justification. It’s probably going to be an on going battle I don’t think that racism will ever die. If you ask both parties he can justify it by saying I was doing my job and the professor just has to deal with it. It also seems to me that when things like this happen it is always a white male cop and a black man. I guess the professor should be grateful to even tell his story because most of the time the cops get trigger happy. I honestly don’t believe that the summit solved anything. They just got free beer and meet the president that’s all. I would have liked for them to talk about the uncomfortable stuff. I would have liked for certain questions to be answered. Why did the neighbor not know who live next door to him. Why did the cop not leave the professor be after figuring out that he was the one who lived there. Why did he arrest him? If he was white would the 911 phone call have been made in the first place? Would the cop not have arrested him if he was white?
Okay…so after getting all my facts straight, I finally understand what happened. I was aware of the incident but didn’t really research it! But anyway, the clear cut story is about a black professor who was suspected of burglary around the Harvard campus, where he resides. So to break it down, a white woman called the police because she allegedly did not recognize him as a resident. I personally, would suspect the same since he was “nudging” at a jammed door, but I probably would not have called just for safety reasons. But any who, the cops came, and even after he showed identification, he was still arrested!
Okay to refer back to the “Beer Summit.” What the hell was that about? What president sits down for beer to discuss and try to “fix” racial discrimination. Like others have commented, I believe that the setting was just wrong and that this issue was blown up by the media. I look at it just as a misunderstanding (referring back to the woman that called). I have mixed feelings about this whole incident which may be why this is unclear. But as a president, you always have to think in a citizen’s shoes. You have to question whether or not drinking alcoholic beverages while discussing a serious issue is the right thing to do….seriously!!!!
As Laurie Mulvey said (she’s an author from one of our books!) and I will paraphrase, Barack Obama did not present the situation in a way where he showed the world how to reconcile race issues. But then again, this was a “private” meeting and was made private for a reason. I would have to say that we as viewers and instigators of this incident, we expect much more from Barack Obama and the way he handled things. But, race issues are not solved overnight. It seems as if Laurie Mulvey expected a great commercial meeting that was public for everyone to watch and to see them talk and hug each other afterwards. After the many struggles from the past Latinos, African Americans, Asians, Native Americans, after so many years of struggles, what makes you think that those issues, the race issue would be solved, publically in one day? We have to be reasonable and really think before we speak and expect something out of anything, especially serious topics like the one presented!
Lastly, I believe that President Obama needs to get his priorities straight. How do you comment and do this whole big meeting on this little incident but….not want to comment or have anything to do with the Asian women that were captured and jailed in North Korea. He needs to question himself and ask why are his ratings so low? Why hasn’t he come out with a clear cut plan about the Health Reform and why is the public so ignorant about it. Before trying to fix a problem that is near untouchable, he needs to get his priorities straight. That’s all I have for now Soc 119…
I agree with what Laurie Mulvey says about both sides avoiding the underlying aspects of the situation that occurred. The dialogue that occurred between both sides is a perfect mirror image of what occurs every day. Neither side wants to put in the work and have a discussion about what really irks them because they fear that what is said will be taken the wrong way. It is much easier to take the road most visited and say that everything is alright when it clearly isn’t. It actually reminds me of when I was a child and I’d get a bad grade or two and make up an excuse of why I did bad. I’d make up the excuse to avoid the seriousness of the situation. Both whites and blacks have been doing this racial salsa dance for as long as one can remember. Despite Obama’s best intentions (I believe he mishandled the situation poorly, which is clearly evident in his initial response to the news story), the situation wasn’t solved. It was simply excused until another identical racial hiccup occurs in the near future, which is inevitable. As long as we continue to spit-shine our eye-glasses and not actually clean them thoroughly, we will continue to have these issues. We need a thorough cleaning, not just a half-assed attempt at quelling the beast that is racial bigotry.
I do believe that this situation warrants a closer look at how the Obama administration is handling issues like race. Is he taking a proactive role, or is he just doing what numerous presidents before him have done? (bury the issue and leave it to surface for the next unlucky guy to take the helm). Although this situation didn’t end on a horrible note, there are past occurrences where riots took place and the situation still wasn’t resolved. What will it take to make society confront the beast instead of just putting it in the doghouse, out of place and out of mind? Does there have to be massive casualties on both sides of the race divide? Does a certain racist American terrorist group have to fail at taking the life of our current president? Will that bring us to the forefront of confronting racism? It seems we don’t learn from our mistakes until we’ve truly lost something, which I am hoping will change before the worst-case scenario occurs.
I’ve never been a fan of the mass media, because very rarely do they give an unbiased account of what truly happened. Fox will give the conservative story, and CNN will give the liberal story. The only way I truly find out is if I look online at the Associated Press. Do I think that the story was overblown maybe? Yes. Any story that will gather viewers en masse will certainly be overblown and shoved down the throat of the viewer until they turn the channel. Do I think the story should’ve been explained more? Yes. It’s not secret that the whole story was never told, because if it was the mass media wouldn’t be able to spin it. If the whole story was released we’d be able to actually discuss the facts. Since it wasn’t, we are simply left with biased reports with little options to actually go find out for ourselves what truly happened.
The Great Beer Summit is an event that has occurred in recent history, and is something that the media has been dwelling on for weeks. Who wouldn’t dwell on the president making a mistake like this? It’s typical and disappointing, because our groundbreaking president has the same weakness that we all have. Barrack should have been a model and lead us as a nation to a better ideal, but yet he followed what everybody else has done for years.
I agree that it is always easy to just put the hard past behind us. However, how can we put the past behind us when it isn’t only in the past, but in the present? Why would anybody want to face the past when it is hard if they don’t have to? Everybody lives a lie because nobody fully understands the truth. Nobody takes a harder look if they don’t have to. Wouldn’t you want to like somebody and not know the truth than hate them and know the truth? Everybody is fake! Nobody ever gets to the real story. With this event particularly, we still want to believe that our president is doing the right thing just because we all support him, but what now? Why should somebody no better than every other citizen be ruling our country?
This class’s main purpose is to think about things differently. We have to deconstruct the way we think about the world, and understand more why we do the things we do, instead of just accepting that this is the way they should be done, because it’s not! We will look at the world in a new light, which Is a really exciting thought. I no longer want to think about the world in an ordinary way. I want to look at what the president is doing it and question it and not just accept it for the simple reason that he is leading our country. Everybody should have their own perspective, and not just accept something because they think it’s the right idea. It is important to except everyone’s perspective and listen to it because who knows? Maybe they’re right! I don’t think that this event will change the way people think. It is just a mainstream event proving that races still can’t mix, despite what media tells us.
My perception of racism and Americans inability to mix races is not going to be changed by medias ideas of reality. Just like the media, Barrack Obama’s view on reality is false, or else he wouldn’t have thought that it was okay to patch up a huge mistake like this with a few beers. Why would this Harvard professor think that what has happened is okay? The only reason is because he is our president. He should own up to what he has done, because I personally would have much more respect for that.
This Great Beer summit was a huge failure for attempting to change racial relations. Even in the first grade, children are taught to talk about their problems with each other, rather than ignoring them or allowing them to build up inside. Letting issues and problems build up inside will eventually cause an explosion. This explosion may be a 6-year-old boy screaming at his friend, or a minority uprising against their society and government. In this situation, Obama did exactly what we are supposed to do in order to help find a “cure” for racial behaviors. Obama, being the first black president, could have handled it another way, which could have had major effects on racial relations. He has a lot of influence and power over this country and he set an example. Our country cannot rely solely on him, just because he is black.
Living in this country, especially with our countries history and background with racial grounds, people are afraid to attack it. If a white person makes a racial comment towards someone of color or another race other than white, it will make others feel awkward and uncomfortable. No one will confront the comment or make any further remarks regarding it. People are afraid. They are afraid to cross over and open themselves up to other races, and afraid of the consequences. These consequences would not be direct, but indirect. For example seeing a white and black couple out for dinner, they would receive stares and rude glances. It is not considered uncommon anymore, but it is still seen as awkward. No one would give these glances as a racial remark, but as a why ponder. A “why are they together” is a question that would run through peoples head when they see a racial couple. Although in our society today it is becoming more and more common, in some areas of our country people will frown upon it. After watching this video, I just wonder why? Why did Obama actually invite this white man to his house? Did they actually discuss the matters at hand, the racial matters? If they did talk about the racial matters at hand, would it change anything? I also asked myself, what if the professor was white, and the policeman was black? It makes me wonder if Obama would have done the same thing by inviting the black man to this house for beers. Would this even have been controversy if the races were reversed?
In my opinion people are still racist and Obama did not help to influence our society another way. Obama did not necessary have to be affiliated with this small situation, but it made a statement. Obama cannot change our society, it is us. We are the ones who can make a difference and try something new. Although it may be different, sometimes different is good. One person cannot make a difference, so Obama is going to change centuries of racism, we ALL have to. We need to stop blaming others and hep the problem ourselves!
When Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested in his own home on July 16th, the media went wild. The debate between whether or not his arrest was based on purely racist measures or just because there was a “breaking and entering” phone call, and he happened to be the one in the house seemed to go on forever. On criticizing the issue, Barack Obama made one big stupid mistake that’s for sure. He stated that the police were wrongful in their arrest, when in fact; they were just doing their job. The commentary on the subject by the President was discussed with both parties over a few beers.
I happen to believe that talking over a few beers, although a nice gesture does not solve this problem. We elected a President who we, or at least many people believed would lead us on a path away from racism. Yet, he tried to make it as if this event never happened; forgiven and forgotten. That is not how we expected him to run our country. It seems to me, that it is not uncommon that racial acts, commentary, and even thoughts are continuing to occur. This needs to stop. When we see an interracial couple, fights between different races, or those just practicing their different beliefs and others’ getting offended; we can’t help but wonder; when will all of this stop?
Barack Obama needs to step up his game. It is his presidency that will change our beliefs, his mistakes that are publicized along with his apologies for those mistakes- need to be publicized as well, not shadily hidden after a few Bud Lights and some hugs. It is unsettling to me, that this Harvard professor and these police officers would shrug everything off as if what occurred was now okay; when this situation of racism has caused more uprise in society then anything has in the media, in a long time.
I think our main goal in this class is to be able to think of things differently. We should be able to pick apart every little thing that someone says until we realize that we are all racist, we are all prejudice against people who are different; different religions, different anything. Once we are able to recognize that we make mistakes no different than Barack regarding this topic, we will be able to make changes and recognize our wrong thoughts are in fact, not thoughts we want to be thinking; or even better, we won’t be thinking these thoughts at all. If I want to take away anything from this class, it is being able to walk away with an open mind, to dismiss the media, what people are saying, and what I hear.
Ah yes the great beer summit that the media obsessed over. The only reason why this “Beer Summit” happened was because during a press conference, that was supposed to be focused on the healthcare, a reporter asked a totally unrelated question about Obama’s thoughts on the arresting of his friend Henry Gates by a white police officer seemingly for no good reason. Obama then replied stating that the officer arresting Gates acted stupidly. A media frenzy quickly hijacked the airwaves and claims of reverse racism ensued.
First off, why was he even arrested in the first place? Who was he threatening? According to the official police report he was arrested for disorderly conduct. This should have never happened. Did Professor Henry Gates over react slightly when questioned? Perhaps, but what I believe is that the cop just acted like an egotistical testosterone driven bully whose whole mentality is that I’m a cop and you better kiss my ass or you’re heading to jail. However, instead of pushing around some gangster Notorious B.I.G. he messed with the Notorious Ph.D who happened to know the President of the United States of America.
Unfortunately, President Barack Obama was dragged into this spectacle and since he replied that the cop who arrested Gates acted stupidly many, especially those neo-cons on the right wing mouth piece Fox News, started whining that Obama doesn’t like white people and according to that bumbling idiot Glenn Beck, “He has a deep seeded hatred for white people.” This happens to be one of the dumbest responses I have ever heard on the issue because people keep on forgetting that he has a Caucasian mother and grandparents who raised him. Obama and his advisors probably thought it was wise to ease the fears of idiot America and to have everyone involved in the issue to come together and resolve their issues. First, off this was all for show. Nothing was seemingly resolved and the main thing the media seemed interested in was what type of beer would each be getting? Seriously though, America has lost touch with their inquisitive free thinking side and instead the people are drowning in their own stupidity. Goodness, could anyone just imagine the hysteria that would ensue if Obama ended up drinking a forty and if randomly Sonia Sotomayor brought out some guacamole? The same people who squawk about Obama being a Muslim/terrorist/Kenyan citizen would be out in the streets again in attempt to “bring their country back!”
Even though I didn’t really follow up on what was actually said during the meeting, what I can assume is that nothing serious was discussed and their differences were not resolved. But that’s what politics is really about; it’s the show and pony routine that keeps idiot America occupied and docile.
The Beer Summit involving an African American professor and the police officer who arrested him could have easily been a perfect opportunity to have a racial discussion and understanding. It could also have been a time to look inside one self to really face the many hidden issues behind this incident. I’m sure that was what Obama wanted. I think Obama was right to even show his concern about this issue. With the situation we are in as a nation, it is extremely easy to let something like this slip by unnoticed. However, this shows his true stance and support when it comes to racial differences. Ever since he began his presidency, he was always a man who discussed issues regarding race, unity, and equality to name a few. But it isn’t feasible to rely on him to fix the way we all think about race issues. It takes a lot more than one person and a beer to do that.
Like Laurie Mulvey said in the video, this situation had no impact on how we view racial issues. Both men most likely left still feeling as if they were wronged. Whether it was a true case of racial profiling or just a misunderstanding, there was no solution at all. They simply agreed to disagree. Honestly, I think it would be naïve to expect a solution from this summit. How can you anticipate over the few minutes that they were together to get answers to racial interactions?
There are many people who tend to avoid confrontation at all costs. It can bring feelings of awkward and unwanted tension. I think the way that they didn’t discuss the past but rather focused on the future was understandable but sort of cowardly at the same time. This is your opportunity to let the other person know how you feel. Is it too hard to bring up what happened? Do you think they felt intimidated to face the issue of racism straight on? Although they tip-toed around something that could have potential been quite an influential occurrence, there is a part of me that doesn’t blame them. It’s intimidating to sit in front of the president. Whether you are a well-known professor from an ivy league school, a police officer, a janitor, or the CEO of a fortune 500 company, chances are you are going to hold back in a situation such as this. You want to try to be as civil as possible. If you are usually a person who sticks to your own opinions and beliefs, you will most likely be the most understanding person here. I think a big problem with this situation is that the true colors were not seen.
The “Great Beer Summit” as it has been dubbed was nothing more than a smart political move by the President to calm the nation down. The media built up the story which was later fueled on even more by the regretted comments of the President that the police officer acted stupidly. The entire event does not reflect race relations today but rather an unfortunate incident between a tired traveler returning home and the police.
I feel it is asking a lot to expect the President, a random police officer, and a Harvard professor to solve or even put a dent into the race relations issue just by discussing an unfortunate incident over a beer especially when it is being watched so closely by the media when a newly elected President is involved. Of course Obama directed the meeting towards a quick reconciliation and forgetting the past while looking forward towards the future, he can’t afford the bad press. He needed to calm the nation down while making it seem like he was doing something proactive to gain more support for himself while he is trying to pass legislation through Congress. And no, I don’t feel that was the time to try and “tackle” race issues mainly because in the end it seemed the issue didn’t erupt from race problems but over American problems, partly impatience and dislike for the police. If the event could be clearly linked to racial profiling or some other major racial issue then yes I would agree that would be the perfect time to set an example and possibly try to ease race relations, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
In fact, I feel that if Obama had tried to make the “Great Beer Summit” into an actual discussion to try and heal racial issues it would have had the adverse effect of making things worse. This would be because if this discussion was furthered onto the national level and brought out of a private meeting it would force people into taking sides. Like any debate you would have people for the officer and against the officer with some on the fence. The way it was handled in reality it caused the media to have their own version of the debate but by having the Beer Summit it ended the debate before too many people jumped off the fence and took a strong side while all the while trying to make the two sides calm down, which they did. And that all leads back to my earlier statement that the whole “Great Beer Summit” was an ingenious political move by the President. Some may call this political correctness which perhaps it is but at the same time it may have been the right thing to do as well. With all the major concerns facing our nation right now, two wars, massive deficit, and the worst recession since the Great Depression I feel the worst thing anyone could do is to enflame racial tensions over such a meaningless incident. Something like race relations should be handled when the right moment arrives in history; it isn’t something that should be rushed.
More than likely, not a day goes by in our country without racial profiling happening. Is it important to address racial profiling and police harassment? Yes. However, maybe this particular incident did not lead to a discussion on these things, because that was not what happened. Some people may believe that the manner in which Crowley acted in arresting Gates fell under an act of racial profiling, while others are going to strongly disagree. It will just be an agree to disagree argument, which is the way the Great beer summit ended anyways. It is likely that the general public, including the president, will never really know exactly what and how things went down that day. Maybe the president used this opportunity (beer summit) to teach the nation how to come together to discuss perceptions and being sensitive to the shoes in which another person is walking (both a black person and a police officer in this case). Now, outside of this case, steps should be taken toward reducing racial profiling.
While I believe in reconciliation in certain situations, this was not what inevitably happened here. It seemed as though the conflict between Gates and Crowley was left in the past rather than meaningfully talked out. It’s ok to leave things in the past right? What about slavery? The holocaust? Yes, Americans are constantly reminded that we bought black people as slaves from black people who sold them in Africa and we brought them to America. Looking at the conditions in Africa and the conditions here, that may have been advantageous for subsequent generations, but that will never be discussed. It is true, however, that every nation that exists today also has a racist past and a racist present. Talking about the past does nothing to improve the future, especially with race. We need to be talking about what can be done so we can recognize the good and bad aspects of individuals without consideration of their skin color rather than who mistreated whom in the past. We haven’t just forgotten about these things. In Gates eyes he was victim to racial profiling, where as Crowley feels differently and the Great Beer summit did nothing effective in changing their minds or seeing as what each other was thinking at the time.
Obama said it was a stupid action to arrest someone in his own house. How do so many persons convert that to him saying "This cop is stupid", or "Cambridge cops are stupid", or "Cops in America are stupid"? Has it occurred to anyone that a cop who trains others on issues of racial profiling couldn't do more by standing in the shoes of a black professor who is being challenged in his own home? He more than anyone should have understood Gates' outrage and fear in the moment and should have diffused the incident.
It is no secret that our country is filled with racism. I believe that every person is racist in some way. We all judge people based on the color of their skin and unless we all turn green one day, I do not think this will end. Although I believe that racial profiling will stay in this country for many years to come, I feel that if incidents involving race were addressed right away in the proper manner, we would be on the right track to lessening its harmful effects. One cannot deny the incident pertaining to Mr. Gates was racial profiling. I can confidently say that a phone call to the police would not have been made if Mr. Gates were a white man. I know it, he knows it, and President Obama knows it. Yes, I do believe that it was racial profiling, but I am going to play both sides. Last year for one of my classes, I had the opportunity to interview a man who worked at Rockview State Prison. One of the first questions I asked him was what racial group has the largest amount of people incarcerated? He explained to me that sixty-two percent of their inmates were African American; that it is the same in most prisons. Many people know that African Americans have the largest crime rate, but that doesn’t mean that everyone in their race commits crimes. However, when we see a statistic like this we become afraid. I do not think the woman who made the call to the police did so in a vicious manner; she probably though it was better to be safe than sorry. This time last year, people were booming with excitement at the though of a black man stepping into the white house/ However, after this ridiculous, “beer summit”, I am sure many voters were disappointed by Obama’s actions in dealing with the incident because like the woman in the video said, “ it was easiest to put everything that was uncomfortable behind them.” Obama was supposed to be the guy who made race a comfortable issue to discuss, but instead he blew it off by kicking back and having a beer. I do not think the media exaggerated the incident because Mr. Gates was completely humiliated and deserved justice. Race is a sensitive subject, but we need to put feelings aside and say it how it is, otherwise we will never make progress. Incidents like this happen all the time. I have heard more than one story where two black males were out driving a sports car and got pulled over and questioned. They were not speeding, or driving out of control, they were pulled over because we are taught to assume that if a black man is driving a nice car there is a chance he stole it. I think that more little situations where African Americans are treated unfairly should be blown up by the media to show their innocence.
In my opinion, Barack Obama’s decision to invite these two men to reconcile their differences over a beer was poor judgment in itself. As much of the public has already said in regards to the summit, alcohol is often the cause of racial slurrs and profiling, not the solution. Furthermore, even if this beer summit had miraculously been a solution to racial profiling (in this case at least), what kind of example is this setting for our society? The president of the United States; whether black, white, or any color in between, should not be promoting the use of alcohol as an outlet to problems rooted deeply within our society and its morals.
With that said, the outcome of the summit was simply to agree to disagree, and Barack Obama failed to reconcile the differences between both men involved. Although he served as a mediator of sorts, his impartial stance made it difficult for much animosity or disparity to be overcome. This beer summit, as Ms. Mulver said, barely skimmed the surface of a very imminent issue. This reinforces the sad fact that as racial disparities continue to get swept under the rug, and people of different races continuously decide to “agree to disagree”, we will essentially come across the same problems over and over again.
This beer summit might only have truly progressed the issue of racism if the alcohol had caused both parties involved to speak their mind a little bit more truthfully and not be afraid to understand where these feelings of racism originated. For example, in our Sociology 119 lecture, Professor Sam Richards often plays Devil’s advocate by blurting out derogatory terms or ideas about different races. Doing this makes it a little bit easier to eventually break through the barrier of why these names and ideas originated at all, because it shows that everybody’s got something to say about everybody else, and so, essentially, nobody’s that different. Instead of agreeing to disagree, both men should have loosened up and just spoke their minds. Maybe then, a few walls would have come down.
The way I see it, Obama’s beer summit was ultimately unsuccessful. The three men discussed a serious problem over a casual beer, which I do think is very cool. However, the outcome of agreeing to disagree and putting it in the past is merely a sad excuse for a resolution. When you put something as heavy as that in the past, it is guaranteed to loom up in the future until a real resolution is reached. As the leader of our country with his own first hand experience in racial profiling, Obama’s ultimate decision to have these men put their experience behind them says a mouthful about our country’s future in race reconciliation.
In my opinion, Obama made the right choice not to delve too deep into the situation, otherwise he would be presented with the choice of either the “black” professor of Harvard, or a police officer that, in a way, serves under Obama’s principles. He was not trying to make the problem worse by choosing who to blame and who to let off the hook, but he was simply attempting to make “the whole thing go” from the public eye, and resolve it in a more civilized manner just incase the American people DON’T turn a blind eye. This is the most probable reason as to why he invited the two to reconcile over beers, as opposed to hookah; hookah wont get you drunk! So, it is easy to understand that Obama wanted these people to seem like they were in each other’s comfort zone. This would make the people feel easy about the whole ordeal, as the two are in agreement and not so uncomfortable with each other during the time in which they conversed about what had happened. This made Obama seem like a problem solver to those so ignorant, which is the vast population!
I heard about this incident outside of news reports and instead, found out about it from a friend who works in a race relations position at a small school in Philadelphia. She lives in a "rougher" part of the city and came to our house in New Jersey to run a conversation about racial reconciliation amongst a group of religious college students. We were at a loss of what to do with it. If anything, it seemed to convince us that our denial of continuing racial tensions was clearly false. It is there. It does exist. And it is very hard to know (as white folks!) what to do with these things. I get tense and awkward even thinking about it. And then we have this faceless mass called "The Media" that feeds off of our ("The Masses") interest and investment. If the audience senses tension, senses a scandal, senses even that they (as white folks) might be to blame...OF COURSE the media is going to be all over it! We all have so much "at stake" here. Rather, we all feel that our reputations of some kind are involved in how one police officer interacts with someone in the course of his job. The fact that one was white and one was black makes it that much more intense. I feel a certain amount of frustration with how it was publicized and covered. It makes it this complicated mess. Just check out the wikipedia of it! There are four different versions of what took place! How is one supposed to sort through all those versions? How does one know what the truth is? And we somehow take the actions of one person to be a reflection on us all. Yet isn't that what white culture does to black culture? Take one person as representative of them all? And now the tables feel turned and we don't like it. I think the media sensed that tension and was all over it to point fingers and throw tomatoes. I think the incident itself shows less about race in America than in the frantic, overheated, emotional, extended responses that were given, particularly from "white community". There are a lot of issues with us there. A lot of guilt for things we had no control over and a lot of desire to make sure everyone keeps on the Politically Correct line. Avoid conflict. Stay calm. It seems that is what President Obama did... and it worked. But perhaps it merely gave a way to assuage some guilt and resentment. It placated a mass that wanted placating rather than uncomfortable ness. Race issues haven't gone away. This showed us how much we have to learn.
If I was arrested for no apparent reason by a police officer, would beer with the president solve everything. In President Obama’s eyes it definitely would. Henry Louis Gates, Jr, is a very well known Harvard professor, and was arrested for trying to get into his own house, basically. Then to make matters even worse, the police officer who arrested him was white. So the question people started asking was, was this a hate crime? Or was the police officer simply having an off day? Well president Obama in one of his speeches called the officers actions “stupid,” which only made matters worse. So the most obvious solution to this big mess of a problem is to obviously invite them both over for beer at the white house.
Now I can understand that this could be a good time to talk over what happened, clear up any misunderstandings, but no instead as, Laurie Mulvey put it, they just decided to leave the past behind them. There was no talk of settling the issue of black profiling in America, if the President was looking for an opportune moment to do this, his “Beer Summit” was it. In my opinion that only made the President look worse, you would think that he would at least want to try to talk it over, get both people’s perspective, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. So I find that the real question I am left wondering is what did they talk about while they each drank their favorite beer? Politics, football, family? No one really knows, and probably never will, apart from maybe secret service.
I do feel that this even was definitely blown out of proportion, it was in the media forever. I feel like it would not have been as big if the president would not have commented on it so openly, because after that, the media was just waiting to see what else he had to say about it. Like, if the president hadn’t said anything they would have not gotten all buddy-buddy over beer, it would have just been another “hate crime,” or act of racism on the police officers part.
However, since the president did get involve, I feel like it was his duty to say something about the event, try to at least explain to people that the police officer was not trying to be racist, and that Gates was not injured in anyway. By not doing that, the citizens of America are just going to assume that he still thinks that the police officer acted stupidly, which in itself can have negative effects. It could cause the undermining of the police station, not to mention ideas floating around of all white police officers hating black people.
Overall, I feel that the President did not make the matter any better by inviting the two over for beer, the problem is still there, you can’t just sweep something under your rug and assume it will go away. Unfortunately conflicts don’t work that way. Any hope the president had of making this a “teaching situation” is now gone. The only positive thing that came out of this is that Professor Gates and Officer Crowley now have the bragging rights to say “I had beer with the President!”
I feel that President Obama had an innovative idea to have the African American Harvard professor and the white police officer over for a beer. However, I can’t help but think this meeting would not have happened if the professor was not black, or if he was not a highly respected professor. I have noticed that President Obama is more concerned with being the first president to do certain things than he is with running our country. He allowed NBC to come in to the White House and film what happens throughout the day, he filled out a NCAA tournament bracket on ESPN, and now he is trying to act as a mediator between races. The thing is, with Obama intervening in the situation, he in fact made it into an issue of race. How does he intend to fix the situation? By drinking on the job!
By having this “Beer Summit” the President is acknowledging that he initially over reacted to some extent by criticizing the police officer’s arresting of the Harvard professor. Then to smooth the situation over he invited the two to have beer at the White House. The whole meeting had to be awkward for all three people. You have to know that the conversation did not get very heated or serious. President Obama had to keep his cool and be an impartial third party because of his title and the threat of bad press. The professor, I imagine wanted to keep his composure because he wanted to look like a mild mannered person that had no reason for being arrested. The police officer wanted to look like a nice guy who was just doing his job, and he was probable just happy to meet the president and be in the White House. So with two people trying to play the part of the cool customer and another that is probably just happy to be there, how does anyone expect any significant progress to be made of the race front?
The beer summit was like the idea to invent rape whistles. The idea in the beginning is positive, wants to try to prevent rapes, but if rapes don’t happen then the company does not make money. The beer summit was an idea to bring to different races together and somehow solve the racial issues that were present. In this age of the media, expectations can be very good or very bad. In this case, the media’s high expectations for this beer summit were turned into high disappointments. I believe that this whole situation should have been forgotten about and there was no reason for having the whole “Beer Summit”. I feel that the President of the United States should be doing much more important things with his time.
Henry Louis Gates is a respected professor at Harvard. He arrived home late from a trip and his front door was stuck so he and his driver tried to force the door open and it looked like they were trying to break into the house. Though it was his own house. Someone near there called the police and Gates was arrested by a white cop and was given a disorderly conduct for yelling at the cop and causing a disturbance. He was upset because he thought he was being arrested because he was a black man.
Many feel that this is a case of racial profiling because it was a black man trying to force the door open at his own home but I guess they didn’t know that it was his house. Eventually the charges on Gates were dropped but many still were upset at the whole situation. To try and reconcile everyone’s differences, President Obama invites them to the White House for a beer. Hence the name The Great Beer Summit.
Everybody was really sensitive about the subject because they didn’t want to feel uncomfortable. In the blog it says that they tried to put the past behind them, but they barely scratched the surface on the issue. They just sat around and drank and nothing productive was accomplished. If I was Gates I wouldn’t be too happy with the arresting police officer, but from what the blog said they were “quite jolly” towards each other. The President’s intentions of inviting both of them to the White House to discuss it were good but they barely talked about the issue of Racial Profiling. Nobody wanted to talk about the situation because it made them uncomfortable. Well if you’re the president and you don’t want to talk about an issue like racial profiling because it makes you uncomfortable then there is something wrong.
It seems like they all became friendly with each other through this Beer Summit but they didn’t talk too much about the issue at hand. The arresting officer stated that he would not apologize for his actions because he was doing his job.
Law enforcement went under fire from Al Sharpton because he felt like what had been done was outrageous.
Personally I thought the police officer was doing his job at first but I thought he should have been less hostile towards the man at the beginning. Gates had every right to get upset because it was a dumb accusation. I don’t think the Beer Summit helped the situation of racial profiling but I feel that it brought the two men together instead of hating each other for a long time. They could have done a better job at discussing racial profiling but whats done is done, and the guys reconciled their differences.
This entire situation was blown completely out of control from the start. The media has turned a small and possibly completely innocent instance into a huge racial profiling matter. The only reason this story has even caught any attention from the media is because it is involving a highly respected Harvard professor. Police wrongfully detain people and later drop the charges every day. Therefore, this does not display a clear instance of racial profiling to begin with, and should never have caught as much media attention as it did.
After this story started to catch some heavy attention President Obama called for the "Great beer summit", to try and resolve this terrible mishap. On the surface I thought it was a great idea by president Obama to bring these individuals together and try to find a resolution. Additionally, is there a better way to resolve a conflict than over a friendly beer, man to man?
Unfortunately, the plan would not work nearly as well as it looked on paper. The two men put the situation behind them and took the drink as friends, rather than business. I believe that there was this bubble of nice air between the two because neither of them wanted to come out of this meeting looking like the bad guy that could not forgive or move on. Thus, in doing so nothing really came out of this meeting. The two men did not address the issue and argue their stances definitively enough. The whole "Great Beer Summit" just came off to me as really fake. It is difficult for outsider to understand completely how two men that had this horrible media frenzy between them, could leave after a meeting seeming like good friends. If I were the President in this situation I would have taken a little harder of a stance on this situation. I believe that having a beer in the white house with each other just screamed "hey, lets all just be friends" from Obama.
As for the problem of racial profiling, nothing has been solved. If this situation was indeed racial profiling, then we have just shown that a white officer can unjustly arrest a black man and then have a beer in the white house for it. Conversely, if Henry Louis Gates was indeed acting irrational and possibly unlawful, then we have just shown that the black man can just pull the race card and get out of anything scratch free.
In the end, the American public likes to see a distinct finish. A compromise in a situation like this was just not enough. The only way that the country would be completely satisfied is if one man came out as the hero, and the other was arrested. It is unfortunate that when both men can leave happily and move on with their lives it is considered a failure, but that just how it works in America.
I think that this whole story was blown way out of proportion and that it was really unnecessary for the media to get so involved. It blows my mind that this had to be turned into racial profiling when it started as a concerned neighbor with a misunderstanding. Black or not, the neighbor perceived the situation as someone breaking in the house from what she could see, and felt the need to call the police. Sergeant James Crowley was just doing his job and following orders, and I feel that Professor Gates should have put that more into perspective of the situation as a whole when he was speaking to the officer. I think Sergeant Crowley would have followed the same exact procedures despite the race of Professor Gates.
“The Beer Summit” altogether did not necessarily need to occur. I see how President Obama wanted to mend ties and put an uncomfortable situation behind them, but I am questioning the fact of whether this would have happened if Professor Gates was white or not. Racial profiling is obviously still an issue to this day if the media is going to blow something like this out of proportion. I’m not quite sure what President Obama’s incentive or motive was for the small gathering but it seems to have solved nothing from an observer’s point of view. Setting up this gathering for drinks only allowed the media to twist the situation into something worse than it was. When it comes down to it, a neighbor was misinformed, a Professor was defending himself, and a cop was doing his job. I understand we still have a ways to go with racial profiling, but its occurrences like this that don’t help society steer toward a better direction.
We as Americans our holding President Obama accountable with high expectations for “change” and realistically, it does not happen over night. This whole ordeal with Professor Gates and Sergeant Crowley could have been settled in private, man between man, but the media has to distort it as black man between white man, and consequently causes chaos. We have a lot of history with racism in the past that presumably allows for racial profiling to this day, but we should each take responsibility to get the facts straight and to not make something more than it is. Nobody knows for sure what was actually talked about between the three adult men, but it probably did not get deep enough to start an uproar over racism. President Obama handled the situation as professionally and rationally as he could, but in reality it doesn’t help America’s disease of being so quick to jump to racial profiling. This story represents a reality check of how far we still have to go if we truly want to step away for racism.
I think that the issue of the professor being arrested got immensely blown out of proportion in the first place. No, I don’t think it was right. Yes, I do think he should’ve gotten a chance to speak his mind since he was wrongly accused, and more embarrassingly arrested in front of his house. However, in my opinion everyone makes mistakes and I feel that since it was a race issue with two people of “higher powers”, the entire event got way out of hand. There are many occasions where profiling leads to unjust arrests, so I don’t quite understand why the President needed to become involved. My friends and I were once pulled over a few years ago two minutes away from home for “looking underage.” That’s illegally profiling and some bizarre excuses were made justifying us being pulled over after we questioned the police officer, but you never saw us headlining the news (and yes, there were at least two different racial groups in the car). I think that the media feeds on these sorts of events in the first place, then the fact that President Obama commented on the issue caused a whole new uproar for the media to feed off of. After unnecessarily becoming involved, Obama had no other choice but to do something about it, which brings us to the “beer summit.”
I think that President Obama had the right idea of inviting just the two men and families that were directly involved to the White House. The idea of discussing the issue over some beers makes the setting more calm and casual, allowing everyone to feel more at ease and less defensive. Although I don’t believe that the issue was completely resolved during this “beer summit”, I think that it was a positive step forward. In my opinion, I feel as though people are too quick to judge and criticize President Obama, instead of seeing the positives in what he has done. He took a chance and maybe everything wasn’t disentangled, but it was a start. Both men had positive comments mutually about the President and about their experiences during the summit; the men planned to meet up again and both seemed to change their views on the other person. These statements might be short of what will really happen and how they really feel, but at least the statements are definitely strides of what they may do and how they may feel in the future. Rome wasn’t created in a day, and people definitely can’t be changed in a couple of hours. I feel that it was a encouraging idea that will hopefully open the minds of the two men and their outlooks on each other and the community in general.
The Beer Summit. I think Obama had the right idea about getting the cop and the Harvard professor together to figure out what exactly happened to cause this whole mess but a beer summit wasn’t really the way to go. First off, the President of the United States wants you to come to the White House, have a beer and have a discussion with this other guy to smooth out your situation. Even if you didn’t vote for him nobody is going to go into that meeting wanting to confront anybody and look like an asshole in front of the President and in the environment that the “beer summit” was creating was just one that was chill and laid back. Both the professor and the cop probably went into that pretending like they didn’t have as much a problem with the other then they actually did. Neither most likely wanted to get into it with one another while the President was sitting there with them. They most likely glanced over the subject quickly and then started talking about sports, and cars, and what-not. You know, things that people usually talk about while having a beer and not a heated discussion about why somebody arrested somebody else mistakenly or not. From what I’ve seen when it comes to people having problems with each other and then you throw in a beer people like to easily forgive without even talking about the situation. It’ll usually go, “Yo my bad dude”, “Its cool man don’t worry about it” and then they shake hands and go about their business. Then a couple days later both will still have a problem with that other person. What both the professor and the cop should have done was sit down and have a discussion with each other, no President and no beer and then both of them will really get to the root of the issue. There won’t be any “whitewash” thrown over it like there was with the Beer Summit and they would get a lot closer to solving their problem. No long term solutions can be found with a beer. It that was true I’m sure there would be 95% less problems in the world and they all would have ended about 900 years ago. Their situation looks like it involves racism but I don’t think it is and I don’t think neither one of them truly believes it is either. It was just a misunderstanding that definitely can be worked out if they seriously talked to each other. Once they do that they can then see where the other person is coming from. The professor will see why the cop did what you did and his perspective of the situation and the cop can then see why the professor did what he did and what his perspective of the situation was. When they both go through this process they may realize that both of them got stuck in a bad position and had to play it out as best as they could. The conflict will be resolved, they still might not fully get over the situation right then but they would go about their separate ways and forget about it eventually.
First of all in regards to this “beer summit” people have given President Obama way to much heat on his beer selection. Yes we all know that the ownership of Anheuser-Busch is now held by a foreign entity, but more importantly it is brewed in the Missouri by Americans. So the Presidents beer choice was legit, besides bud-light has superior drinkability. He was simply an American supporting American workers. On the other hand the gentleman who chose red-stripe made a horrible choice. That beer is bogus, that beer had no business being at a presidential beer summit. Blue-Moon was an okay choice for the other gentleman, but clearly an attempt to give a façade of sophistication. There is a beer brewed in the nation’s capital named equality ale. If that had been chosen I seriously would have been disappointed. That would have meant that the individuals caved in to pressure from others to choose their beer.
At the beginning of the blog the woman makes a comment about how the Harvard professor is black. This is a detail that shouldn’t matter. Personally I don’t see color boundaries and I do not see people of different skin tones differently, but I guess she does. I think people have been a little hard on this police sergeant. From personal experience I can tell you arguing with the man who has a gun is a bad idea. Under no circumstances should you argue with the man with the gun. There are several reasons for this. The first reason is that to police officer has a gun. The second is that he knows he has a gun. The third and most important reason is that he knows that you do not have a gun. The best way to approach such a matter is to politely agree, and let your lawyer handle the rest in court. However, this man thinks he is better than the rest of us and that he can argue with police. It doesn’t matter who was right, the police are always right, that’s just the way things work. This beer summit was a big diversion from important issues. Personally I think giving any attention to this beer summit is a waste of time and is irresponsible. There are many more important issues in the world. I am really disappointed that the President of the United States of America wasted his time on such a trivial issue, when he should have been spending it on ways to make our economy better or keep our troops safer. It comes down to this no matter what you think, what your race is, what you say, or who you know, the man with the badge and the gun is always right.
I believe that this entire situation is a direct result of the media becoming over-zealous and making things more public than need be. What I want to know is, what if this altercation occurred in a no-name town, with an ordinary professor, from a low-class university? Would the press have been the same? Or, is it because this particular professor taught at one of the most prestigious Universities in a well-known town, that the media felt this would really make for a good story? It’s hard to say whether or not the press would have been the same, but I find it hard to believe that the Associated Press would have had any interest in a story printed in a small college newspaper that most of the college’s students probably do not even read.
That said, the altercation happened to occur amongst some well-known individuals of Cambridge. And the press was there in all their glory to really heat things up. So, thanks to the media, Professor Gates and Sgt. James Crowley had the honor of having a round of beers with the President of the United States of America! For some reason, I don’t think President Barack Obama would have invited Joe Schmo 1 and 2 from “No-wheresville” to throw back a couple of brews with him to “discuss” the issue. But, because the media practically made Gates and Crowley celebrities, President Obama felt the need to step in.
While I think President Obama was trying to do the right thing, if you take away all the cameras and press, would all parties have agreed to the meeting? Probably not.
According to Josh Gerstein of POLITICO.com, ‘“Crowley characterized the discussion as “two gentlemen who agreed to disagree on a particular issue. We didn’t spend too much time dwelling on the past. We spent a lot of time discussing the future.”’ “Agreed to disagree?” where is the progress in that statement? Was that the outcome President Obama was looking for? It seems he was rather pleased, which is disappointing. I have a feeling word choice may have been different among Gates and Crowley if they had discussed this matter one-on-one with no press around.
To me, it seems like this little “get-together” was merely a show. The press must have been ecstatic when they heard the news the President was going to meet with these two men. Obama needed the American public to forgive him for his not-so-well-liked comment on the issue; Professor Gates didn’t need anyone thinking less of a prestigious professor from Harvard; and Sgt. Crowley needed to make sure he didn’t lessen the credibility of the Cambridge Police Department or all police officers for that matter. I bet Obama, Gates and Crowley all had many people telling them exactly what to do and say; it’s all about image right?
Laurie Mulvey was correct in saying that the Beer Summit was a failure. For such a highly debated issue amongst Americans, I am disappointed in the way this was handled not only by the press, but by our President. The Press needed a story and I think they got way more than they bargained for. Nonetheless, the press escalated this incident to a national level where President Obama felt the need to take action. And by taking action he thought throwing back some brews was going to make things better? I am all for loosening up a bit over a few beers, but where was the important conversation that needed to also occur at this meeting? Did they get too drunk and forget? Oh wait, they all “agreed to disagree.” That apparently is much easier than actually talking about the fact that Gates is black and Crowley is white. Obama stepped in, but I think ultimately failed at what possibly could have been the spark to make progress on the issue. He simply put on a nice little show for the press and relaxed while enjoying the great taste of Bud Light.
I believe the actions leading up to the Great Beer Summit were extremely blown out of proportion. I think it was unfortunate that it became a racial issue, because the same instance could’ve happened between two white people, or two black people. It is another classic example of including race in matters where it is completely irrelevant. I believe that the media turned it into a racial issue to incite excitement in their viewers and listeners. Nonetheless, race is a predominant topic in the world, and will always be, so as part of the human race, we might as well charge at the topic head on.
I believe that Obama’s decision to invite the two sides over for beer to reconcile the situation was a good idea. There has to be an established start for progress to be made, and I think that’s what Obama’s intent was. Laurie Mulvey had a good point in saying if each side heard what the other was thinking and why they acted a certain way, they might better understand where each other are coming from. I think this tactic generally works, but often times never gets a chance to because of racing to conclusions and unfaltering preconceived notions. Although nothing might’ve been confronted at the Great Beer Summit, it was still a step in the right direction to get both parties next to each other in a civil manner.
So far from just a week in Sociology 119, I have realized that a lot of my beliefs and views are flawed, because I don’t consider the other’s side perspective or plight. I have learned already that taking a step back before you judge someone is necessary and often very rewarding. I think racial dialogue and healing is a very important aspect to widening awareness and acceptance of the human race. It is easy in a college class to be awakened to one’s ignorance and hypocrisy, but elsewhere seems to prove a much harder challenge. Many people in today’s society have grown up with prejudices their entire life that they probably have had for generations in their family. Such prejudices may never diminish.
I think Obama’s involvement in the issue to the small extent he offered was the right amount. I don’t think you change the racial prejudices of people overnight, but the fact that both parties could walk away happy is a good sign for the future of racial acceptance. I think we need to find a happy medium. People should not be taking every comment personally, or taking things out of context and making it a race issue. However, raising racial awareness and consideration is necessary for change. I don’t think we should cram race down each other’s throats, but it does need to be a topic of discussion.
The amount of racism that exists in the world today is atrocious. Events similar to that of the Gates and Crowley controversy probably happen on a daily basis. It just so happened that the media decided to pick this event and blow it out of proportion. I think it is definitely the case that the media decided to blow this unfortunate event out of proportion in search of sales and whatnot. However, I do not believe that events like this do not deserve the attention it was given. I feel this event reveals how desperately we need racial healing in this country.
I think that Barack Obama was on the right path in initiating The Great Beer Summit. Aside from the media, I think this particular controversy deserved attention from Barack Obama himself. It is appropriate to address the matter and make some movement of reconciliation. I cannot blame Obama for not digging into the issue and getting his hands dirty. The great beer summit was an acknowledgment to a wrongdoing in the past and to a lesson well-learned. Had Barack decided to initiate conversation about the arrest I think he would have wound up having to choose a side. Being a so called “black man,” I would presume that people would make assumptions about whatever side he chose, probably defending his “brothers” as most would in this situation. If this were the case, then Obama would have just been further criticized and more complications would have been brought to the table. We cannot expect Obama to solve the issue of racism in one beer summit. Racism is an old wound in America and will take months. The very idea that Obama addressed the matter is a big step in the first place. What other president have we had that would step up to the plate and hold a beer summit? It will take a long time before we have racial healing, but it is not impossible.
On the other hand, if there is a man to address the racial issues in this country, it is Barack Obama. I could not help but be disappointed when I learned that Obama failed to directly address such a crucial issue when he had such a perfect opportunity. Being that Obama has dealt with these issues at a personal level, you would think that he would have a right to put his foot down and set a higher standard for the American people. Obama played it safe this time, but it an issue that he will have to face in the near future.
In the end, we cannot leave all the dirty work for Obama. American’s need to take the issue into their own hands. Obama cannot be the only one ready to tackle the issue of racism. We all need to be ready and willing to tackle an issue like this one.
If more and more racial incidents like this one are brought to the publics’ attention and Barack continues to address them, perhaps he will take a bigger step in the direction of racial healing. Or, maybe it will take a hookah summit to solve America’s racism.
I'm not sure President Obama made the right move in getting these two men together. On the one hand it was helpful because it let these men talk out what happened and why it happened. As the video said, when the "summit" was over, both men exited with smiles on their faces with an apparent like for the other. Where I think this meeting fails for a few reasons. The first reason is this "beer" summit belittles the situation. Its just a couple of good ole boys having a conversation over a cold beer. This wasn't a small matter. There were big accusations about a big subject being thrown around. Race relations isn't something you discuss casually over a cold beer or become okay with in one sitting. It takes time to get both parties opinion and develop a proper solution. Maybe its casualness helped both men decrease their anger, I don't know. Also, President Obama's actions kind of showed a blatant disregard for the law. He got these two men together to discuss the situation when nothing needed to be discussed. The police officer did what he did because that was protocol. His actions don't need to be explained. Would this have happened if he had arrested a white man instead of a black man? Or how about an average black man, not a Harvard professor. The tables would have been turned if it were somebody else. But because this was an educated black man, obviously he's not in fault, right? I think this is a very complicated subject; one that cannot be handled over a cold beer.
It may not be someone like the president of the united states that changes the way we look at race in todays society. Such powerful people did they’re part in changing the way people thought by simply not giving up a seat on a bus or sharing a dream with thousands of people. The truth is that even though we are brought up to learn from examples it isn’t easy. If something else came from this “Beer Summit”, if light bulbs did go off, would it really change the thinking of every single American by looking at someone else’s experience? I think the only way that we can change is if these experiences are with ourselves. We must get our own light bulbs to turn on, not watch someone else’s shine bright.
Although I can see how this can be seen as the media blowing the situation out of proportion, I beg to differ. The neighbor did report that a potential burglary was happening at the house which would explain why the police showed up at the house, but the owner of the house should not have been arrested. It shows how he was racially profiled because I feel like if he was a white man saying "This is my house, I wasn't trying to break in, I live here," no one would've heard about it because he would not have been arrested. Most people expect black people to be more capable of crime than white people which is not true. Just like in my family, my dad is Italian and gets extremely tan. Every once and a while he'll answer the door for a mailman or delivery person and they will mistake him for a landscaper or worker, not someone who lives there. Also, if Obama had to invite the professor over to discuss the issue, it shows that even Obama saw that racial profiling was going on. Instead of Obama trying to fix all of these dead end car companies that should find their own way to fix themselves, he should be putting more time and energy into making the public less racist and more accepting, especially because he has a diverse heritage. I know Obama tried to fix the problem but I feel like he didn't do justice. Having a couple of beers with the person who was insulted isn't fixing anything. I know it is hard to talk about racism problems, especially today when people like to believe that racism no longer exists, but some things just need to be done. Without getting to the heart of the problem, you can't fix it. You can avoid it, but you won't fix it. Obama seemed to just swept it under the rug. Something needs to be said for the professor who was arrested in his own home for just being there. I know that no one is perfect and that we will always, even accidentally, characterize people by their differences, even subconsciously, but Obama needs to address the problem of treating people differently based on race. Just because you are black doesn't mean you are a robber. Just because you are Mexican doesn't mean you are a landscaper. Just because you are white doesn't mean you are crazy, etc, etc. The quicker people learn to end profiling, the easier it will be for everyone to get along. If Obama would take the time to see what putting some effort into ending discrimination would do, he would see it is worth it. As anyone can imagine, it must be difficult for people to work in a multicultural work environment when you have all these negative thoughts of other races. By breaking down these barriers and showing that these thoughts are nothing that myths that someone created, it could make things easier for everyone. People wouldn't have to be judged by their skin color, their appearance, or their culture. They would be judged on their personality and that's it. That's the way it should be, but sadly that is not how it is.
I'm not sure President Obama made the right move in getting these two men together. On the one hand it was helpful because it let these men talk out what happened and why it happened. As the video said, when the "summit" was over, both men exited with smiles on their faces with an apparent like for the other. Where I think this meeting fails for a few reasons. The first reason is this "beer" summit belittles the situation. Its just a couple of good ole boys having a conversation over a cold beer. This wasn't a small matter. There were big accusations about a big subject being thrown around. Race relations isn't something you discuss casually over a cold beer or become okay with in one sitting. It takes time to get both parties opinion and develop a proper solution. Maybe its casualness helped both men decrease their anger, I don't know. Also, President Obama's actions kind of showed a blatant disregard for the law. He got these two men together to discuss the situation when nothing needed to be discussed. The police officer did what he did because that was protocol. His actions don't need to be explained. Would this have happened if he had arrested a white man instead of a black man? Or how about an average black man, not a Harvard professor. The tables would have been turned if it were somebody else. But because this was an educated black man, obviously he's not in fault, right? I think this is a very complicated subject; one that cannot be handled over a cold beer. And who is he to step in to this matter? Yes, he’s the president of the United States. Everybody knows that. But to have him step in to every matter is ridiculous. If he’s going to step in to a matter like this, then who’s to say he wont step into different matters, of less or more importance. I think that’s stretching the president’s power. I don’t think it’s his job to handle state run politics. A police officer arresting someone shouldn’t have the president stepping in and correcting the matter, no matter who that police officer arrests. Shouldn’t the president be concerning himself with, lets say, the war in Iraq and sending troops home? Or how about Korea or our ever growing need of oil. I’m not trying to play this “race” thing down. I think it should be dealt with. But this wasn’t in the president’s jurisdiction. He put his head in where it didn’t belong and may or may not have made matters worse. People are still just as angry as they were before. Nothing was solved by his little intervention. As the video stated, we don’t know what went on behind those closed doors. If they did find a race compromise, no one knows about it. If they came to an understanding most people can agree with, shouldn’t the public be made aware of it? If it will help society, shouldn’t the president say something? Or will it just inflame things more? Does he have the right to step in to these matters? There are just too many questions left unanswered because of Mr. Obama’s actions.
I feel like this entire situation was blown WAY out of proportion. In my opinion it is ridiculous that the President of the United States felt the need to make statements and get involved with something that happens probably every day in our country. If the President is going to take out time to state his opinion about this specific issue, then why isn’t he taking time and trying to resolve every racial profiling case that makes the news? And I also agree with Laurie Mulvey in that the real issues at hand were probably not even mentioned in their “meeting”, and both Dr. Gates and Sgt. Crowley were probably expected to be cordial with one another because they were in a meeting with the President. Who would honestly agree to meet with the President and have a beer and then proceed to cause a huge scene? I know I wouldn’t. I just feel like President Obama is so caught up in the fact that he is half-black and he wants racial equality for all and “It’s time to make a change” that he’s making trivial issues seem a lot more profound then they really are; at least in this situation. I think whether or not Obama did or did not invite Dr. Gates and Sgt. Crowley to the White House for a beer, the conclusion would have been the same. Both parties would have decided to look past it and move on. I also think its really funny how if you read the Henry Louis Gates arrest controversy article from Wikipedia that the accounts of what happened according to Dr. Gates and Sgt. Crowley are so drastically different. Of course Dr. Gates made it seem like he was doing nothing wrong just complying with what the officer was asking him to do and out of nowhere he was arrested from his own home. And Sgt. Crowley stated that he was just following procedure and Dr. Gates was screaming, yelling, causing a scene, making racial slurs and refusing to comply with the officer’s orders. I am a firm believer in that there are three sides to every story: side A, side B, and the truth. It just makes you wonder what really happened and if this specific case is even worth all the press it has received. I think the main point to take away from this incident is that racial profiling does exist and it will most likely continue to exist until people are ready and willing to talk about and deal with the greater issue of racism. No amount of casually sitting around a table, drinking a beer and agreeing to put it in the past is going to solve anything.
How the great beer summit failed
For me, the great beer summit was not a teaching moment for the country. It was rather a political maneuver to do some damage control over the great controversy that spiraled after the events that happened at the Cambridge campus. Obama, in a very intelligent way, manufactured a very appropriate reconciliation event or scenario that would dim down the attention put on the issue and finally give some closure for it.
The event, in my opinion, does reveal the need for racial dialogue in the US. The fact that Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. did not comply with the officer’s request for ID and his overall tone reveals something negative about the countries’ general attitude towards law enforcement. On the other hand, you can’t just arrest someone when they are in their own home and have a legitimate reason to be upset or maybe angry.
The incident was obviously not handled in the best way. There has to be something wrong when a man, of any color or race, is arrested when there is clear evidence that he was in his own home. A middle aged to elderly person, who uses a cane, is not very likely to be breaking in a house.
I believe Obama could have done more to teach by example and show the country a good and memorable model to observe. But we must also acknowledge that the decision made and the action taken to bring both parties together and show that the event was just an incident was pretty graceful on the president’s part. All of us would have wanted something more to be said or done to bring us closer as the people of a unified country, but we must keep in mind that these are busy and difficult times for our leaders. There are many more issues that demand more time and attention. Giving the matter more energy and time would have been a mistake.
The problem of getting over our racial and many other differences will not be resolved by our president or leaders setting an example, writing a book or passing out a bill or law. This is a matter of education and mentality that has to take place inside the family, inside the school, inside religion and many other places in order to prepare the next young generations to think of racial differences in a different way. Maybe it’s too late for us, but this kind of change will not happen overnight. What we can be sure of though, is that this process of change is happening and taking place the more we are forced to coexist.
I know it might seem easiest to put everything that is uncomfortable behind you but at some point or another thins is what has to be done. Maybe when we have truly forgiven each other and have no more memory of the past, live in the present and focus on the future will we be able to put our differences aside and learn to live with each other.
After listening to Laurie Mulvey in this video regarding the “beer summit, my opinions on this event were altered. When I heard about this incident on the news, I thought that the media was blowing this story out of proportion. Okay, so a police officer received a call that someone’s home was being broken into. The officer was doing his job to figure exactly what was occurring and actually arrested the owner of the house for “breaking in.” Some say that the police officer used the Harvard professor’s skin color as a definite clue that this was a burglary. I first thought that this was just another excuse to poke at racism in the media. Now taking a deeper look into this event, I realize that whenever confrontation involving racism occurs, we are unable to successfully solve the sole issue. We brush off what really happens and change the topic, just like Obama did. Inviting both parties to the White House for a beer really solved the problem right? Well, in retrospect, maybe it did for some people. Being in an informal situation with both parties probably put both the officer and the professor at ease. To more effectively solve this problem, the officer and the professor should have sat down and expressed their concerns on each side, laying down exactly why they acted the way they did. By avoiding the situation, “racism” will never really be solved. Everyone is afraid to open up this can of worms in fear that someone will act irrationally or something terrible will result. For example, if the police officer blatantly said, in most of the cases I have dealt with involving burgurlies, people of color were the ones actually breaking in. Although this sounds extremely racist, the officer would be able to truthfully explain why he responded to the call in such a manner. I am sure the professor would be very offended, but these thoughts and perceptions are found in most peoples lives. People need to express their true feelings about racism in order to teach others what is true and what isn’t. Just by talking it out could really alter how people look at each other. The professor could then talk about how he saw this event and why it was wrong. Hearing both sides of the situation and considering how each person feels will, in the end result in a true understanding of not only the situation, but racism as a whole. Skimming the surface of racism is only hurting society. Yes, feelings will be hurt when people express how they truly feel about other races, cultures, etc, but eventually barriers will be broken and everyone will feel comfortable enough to express their true feelings on this topic.
-Pickle
Ah, the Great Beer Summit. Personally, I feel as if the failure happened well before three men cordially got together at the Whitehouse to demonstrate unity by each drinking a different kind of beer. Yes, I too drank in that irony.
Putting aside the actions of Gates and Crowley, the great failure in this whole situation stems from the fact that Obama threw water on an oil fire when he gave his uninformed opinion. The orator of the 21st century transformed a one day news story into an enraged month long media frenzy. In this now globally interconnected world, with vastly different cultures and ideals, I truly believe it’s going to take a leader who can transcend race and religion to not only solve problems in this country but all over the world. Fundamentally, that’s just what I believe. That being said, I want to backpedal to last year’s election.
Obama went up against two strong white candidates in his bid for the Whitehouse. Never once, though, did Obama play the race card to secure minority support. In actuality, the only time race or religion was introduced to the discussion was from far right radical groups. I feel this was a critical aspect of his campaign because it helped secure the common voter. Individuals now had legitimate reasons to point to Obama and say with strong conviction that the United States was making strides in racial issues. To me, the manner that Obama won the election in was far more impressive than the actual result. However, after Obama uttered the words, “I haven’t seen all the facts…but the Cambridge Police acted pretty stupidly,” he essentially spilled a beer on all the goodwill he had built up from the elections. Individuals like myself who had bought into his colorless platforms were left incredulous. Certainly the man who was going to truly lead the entire world into the 21st century wouldn’t say something so dumb? Fair or not the Barack Obama presidential honeymoon was over.
To answer the question that was posed of whether we need racial dialogue….The answer is unequivocally yes. Just not in the political realm. The founding fathers knew that a separation of church and state was necessary for the survival of the fledgling democracy. Well I’m saying for contemporary politics to make a differene in the new global age race must be left on the backburner. That’s not to say racial discussion in this country and world aren’t long overdue, but such discussion is more appropriate in the classroom and similar settings. The quality and intimacy of the racial dialogue will be more constructive as well without the political constraints.
The whole “beer summit” was indeed a media circus. It was an unfortunate situation that never should have happened. Who knows if they really opened up racial dialogue on the white house patio? I do know, however, that if Obama invited me over for beers I’d definitely drink Biden under the table!
I think that Laurie Mulvey’s perspective of the “Beer Summit” is very accurate. I think that Americans in general try so hard not to offend the other race that they either avoid the discussion of race or avoid people of other races completely.
The beer invitation at the White House may have been effective if something had been discussed and the issue had been approached. Instead of using the media and public relations to smooth things over, they should have gotten to the root of the issue. People can apologize all they want, but they should address what they are apologizing for and the reason they thought their actions occurred. Otherwise, no one will ever learn anything from any situation. The media’s attention on the beer summit was a great opportunity to dig deep and get to the true issue at hand. I think that the matter was not discussed because it is a sensitive subject and the president was afraid that someone was bound to be offended. The race issue is tricky because no one knows who would be offended by something and who wouldn’t be.
I think Americans avoid situations with one another because they are afraid of what the other race will think about them or that they will offend someone. In class you hear people always calling people “African-American” instead of Black. This is actually very politically incorrect because not all black people are from Africa or have an African decent. I have a friend that people call African-American and she corrects them because she is part Jamaican and Dominican. At the same time, people often times avoid calling Indians “Brown people”. I discussed this with my friend from India and she said that she was not offended by the word brown at all because, frankly, that is what they are. She said that Caucasians are called White, why would she be offended if Indians were called Brown. She also mentioned that Indians refer to themselves as Brown all the time.
In my perspective, it is much more beneficial to be open with each other right away. I think that you can have a much more lighthearted relationship with a person when the tension is loosened right away. Instead of working around the differences, people should be upfront about them because it is obvious. In my opinion, people should ask more about the culture of someone’s race and talk about the differences rather than avoiding them completely. It is very interesting to learn other people’s perspectives on issues.
I studied in Barcelona this summer and lived with three Spanish girls. My favorite part of the experience was learning about their culture and what they thought of Americans. I got to hear all of the basic stereotypes and it was actually very comical. However, I was able to open their eyes to a whole new perspective of what Americans were really like.
I want to learn about other cultures and be open about our differences. That is why I am passionate about people not skimming over the matter at hand or their opinions, but confronting them. A more informed and knowledgeable person, can be a more well-rounded person.
The issue of racism in this debate is two-fold. One could say that it was racism that caused the witness to call the police because she saw a man of color trying to bust into a home, and even more, the fact that the police arrested him. The other side may say that it was racist for president Obama to take sides with Henry Louis Gates Jr. as opposed to the police, and even more, inviting him over for a beer.
In the Cambridge area, especially when more than 85% of the people in Massachusetts are white, witnessing a man trying to bust into a home, regardless of color, would most likely end in a call to the police. If the driver was helping Gates, it would seem even more likely that a break in would be taking place since more than one person was involved. I do not believe this was an issue of race. If I was a student at say Harvard or Yale, and I saw two men trying to break into a home near Cambridge square, I might be inclined to call the police. It would make no difference what race the men were trying to break in. However, the fact that the police arrested him that night based on an eye witness may have been excessive. It is hard to tell whether the police in Cambridge square arrested Gates because he was a black man. My guess is that they were acting based upon orders, and Gate’s color was not an issue. If the police had taken their time to notice that Gates was black, they probably also noticed that he’s very old, and not a proper candidate to be performing burglaries.
The fact that president Obama criticized the arrest and took sides against law enforcement is peculiar though. It seems natural for a black man to side with another black man on the issue of racial profiling. We must wonder though - If Gates had been white, no issue of racial profiling would have been made. On the other hand, if our president had been white, he may have been more inclined to take sides with law enforcement. It would almost seem strange for former president Bush to say that police was wrong and being racist in arresting a black man trying to break into his own home. The most intriguing aspect of this case was the fact president Obama and vice president Biden invited Gates and Crowley to the white house courtyard for beers. As if the mere thought of this image isn’t already awkward, I’m sure the black president next to our white vice president sitting across from a black University professor next to a white police sergeant was a beer-fest to remember.
I think Laurie Mulvey had a few good points, but overall this was another example of the media blowing something out of proportion. Her main point was well thought out, but a little bit idealistic.
She was angered that both parties agreed to put the incident in the past and not really talk about what happened. I agree with the fact that each side should have discussed what was going through their minds to come to a better understanding of the situation.
I compare it to history in the sense that we must learn from our past to not make the same mistakes. However, it seemed that she thinks by the two parties talking over beer, that this will dramatically change future mistakes. The police officer responded to his job based on the information he was giving. I think of that situation as a misunderstanding and you learn from it and get over it; not dwell on it. The person interviewed makes it seem as if she wants the president to condemn the officer and the police publically. That would a terrible idea for the President to criticize the people who enforce his laws. The President’s decision to meet and make amends shows that two people can communicate and over come differences. It shows that despite a bad situation occurred, a lesson was learned.
A lot of this issue was questioned as racial profiling and I understand that that’s a very fair concern. I do not agree with any sort of racial profiling. There are many profiling that take place and if this woman is trying to bring attention to the issue than that’s understandable. However, she only concentrated on one incident and the reason I bring that up is because racial profiling has been condoned by the government. Every time someone goes to the airport that is a little darker than white people and TSA workers have more suspicion. This happens too much and that can be a much better news story because it happens so often. Mulvey wants dialog between two groups and to find out why this occurred. We should look into why this occurs everyday for something that isn’t a mistake at airports, rather than this simple misunderstanding. With this case talking about profiling, It is funny that Mulvey did not bring up the profiling of all cops liking beer. If she wants to talk about profiling she should talk about all types of it and not just go with what the media wants her to hear.
I agree there is a need for racial dialog and it can answer a lot of questions and misconceived stereotypes. I think going along with just what the media shows plays into their agenda and that is not necessarily what is most important to talk about; but most likely more entertaining. Overall, I won’t say Mulvey is completely wrong; I just disagree with idea that there is more to this incident than what is presented.
The Great Beer Summit failed because of the all too common situation of the problem not being discovered. They, excuse the cliché, beat around the bush. As stated in the video blog, the topic was just skimmed over and put away like it never happened. I see a problem with that, because if the root of the problem is not discovered it has the potential to happen again. That would make the highly publicized event of a couple of men engaging in beer consumption completely pointless.
The media covered this event with great detail because we have a president who is not white and the arrest really seemed to be about race and discrimination. Of course being a journalism major, I know how the media can twist stories and make a mass amount of the general public believe what they want them to. I think it is a big deal that a black professor was locked out of his own house and got arrested for trying to get in. The story just seems deeper than that and the most obvious reason would be racism. Barak Obama made it a point to have the Beer Summit, one would think that the reason for it would be discussed in a fair amount of length. The media had a right to make a big deal out of it, in my opinion, because when the president decides to have his first beer summit with a professor and the man who arrested him for unnecessary purposes it is very newsworthy. It was only right to cover the event to great lengths, but somehow the common failure to communicate issue came and reared its ugly self upon an event that could have made great history.
This event was completely indicative of the fact that we need racial dialogue and healing. Barak Obama is our first black president. End of story. He of all people should have wanted to facilitate a conversation that would have substance and meaning, and he should have done so. Barak is only human though and we all make mistakes, they are just looked severely down upon when you are the president of the United States. I have heard many people say how Barak is no better than George W. was and that he came into office at the worst time, but I see some positive changes in the United States since he has been in office. Do not ask me what those changes are. Here’s a hint; More and more states are trying to pass bills that support the decriminalization of marijuana. Yes, that is the most positive change I have seen and I believe decriminalization of this natural substance needs to happen in order for America to chill out!
The Great Beer Summit was a joke. It was absolutely 100% a PR move by the Obama Administration. Previous to the summit, Obama commented on the events and criticized the police for acting as they did. That created a huge problem and despite his already falling approval ratings by the rest of the nation for various other issues that need to be addressed (i.e. the economy), he was now about to get disapproval by law enforcement for his critic. Clearly his response was not the best because he was only appealing to one side of the situation and not thinking of the other, regardless of who was right and who was wrong. To save him from anything else, his advisors definitely realized they had to do something to mediate the situation and of course what could be more American than sitting down and discussing the situation over a few beers.
What brought the White House into this anyways? Was this necessary? To be honest, I think it was a test of the president presented by the media. If President Bush was still in office I really don’t think the media would have blown this up so immensely. We now have a black president. Any little possibly racial issue that arises around the country becomes a test. The media will bring it to the White House and expect a response when in reality they have nothing to do with it. It is not a national issue. Yes, racism is a national issue I would never deny we are still facing that. But this, when no one knows the true story because both sides of the story differ so greatly and it is impossible to point to who is right and who is wrong, how can this be made a national debate. There are no clear facts and therefore it should not be commented on. It should have stayed like it stayed and gone away.
On the other hand, in addition to this being a PR stunt because the president did decide to involve himself and it came across favoring one side of the situation as opposed to staying neutral, maybe it was to create some racial dialogue, but not at the White House, around the nation. I bet at the White House they just beat around the bush, didn’t want to bring it all up again, just wanted to reconcile and move on and have the public think they were in very serious talks. Well because the public assumed this, they got talking. The proof? Here we are talking about it now. People are talking about the case, racism, racial profiling, and what is right and what is wrong. The only good thing to come out of this whole debacle for the nation, and not for Obama to save his approvals, was to get talking and realize racism is not gone and how when issues like this arise around this nation they should be handled.
The Great Beer Summit was a great approach for Barrack Obama in trying to solve the incident that had occurred with the Harvard professor. As everyone is aware an African American Harvard professor was arrested by a white Sergeant without having a lawful cause. He was arrested because one of his neighbors thought he was breaking into his own house. This caused such a big issue because; to the society this was a form of racism, because if this was the Professor’s house there was no reason for him to get arrested. In my opinion I think this is a form of racism and stereotype because of the different skin colors. Just because someone seems to be doing something suspicious it doesn’t always mean, there is something bad going on. Furthermore there wasn’t a reason for the professor to be arrested. In this case the professor was getting in through the window of his house because he didn’t have the key no because he was breaking into his own house.
President Obama saw this issue and thought the best way to confront this problem was talking about it face to face. As everyone knows Obama invited the Harvard Professor and the Sergeant to the white house to talk about the incident. Many people hoped to have some sort of outcome from this meeting but many were disappointed. The President instead of confronting this issue as something serious he decided to forget everything and pretend like none of this had ever happened. This was very disappointing because in my opinion I would of thought the sergeant would have had some type of punishment for arresting a Harvard professor without having a actual reason. But as it turns out none of these topics were really addressed during this beer summit between these three people. If I would have been in the professor’s shoes I would have put charges against the Sergeant that had arrested me illegally. This incident should have been address and solved differently because this in certain terms was a form of racism toward the African American Professor. If the President didn’t bother doing anything about it, this might open the doors for people to start to discriminate other people. An certainly that is something we wouldn’t want to happen here in the United States. The United States is a nation full of so many people from different backgrounds and races, if discrimination started to occur there would probably end of being a War World III. So this is why I think President Obama should have address this issue differently and he should of gave the sergeant some kind of punishment instead of pretending that none of this ever happened. By doing this the President would of let the public know that there is a consequence for arresting unlawfully and that no form of discrimination should be tolerated in this country!
The main idea of the president of the United States Barack Obama was to make peace between the Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and Sergeant James Crowley. His idea of letting the past behind us critically describes that he does not want to make these issues bigger than they have to be. The great beer summit was just a meeting to make reconciliation between both of them. It is ironic how professor Gates gets arrested for trying to force entry into his own porch. The caller reporting named Lucia Whalen was not sure if professor Gates and his driver lived there. In addition, it was not Lucia’s fault because she only did what she thought was right. In the beer summit they do not talk about the past, maybe because they do not want more controversy about this issue. Barack Obama thought that the best way to solve this episode was ignoring the past. The big question is was this controversy a racial profiling? Professor Gates thinks that if he would have been a white person Sgt. Crowley would not have demanded him to step out the porch. In addition, sergeant Crowley was just doing his job but I don’t understand why sergeant Crowley arrested professor Gates when there was already proof that he was in his own home. Anybody would be angry and upset if police tried to arrest them in their own home after they presented evidence that they owned the house. That’s why Gates was charged with disorderly conduct. It’s true that African American and Latinos are usually stopped by law enforcement disproportionally. There are stereotypes people in the world that portray colored people to be worst than others or people from a different cultural or racial group to be more violent than others. In my own opinion neither Gates nor Crowley were upset about the situation because they told Obama that they already had planned to meet again for lunch. This means that this issue was not a big deal for them. President Barack Obama believed that “what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart.” He only wants a positive lesson about this episode. We know that we cannot change the world in one day. Also it is difficult to live in peace where there is racism and discrimination involved. As I said before some people think that other racial groups are worst or that they can make them feel worst. Why is there racism in the world? Why is there discrimination in the world? If we know we are all human beings. We are all human and as Dr. Sam says we all going to died one day. The main idea of the great beer summit was forget the past and be in harmony.
I was aware of this event when it took place over the summer. However, at the time, I was not aware that it was featured to prominently in the media, or that it lead to “The Great Beer Summit.” Now, after researching the event more, I do not think it was necessarily a problem that the woman called the police. I think that any normal bystander would be nervous and take action if they saw someone “nudging” or leaning against a jammed door, if what would probably appear to be a forceful breaking and entering crime. However, when the police arrived at Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s residence, they should have properly reviewed his identification. If they had done this they would have clearly seen that it was in fact his own residence, and therefore, he was not breaking in. In my opinion, the policeman who arrested Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is the person at fault here, as he took the situation too far when he continued to arrest Henry Louis Gates, Jr. once he had shown proof that it was in fact his residence. Furthermore, I believe that this event only became a race related issue when the media portrayed it as such, and when people began to comment on the race issues that have since been attached to it.
While I think that President Obama had good intentions in bringing the two involved men to the White House with casual pretenses, like having a beer, I think there should have been a larger effort made to dissuade the negative racial connotations that have been attached to the arrest and the following media coverage, instead of just “putting the past behind them.” I think President Obama is receiving unwarranted criticism regarding his efforts to alleviate some of the racial issues in the country that have been overlooked by past Presidents. We, as a country, cannot look at this one incident to judge the character of our President. We cannot assume that he will not make an effort to address the country’s race problems just because he did not want to blow this one, isolated issue out of proportion. It is a normal reaction for a person in a position of power to have. While the people who are complaining about his lackadaisical reaction would have been pleased with a more passionate response, an emotional outbreak from President Obama would have been much more disruptive.
I do not think this event is an accurate portrayal of our country’s race relations problems. Do not get me wrong, I do think that our country definitely needs to address the way we look at race and the differences between people, however, I do not think that every occurrence between people of different races is directly related to their race. In conclusion, I do not think that the unnecessary arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was based on his race. I think the reaction that the media and a lot of people have had is completely out of proportion, and I definitely do not think we should judge President Obama for his choice of response, which I personally think was perfectly suited for this situation.
Throughout this incident, we actually get a meaningful opportunity to think again about the race relations between the black and white. Because of the government underneath the first black president, this incident probably became controversial than it could have been.
As an international student, I feel that both US government and citizens took this situation way too serious. I mean, seriously, the media can manipulate their inside stories whatever they want it to be. This controversy might not be that bad as it was told and we have thought. I do not mean that I do not apprehend any of the history happened between the black and white. And I also know of Americans have ashamed and felt guilty toward their mistreatment and unacceptable conduct. What would the neighbors react if Henry Gates was white. The neighbors would have thought he was trying to get into his house without keys or he was fixing the door to open. We still have the fact that Henry Gates burbled and made a mess at his neighborhood about his race and neighbor’s attitudes. Despite his improper conduct, there definitely would be some legit reasons that Gates got enraged. Then what about James Crowley? Did he deserve Obama’s criticizing comment about his arrest of Gates? He only did what he was supposed to do. He owned the right to arrest people who appeared to be doubtful. It is absolutely unfair to
The most interesting thing that attracted the media was Barack Obama’s action. He conducted the “Beer Summit”. Who knows what they have talked about and what they have not talked about? The goal of “Beer Summit” might have had different goals than what the media and citizens probably have thought. They could have talked about their sex lives, children, or favorite books. No one knows what they issued there and I’m pretty certain that anyone would be interested in the topic. In my opinion, Obama at least tried to solve this problem as peaceful as he could. However, the “beer summit” was not the best solution for this issue.
To think from different side from the media, why does Obama have to eliminate the racial conflicts. None of US citizens, media, and even Barack Obama are not responsible for this controversy. And No one may not solve this problem until human are extinct. This racism that we may not see will go on endlessly although we try to eliminate it. People should not react this serious about what happened at Cambridge. By the belief of mine that no one actually caused the problem, anyone should not blame on both the media and the government. I believe they all tried to make this issue better than it is. The country should stay on the middle ground so that the life in the states could be more peaceful than it is now.
The Great Beer Summit was an ideal opportunity for the first United States President of color to demonstrate an appropriate appeasement of racial conflict. Unfortunately, President Barack Obama’s Beer Summit completely missed the mark. Many of my personal opinions about conflict resolution are reflected in Laurie Mulvey’s commentary. Without being conceited, one of my favorite personal attributes is my ability to understand people. When presented with a conflict, I instinctively put myself in the other person’s place to try to understand their way of thinking. Like any conflict, those about race can only be resolved when each party has the opportunity to both openly express an opinion and to understand that of the opposing side.
In theory, the Great Beer Summit could have been a productive means of resolving the racial tension between Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Sergeant James Crowley. The Summit could have succeeded if the racial conflict had been confronted directly. Both Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Sergeant James Crowley should have been given the opportunity to express why they acted the way they did during the incident of arrest. A direct discussion of their opposing opinions could have moved the issue toward resolution.
In reality, the Great Beer Summit avoided rather than appeased the racial issue between Gates and Crowley. With their families, they were each given separate tours of the White House. Then, they sat down together with the President to drink a beer and to pose for the classic photo opportunity of strained comradery. Afterwards, Gates and Crowley both described each other as likeable people. Neither mentioned any discussions about race. While they may have genuinely enjoyed each other’s company, ultimately, the racial issue was not confronted. Rather than attempting to resolve the conflict, it was decided that they should say “Cheers” and simply put the past behind them.
As precisely demonstrated by the lack of dialogue between Gates and Crowley, racial conflict is an issue in America that is perpetually avoided rather than solved. For instance, throughout the years, the American culture has been trying to tell ancestors of African American slaves to put the past behind them rather than allowing open confrontation of racial issues. In efforts to remain politically correct, to resist feelings of discomfort, and to avoid being attacked, open dialogue about racial issues is severly lacking among the American population.
As the first black President of America, Barack Obama must seize the opportunity to begin the process of eliminating the ominous cloud of racism that has overshadowed the United States since its beginnings. He cannot do so by avoiding the issue. Furthermore, in general, the President of the United States is one of the most powerful leaders in the world. As such, he must engage himself in solving a multitude of conflicts that go beyond race. President Obama has consistently advocated nonviolent, diplomatic discussions as resolutions to global issues. However, if these discussions fail to include direct confrontation and active dialogue, they will be nothing more than jolly photo opportunities.
I feel that the statement that Laurie Mulvey said about the two men agreeing to disagree should not be considered ‘dialogue’ correct. First of all, based on the information, it seems that neither of the two men brought up the incident that started this entire mess. Instead, they sat there, sipping beer with the president, trying to make friends while avoiding the subject. Just like Laurie says, we see this ALL the time, where some incident occurs with someone yelling ‘racism’ and awhile after, the parties involved are unwilling to dive into the real issues. In reality, we avoid the race issue like the plague. People are too afraid to offend others of different backgrounds (myself included) when it comes to discussing this issue.
However, this is just one of the many examples of how the United States needs racial dialogue and healing. While I do agree that incidents like these are sometimes blown way out of proportion to create controversy, it only proves that racism is still a problem in the U.S. The media is all about making money, so incidents involving race controversy is much more profitable then a group of people talking about the issues. Now as president, Obama had good intentions bringing Gates and Crowley together to try to dissolve any anger between them. And instead of some stuffy meeting in the White House, he sets up some table outside, giving Crowley and Gates beer. I think that this was a very original, good idea for the meeting, but Obama did, like Laurie stated, overlooked the race subject.
In order for the racial dialogue and healing to begin, we need some incident or person to start it. Obama should have been this catalyst, pushing the issue and getting Gates and Crowley to discuss. I can side with Laurie’s sense of disgust with Obama’s actions. Like she said, Obama is supposed to be the one leading us in the right direction, helping the citizens of this great country get past all the racism and hate that has influenced our thoughts and actions. Instead, he first criticized the police for their actions in the matter, then retracting those statements and inviting the men to the White House. Even though professors of Obama say that he has always been proficient in difficult conversations, his ability was clearly not exhibited here.
Overall, I think the situation could have been handled better by all parties. Gates and Crowley could have taken the initiative and discussed what happened on that day when Gates was arrested by Crowley, instead of saying how it was ‘all behind them.’ Also, Obama should have gone a step further after bringing the men together and discussing the issue. I realize that things like racial healing take time to come into effect, but it has to start somewhere, so when will that happen?
In just these first few months of President Obama’s term in office, I am surprisingly aware of two big race discrimination cases. Before Judge Sonia Sotomayor was inducted into the Supreme Court she was working in New Haven, Connecticut. Part of a panel of three other judges, she made a controversial ruling in the case of Ricci vs. DeStefano, in which they basically ruled reverse racism was okay. The case was taken to the Supreme Court where her ruling was deemed unconstitutional, and then overturned. Then there was “The Great Beer Summit”, a response to an incident of racism towards a black Harvard professor by a white police officer, which this video-blog addresses.
Now, I am hardly an activist, and the news I know best, embarrassingly enough, is celebrity gossip. So the fact that I was fully aware of both of these current events, reveals a lot about the current place the United States is in. When America elected Barack Obama as the nation’s first black president, it was expected that issues on race would be addressed more than they have since the sixties, while segregation was alive and well. These two incidents and their spillover and media coverage just show what is in store for the country during this unique presidential term.
What came out of the great beer spectacle? To agree to disagree, in any argument is just an easy way out. Like Laura Mulvey, I wonder how the two parties could just get over their disagreement and move on so easily. I find this is a common “solution” to civil disputes. For many, it’s just easier to move on than argue because people are stubborn and not always willing to honestly accept the other’s side. I don’t believe this method can be strong enough to hold up any kind of agreement or decision. While President Obama may have intended to make an example out of the situation, the concern about racial profiling seemed overall a bit weak.
Thus, I completely think this story was ridiculous and blown out of proportion. When this was all going down, I remember reading more headlines about the President’s personal involvement in the story. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a friend of President Obama’s, doesn’t that seem sort of unprofessional? And then when news broke that Obama invited the two men to the White House for a beer, to me, the story became entirely insincere. I don’t ever remember an instance when G.W. was throwin’ back a brewski with some Muslim-American who was unfairly discriminated against while going through airport security. Let’s face it-the media has had a crush on the Obamas since the election. If they can make a story out of what the President likes on his hamburger, or that the first lady wore shorts on vacation, they will. And they did.
In the video the discussion about the beer summit created some questions, confusions, and controversy. The individual expressed her concerns and opinion on how Obama went about it. One, I do agree with the lady saying that agreeing to disagree is not a solution. But keep in mind that we do not know what was said, or what was talked about during the event. I can admit having a beer wouldn’t be my way to solve problems, that’s my opinion. And others are entitled to their opinion; Obama went about the situation the best way he knew how. I’m tired of people knocking him for having a beer with the two and people explaining what they would of done differently or how Obama was wrong. Understand the two individuals that started an up roar are men. Grown ass man and how is Obama suppose to correct grown adults if they do not feel that they were wrong? His president not god, he can’t force a person to think or act a certain way. We the people were not present or heard the conversation that took place. Therefore we shouldn’t have that much to say on the matter when we are ignorant to what went down at the table. Yes, agreeing to disagree isn’t coming up with a resolution for a worldwide problem. But sitting down and hearing both parties and speaking on it is a start. The agreement was a way of giving the other person respect, no they probably don’t agree with each other, but respect is still a good accomplishment. Especially since the two previously were cursing and fighting at one another. Having them sit down without yelling and cursing is a big accomplishment. Obama did what he thought was right at that time and I commend him for stepping in and becoming the mediator. I’m amazed that this one story got out and became so big. Personally I’ve heard and seen far worst situations. Police stopping blacks or frisking people of color isn’t new and happens every day. But listening to the news you would think stuff like this never happens. It’s a lot of issues that do not make it to air. Why is that? Who has the power to decide what is important or not? I know one thing, watching a championship dog or seeing different ways to get rid of wrinkles isn’t quite that important and shouldn’t make channel 6 news. This story just shows that no matter how much education you have or where you come from means nothing if you’re an ethnicity of color to ignorant people like that cop. It’s sad that people like him still exist, but its nothing we can do to change their minds. We can only prove them wrong and continue to be ourselves.
I find it interesting that people assume that since Barack Obama is both black and white that he has this overwhelming power that can be used to bring these two races together into a harmonious union. Racism is a problem that has been occurring since the beginning of civilization, although initially it was probably based on appearances or other characteristics if there was only one race in that region. This issue is not something that will ever be fixed over a beer, or any other well publicized meeting. It is an issue that is so ingrained into American society that only future generations will hopefully continue to keep minimizing. Once that is understood, that ending racism is a long process that will last for generations, it is obvious that nothing completely earth shattering came out of this “Great” summit. I believe Obama made a huge step in inviting these two men over to share a beer. This was especially smart on Obama’s part since men talking over a beer is something that knows no race. Men of all colors often sit back and crack open a beer with friends. That was smart since it leveled the field for all of the four men there. It was no longer two opposing parties coming to meet with the president and vice president; it was a couple of men talking over beer.
I think it also important to realize that no one really knows what was talked about between the four of them. This is why it is not right to jump to the conclusion that nothing was accomplished, and they only skimmed the surface on the issue. I really believe that Obama stepping in and bringing these two opposing parties together was a big step that not many people would ever think to do. These two men, who had caused each other much hardship, were able to have a conversation in which Gates said that they hit it off right away. I really do believe there is nothing more Obama could have done, especially since no one is sure what part race even had in the incident. You can’t make an issue about race if it isn’t about race. People put high expectations on this summit, thinking that magically all races could unite. Well, Obama made a huge impact. Before this, opposing sides, especially in racial profiling and other race issues, never came together and made peace with the situation. Instead, the opposing sides would gain strength in their favor and argue until people forgot about the incident. I really think that Obama did a great thing by bringing these two men together, who may never truly agree on what happened (but again, that’s also what makes America such a great country), and letting them talk over a beer. Although it may not have been earth shattering, it was a step in the right direction showing that peace between parties can only be brought through talking and understanding each other (understanding does not mean agreeing though). It is up to us to make strides like Obama in the right direction by smoothing over problems through talking and not ignoring them or through continuous bickering.
When I originally heard about the “beer summit,” I not only thought 1) that Obama should never have gotten involved in the events prior, and 2) why were they even publicizing them drinking beer? Some people thought it was totally inappropriate to discuss the president drinking beer. I never had a problem with that because despite holding a very high and powerful position in the United States, Obama is a person. Getting involved in something like this I believe was stupid, because it was very early in his presidency, it was an issue that probably happens on a daily basis, and there is also much controversy over him being black. I think that I was somewhat ignorant until I started taking this class. Although I have a lot to learn still, I realized that we are not past the whole “race issue.” I think now that maybe Obama is trying to teach the nation how to handle this issue, but he’s new at it too. The beer summit was probably just a casual way to try and address the issue and try and move forward. Like a lot of people that blogged before me, I believe that it’s most important to address WHY this happened. Why do people do the things they do, think the way they think, and feel the way they feel? There is obviously something deeper that we are unaware of. If we were able to discover the reasons fueling these incidents, than maybe we could as someone said sympathize with and at least understand their point of view. I hardly realized the significance of having Obama as our president, besides the fact that he was “the first” black president. He was the power and influence to help change the mindset that Americans undeniably still have. There should be a TV show of different issues like this. It would be one huge real soap opera. (Maybe that is what the Real World is supposed to be?) Overall, my opinions have changed a great deal and I think that Obama addressing this incident could potentially have helped our society. He should explain himself and encourage the men involved to do the same. If Obama came out and flat out said
“hey everyone, reality check it is 2009 and there are still problems with X and Y on the basis of race. Whether or not you believe it, the statistics exists. Bang here is it.” People would listen. No one wants to be called racist. I personally believe that’s one of the worse things someone could call me. People think and act in ways that are racist and they are unaware of it and maybe that was what happened to this officer. If Obama further went to explain, “here is an example. He should ask the man why he did what he did and then go on to tell everyone how we can learn and move our society in the right direction."I think this would be a move effective approach. I also think there will be many more issues such as this to come. I guess we’ll see.
In my opinion, the Great Beer Summit was a complete failure in my opinion on Barack Obama’s part. He did not discuss key race relations issues, he simply used alcohol as a means of getting people to be friends. If any two people drink enough, they will be the best friends on the planet. Sure I think that it was a good idea to at the very least attempt to touch on race issues, but the tactics were all wrong. If Barack Obama is such a prominent figure in today’s society because he is such a motivational speaker when he addresses the other issues our country is facing, why was he unable to touch on race issues in a more direct manner? If any president should be able to talk about race relations, it should be Obama, he is the nation’s first African American president. He can and should be giving more speeches trying to improve our country’s race problems. Nobody will sit down and have a conversation about race relations without holding back for fear of offending someone, so it needs to be forced upon us.
It does not help the cause when you constantly hear about white cops racially profiling people. Stereotypes and racism are going to be our nation’s downfall. if we can not overcome our prejudices, we will never truly be able to work together on other key issues because our trust for one another and judgement will be clouded. Unfortunately, it seems as though this type of confrontation will never happen because we as people in a politically correct world will always feel uncomfortable in some way, shape, or form whenever it comes to the topic of race relations.
My question is, why exactly did this get so much attention from the media to the point where Obama felt that he needed to invite the Harvard professor and police officer the the White House? Obama must have never watched the TV show cops, because on that show white/black/hispanic cops always arrest people of other races, what was so special about this case? What was the professor doing that caused the police officer to arrest him in the first place? And why do people seem to think that because they seemed to overcome this one issue, that we are making steps towards better race relations? My little brother is mixed (black/white) and I am a white person. We get into arguments all the time and forgive each other afterwards, but our arguments have nothing to do with our races. A black man being arrested by a white man or any other combination of races should not have been settled over a beer in the White House, and the media should not have created so much hype over this situation.
When I first heard about the idea of the “beer summit” I was hopeful in the aspect that I thought actual issues and misunderstandings would be talked out and addressed, but upon actually seeing what the “beer summit” was I realized my vision was all but short lived. “Saving face” is what immediately played in my head. I say this because it just looked like a publicity stunt to cool down tenses between the two parties and their respective sides (people who were on the professor side or the officer’s side). No actual issues or concerns where addressed during the summit. In the aspect of if this situation called for racial healing/dialogue I believe it did. Even if the actions of both parties where not racial motivated the fact still stands that people that it was. This alone lets me know that although things may have “changed” there are still underlining tensions between the races that need to b worked out. These problems cannot be solved by a “beer summit” in which the problems I sweep under the rug. If this is the case then the deep rooted problems will just keep getting masked and forever pop up a rear its ugly head from time to time. The “beer summit” should have been a discussion about each other’s viewpoints and how they see things so that it would invoke further thought and perhaps more understanding. Basically it should have been a Sam soc119 lecture. I also believe that the media did blow the initial story out of proportion, but I don’t think it was for sale or ratings (although that may have been an underlining factor) I believe that it was made such a big deal because of the much needed “racial healing” or talk on the issues. If a discussion of racial healing wasn’t needed the story let alone the accusations made by both parties wouldn’t have even been made. Although the incident may have been a small one turned large the underlining themes that should be addressed because of it are big. The racial tenses between the two shows the hidden racial tense that still exists even with the fact that we have a mixed president. The summit was just a simple publicity stunt. It seemed to basically be a mutual agreement between the two that they would just let it go without anything being solved. This could have been because of political pressure (obama persuading both parties) or a ploy so that both party could avoid the other taking legal action an adding more fuel to the fire. All in all nothing was solved from the “beer summit” if anything it left things unsaid and left to fester and potential become worse.
Hahaha-like the hookah idea!
But seriously, it didn’t really help anything….President Obama’s nomination and subsequent election brought racism to the forefront of everyone’s minds, but there’s been no open official dialogue on it. In Philadelphia, Michael Vick has recently joined the Eagles. In the Metro (the classy newspaper that it is) the writer stated that his appointment was one of the most (racially) divisive decisions in sports history. There are quite a few fans up in arms, and the way the media is portraying the clash, it is racial. The point of this tangent is to show how there are societal tensions that no one openly discusses in halls that matter. This would have been a great opportunity…Obama has this fantastic chance to discuss the past, air it out and honestly put it to rest. By talking through it, maybe we can come to peace with the topic as a society.
I think perhaps the reason the media blew it out of proportion is that they were looking for answers and got a lot of BS instead. My answer to anonymous’s question (4th? comment) is that as “America’s first black President” ‘racist’ issues are automatically inadvertently linked to him. I don’t think “forgive and forget” is working as national policy when situations like this end up with a beer at the White House with no productive public statement. I do not believe that giving everyone an ox and an acre of land would help by any stretch of the imagination either; but there needs to be public dialogue before this can be left in the past where it belongs. (For I believe that racism is an issue for our grandparents to fight over…not us.)
I feel that a lot of the headway in race relations that was made by Obama’s election is being repealed in the face of how this was handled. By bringing them together in the high-profile setting that is the white house, a spot light was focused on them, and the can of worms was opened. Since nothing of import came from that meeting, the lid was hastily brought back down and duct taped closed. If the intention of the informal non productive meeting is to ease into the national debate on the place of racism in our country…it certainly is a gentle step.
“the beer summit” could be seen as a failure on the part of the media as well…with the amount of attention that it was given….how much attention went to an actual debate on race…no one took the position “well the beer summit failed, so let’s work on it ourselves”. I think that if people complained less and sought to fix problems on their own more, listening to the news might be more pleasant.
I completely agree that, when attempting to discuss issues, people today, not matter what culture, either butt heads or agree to put the conflict was in the past. Neither of those options involves directly addressing the problem to the point that each side understands what the other was thinking and accepts their logic.
As far as the incident in Massachusetts where the Harvard Professor was arrested, I think there is little to say. I feel that this specific occurrence of racism was highlighted and nationally televised mainly due to the President’s comment regarding the “offending” police department and officer. How many times have wrong accusations due to race, or any characteristic that makes a person or group different, been addressed in State College? In America? In the world? No one will ever know the exact number just that they happen every day, everywhere, and can range from name calling to war.
I feel like we should ask ourselves if the world would be different if problems were actually dealt with and discussed in depth and solved rather than resorting to ‘forgive and forget’ or even violence. Would there have been these society and world effecting wars that we learn about in history class? Who knows, but I think that there probably would have been less war than we know of.
Also, I think the race issue in this country and the world is absolutely ridiculous. As far as this incident, I do not think that the woman who called in the suspected “break in” was calling it so because the man was black; she just happened to state that he was black. Armed with this “extra information” I believe that it was the police officer and/or department that made the prejudgment that he was actually breaking in. Because of this prejudgment, I believe that even when the “suspect” stated he was the occupant of the household the officers already had their minds made up. One cannot help but think what would have happened if the “suspect” was white, if the officer was black, or dare I say both.
Continuing with the race issue, I feel that President Obama being considered the first black president is slightly wrong. He’s half white. This “one drop rule” for African Americans is ridiculous. If they are going to be segregated in that way then everyone should be treated with such a rule, but they are most definitely not. In America, in order to be considered Native American and thus benefit from the laws protecting their sacred lands and ancestors among other things, one must prove that a quarter of their “blood” is Native American and that their family history can be traced as such. This country is so quick to judge when it comes to blaming people, but to have to go above and beyond and spend hard earned money to prove your heritage so you can continue your customs without being bothered is indeed something our society should think about.
Barack Obama inviting the well-respected black professor and the white officer that arrested him over for a beer and discussion led to the conclusion that the two were “putting their past behind them” and look forward. The media responded strongly to this incident for weeks because of the racial excitement. However, one could present the question: was the two of them “putting their past behind them” making a statement on race or were they making a statement on the truth of the situation. As the man, the myth, the legend, Sam Richards said when he posted this blog, it doesn’t matter who was in the wrong or who was in the right in this situation. But the fact of the matter is that a police officer (regardless of race) arrested a citizen (regardless of race) because he (the police officer) had reason to believe that the citizen was doing something wrong. If the officer had reason to arrest the Harvard Professor, does that even have to be brought to their attention? If we take race and social status out of the equation, than we have one guy just doing his job that affects the life of another. If we look at the situation from that angle, couldn’t we argue this is just a situation about basic forgiveness? These types of situations should happen all of the time! With racial history. People should be able to put their past behind them regardless of their history and move forward in their relationship. On that note, people should also be able to “keep their work in the office”.
The idea that Barack Obama chose to speak on this issue to the nation is an interesting one. Clearly the act of the two meeting for a beer with the president speaks more on just the notion of two individuals forgiving each other and more as a symbol for our nation to move away from the long history of the racist past. What intrigues me is why did he choose to use this particular scenario to present our nation with the concept of “racial progress”? “Putting their past behind them” speaks not just on the history between the professor and the officer but on the hundreds of year’s racism African American’s have faced. In my Inart110 class, we discuss the issue of race in the media. That while Barack Obama for example is black, socially and behaviorally; he acts more like a white guy. Not that dissimilar to the Harvard Professor who was arrested. He is a very well known, intelligent, upper class black man. Almost an outlier for the “racial image” society and media has created known more commonly as “the token black”. So if there are situations of white officers arresting black citizens because of racial profiling all around us, why did Obama pick this particular arrest to bring to the attention to the rest of the country?
I will admit that I was a bit disappointed that President Barack Obama did not address the issue head-on. It would have been a great step in the right direction for trying to address and deal with the issue of racism. I agree with Leigh, you can't solve several hundred years of racism overnight it's just not going to happen. One person cannot fix this problem alone. We as Americans need to do our parts to try and I guess begin to deal with the issue of racism. And I believe that we need to start that dialogue in our homes with our parents and children. Because there are still places in the United States that hold separate proms for their white and black students that go to the same school (it's an HBO special called Prom Night in Mississippi).
America clearly still has its racial issues. But I think people tend to forget that it was only like 40-50 years ago that this country was completely different especially when talking about race relations. I think there will always be some sort of racial tensions between races here, because I believe you can't change what a person has been conditioned as a child to feel about a certain race. Some people might be able to change what they think about a race, but most don't.
The woman on this clip is making a whole bunch of assumptions because like she said she wasn't there so she doesn't know what they talked about or did not talk about. She making her assumptions off of one statement which was that they put the past behind them. She doesn't know what went on because for all we know the policeman could have acknowledged he was wrong and apologized to the man, and the man accept it, and then the conversation might have went on from there. But we don't know what happened . From what it looks like on the outside, yeah , it looks as if they did just skimmed the surface. Personally, I feel the woman was assuming a lot and I don't think that is the right way to make up a decision about something, with out knowing all the facts.
If the roles were reversed ( with a black cop and a white professor) it still would have made news, but instead of coming to the White House, the black police officer would probably be facing some sort of repercussion like suspension or something. Considering this took place in Boston, which is a city that is rather racial, I think it was probably racial profiling.
The beer summit clip was very interesting. This was also a very hot topic amongst the media when it happened. Almost too much dragging this on for weeks was just an overdoing. This was just another way for the media to throw things way out of proportion. It originally had a huge potential to be a great achievement in the matter of race relations, but turned into the president being a knuckle-head when it came to how he dealt with it. The summit meeting had no affect on the opinions of both parties that were involved, and did not help with the initial problem. Basically the press did more than the president by letting us know that there is racism that still exists in this country. But when it came to the president’s part I agree with Ms. Mulvey attitudes towards the fact that the “little meeting” between Obama and the two men, did absolutely nothing for both sides like I said above, and the fact that she says that they were just trying to put the past behind them is where I also feel they went wrong.
Obama’s little shindig, didn’t only cause a mass array of media, but he basically just looked at the situation and waved at it. Being a black man in power now you would think he would do a little bit more than just skim the surface as Ms. Mulvey said. All he did was give those people who are willing to be racist an eye of opportunity, if not letting them know that our president will do nothing about it. The Harvard professor was unfairly treated, and it should have been recognized and not just looked over and laughed about over a beer. I mean sure Obama’s intetions were probably good but just having the arresting officer and professor sharing a beer will not get to the bottom of anything. And since it didn’t then there should have been a more formal meeting between the three of them so they could figure out the issue and show how does perceive to the country as an act of racism.
The other thing that I got from this video, is the fact that yes Obama did nothing to help the issue or fix the problem but have a beer with the two, but does this mean that us as a whole should not do anything? We should take the beer summit as our right of passage to help this country and let everyone know that yes while there are hardly any slaves or sit in’s that even in this so called free country there is still acts of racism everyday.
The situation in which two ethnicities are arguing about a racism issue is shameful. A white police officer and a black man facing the situation in which they are run by disorderly emotions and they went far from the main purpose. There can be different points of view of seeing the main issue or what really matter. If all people living in the United States were more neutral and not feel any kind of ethnicity differences problems this would not happen. All people is immigrant, we all came from another place. We all are physically different and at the same time we have no differences at all; we all came from the same place. Different Color and backgrounds don’t mean we are different. People know or have the reputation to think that depending on our ethnicity we’re in some ways dangerous. In this example called “Beer Summit” it’s the reputation of the people who make this kind of events happen and rise a great amount of law and political controversial and it’s just another events that is happening to teach us how we are stuck in the same place where society have created this shameful issue. In the event a black men and a white police it was handle based on the history of the United States. I think that both the police officer and Mr. Gates overreacted. I think it wasn’t racism between officer Crowley and Mr. Gates it was just over reacting from both of them. But definitely was stupid and ignorant of the neighbor to not even recognize physical features of her neighbor to not know or wait what happened after the person whom she saw reacted. I think that obviously all the issue was when Mr. Gates dialed with the officer Crowley. There was a misunderstanding between the officer and Mr. Gates dealing with the process of contributing with the little issue and instead they overreacted. I think that if they both would wait more and be patient and try not to make the situation longer or harder by Mr. Gates to refuse to give and show everything the officer asked him and the officer not let himself run by emotions and just think that the proof that Mr. Gate show him was enough to prove he was the owner of the house and he was a professor of Harvard University. There wasn’t anything wrong with him and his legal status. I think this event wasn’t based on racism because officer Crowley gave reasons how he was related to the issue “racism” he was also fighting to help the people abused. He wouldn’t do something that he is trying to stop. Mr. Gates is black they have the reputation of always say what they mean some of the reactions he had were overreacting; he was maybe tired of his day that he got mad and he overreacted. The disorderly words that Mr. Gates used altered the officer stability or work process. I believe that nothing would happen if officer Crowley would be black. Then President Obama surprise America and brought the main issue was racism. I think that the first words he said were regretting, from the fact that a lot of people is suffering from racism. I think that he had a great idea of bringing the two people together so all the nation could see that talking and spending time together is how all Americans should live.
The Great Beer Summit was just another race issue that was not solved. I think that President Obama was just trying to tackle the ongoing race issue by inviting the officer and the Harvard professor to the house. However, like most other race related issues, The Great Beer Summit was a failure in trying to solve anything race related. I feel like Obama may be the one to blame about this issue and that Mrs. Mulvey is correct by saying that people always nibble around the race issue when it comes up and never get down to it and say what needs to be said. Obama should have taken the initiative in this meeting to really discuss the matter. Although Obama may be the one to blame in this most recent issue, race is just an ongoing issue that has never or very well could never be solved. Obama tried to make a point out of this but failed. I don’t think Americans should be all over his back about the issue because it’s a part of everyday life. This issue has been going on in our country forever and no one has ever really succeeded on solving the matter. Past presidents and political figures have tried to fix this problem but failed. I don’t see your daily average joe trying to fix anything these days. Obama attempted to make a change but just failed, kind of like every single other person that has tried to fix it. I don’t get how people can criticize him about this issue by not solving the problem. People should know how much race is a part of the world and how in no way, shape, or form will people ever be treated truly fair. Yes, I agree that Obama could have done more to fix this issue when he addressed it and had the two people come to the house but he didn’t. He shouldn’t be taking this much criticism for it. One man, even a man as strong as Obama cannot change every Americans views of race. Even if he did succeed in this Beer Summit there would still be racists out there that Obama wouldn’t have reached out to. That will never change as long as we live. Obama is all about change and since he has taken over America has changed. There are issues that he took care of because he had the power to do that. He is the most powerful man in our country and even if he went deeper into racial views and issues, do you honestly think he could change everyone’s views just overnight? In one meeting? No, I don’t think so. Us Americans need to take that upon ourselves. Who knows if one day he actually will do something to change the issue but it will take a lot longer than a day, not even a day, to change that. We have to change ourselves. Also, there are people that will never change their views on race. True racist will always stay true racist. It’s the people that were around it but never really associated themselves in it that can change. I really don’t know if things will ever change, but Obama seems like he could be the man to put us in the right direction. I feel like he has all intentions on doing that so we will see how he handles this issue in the future.
I believe that Barack Obama’s original intention was to have the African American professor and the White Female police officer over for a beer was so that they could discuss what had happened on that day and to attempt to talk it through to reach a mutual understanding. I believe that Barack Obama used the “come over for a beer” so that they both would feel relaxed and more susceptible to even coming over to have the discussion. This way not only could they have the opportunity to talk about the situation at hand, but other situations similar to it as well. I would have to say that the idea behind “The Great Beer Summit” was a good one, and had a lot of potential behind it. However, I feel as if not only did Obama but the Harvard professor and the white police officer failed in seizing the problem at hand.
As I said before, you can obviously see that Obama’s original goal was to try to help the two parties reconcile the issue at hand. However, I feel as if not only did Barack Obama “beat around the bush” but the two parties did as well. This may lead to the question of, “Were the two parties not able to fully reconcile the situation like they may have wanted to because Barack Obama in a way may not of let it happen??” In the end I do feel as if the two parties didn’t come to a proper understanding of the situation at hand. It seems as if they just merely skimmed the top of the situation, and as many would say “agreed to disagree.” However, looking back it you can’t completely blame Barack Obama for how the event turned out in the end. For Obama, his way of “playing it cool” was a good idea in a sense. Now a day’s no matter what Barack Obama says it will/can be held against him. This could be due to the fact that he is our first African American president, whether he is interracial or not. So in a way it was a smart move for him. This was also a smart idea due to the fact that he didn’t have to “pick sides” like most people would feel like they would have to do. By picking sides, this could lead to more controversy.
Over all it is obvious that Barack Obama wanted to do the right thing. And in a way he did. However, it could have been executed a little better. In the end, we can all learn a lot from this “Beer Summit.” It can show us and teach us how to attempt to talk things over with people that we may disagree with instead of just either remaining mad and not solving anything or just shaking hands and putting it behind us like everything is ok. And we must begin to realize that regardless of how the situation turned out, whether or not they talked the situation through all the way. In the end the two parties were ok and seemed to be happy and as if they wished to do it again. Obama’s job was to try to make everyone happy, and it seems as if we achieved his goal.
President Obama why are you taking the time out of your busy schedule to deal with this absurd media fiasco? Other than turning this story around and possibly using this to your advantage in an attempt to appear as a racial moderator for the country, this meeting appeared to be pointless. It’s ludicrous to think that having a few beers on TV was going to put the nation’s racial issues to bed. There was no plausible reason why this conversation needed the President to moderate it; nobody was arguing more than usual, nobody was rioting, so why was this meeting so important? I feel the reason why this became a national issue was because of the media’s over coverage of the story. The part of this story that bothered me the most was the media’s over exaggeration of the significance of the events that occurred. This especially was troubling to me because I myself am a Journalism major, and it worries me that the people I will one day be working with were ripping apart this story and blowing it out of proportion enough to force the President to get involved. Why was this such a big deal that the media needed to observe it so carefully? The media played a huge role in the escalation of the story’s plot and played a pivotal role in how the situation was handled. Another point I would like to bring up is why did Vice President Joe Biden need to make an appearance at this conference? I wonder if his presence really served a purpose, or was it the case that he was simply told to attend to make the meeting more media friendly? Was Barack afraid that the American people were going to get the wrong impression of the image of two African American men glaring across the table at one white police officer? I could be completely wrong though, maybe Joe Biden just heard the crack of a beer and came a running?
The argument between Henry Gates and the police officer appeared to be an isolated incident in which a misinterpretation of a situation turned a routine procedure into chaos. After hearing the story at no point did I feel that racism truly played a role in the police officer’s decision to apprehend Mr. Gates, he was simply doing his job. Many will argue that racial profiling played the dominant role in the officer’s action of arresting Professor Gates, but I could not disagree more. The reason why he was arrested in the first place was because he refused to cooperate with an officer which is in all cases in the eyes of the law is grounds for arrest.
This story could have been turned into an uplifting tale of understanding and not passing judgment on others that we could have drawn on years from now in the future, but unfortunately it seems to have become just another President of the United States drinking a beer and making us the American people look like unsophisticated cowboys to the rest of the world.
This incident proves that there has to be more racial dialogue, and also that the media blew this event way out of proportion. When the police officer responded to a call saying that a man, not specifically a black man, just a man, was trying to barge his way into a house, he approached the situation following police protocol. After failing to produce identification, the professor became belligerent with the officer, immediately assuming racism. I believe that this was a bit out of line. Even though in AMerica, unfortunately, often times black men are arrested or deemed suspicious just because they are black and the stereotype that surrounds them.
This being said, racial dialogue needs to be developed, although it is a thin line. I believe that this dialogue must be progressive, with each side, whether it be black, asian, native american, hispanic, etc., have to understand where the other side is coming from. It cannot be a racial bashing, and then have one side coming out with an overwhelming victory. Although understanding the past is crucial to understanding the future, we cannot have a victory on one side or the other that sets the progression back.
The media also blew this out of proportion. Yes, the situation did merit media covereage, but the way it was covered deemed Sgt. Crowley guilty and did not present the whole story. I am not claiming that Sgt. Crowley was correct, but the professor was not completely free of fault. The media, to me, made it seem as if it was a lynching, a reversion to the dark perils of the civil right movement.
I am not an Obama supporter, and I do not think he should have called the arrest "stupid" as he did, but the action he took, calling for a "Beer Summit" was an innovative idea. All over the world and across the country, people settle disputes by going to the bar and having a drink. It initially appeared as though he chose sides, but after the beer summit and by being cool enough to have a beer over the situation, it appeared to me that he was open to both sides. However, I do not think that anything was settled in the eternal black/white dispute. These types of occurrences will still happen in America.
Obama wanted to do the right thing in a new way, but in reality, although the thought was good, the result was insignificant.
It is not the presidents duty as commander to intervene in everyday disputes, otherwise he would be busy, drinking beer 24 hours a day for his entire term. However in this case, although I think he had the right intentions to clear the air, the air is still foggy.
The Great Beer Summit in my opinion was a stupid idea to say the least. I feel that President Obama is constantly trying to do things in a “cool” or “hip” way in order to get reactions from the media, as well as try to relate to the younger generations. Obama should realize that he has already broken many barriers by being our first African American president; he doesn’t need to do anything else shocking. I personally feel that having a serious, controversial discussion like they were should not occur over alcoholic beverages because honestly who can function properly when they are under the influence. He is a very intelligent man and should realize that his actions were not the most mature or proper for that particular situation.
I do not believe that Henry Louis Gates was arrested because of his color. I believe that it was all a misunderstanding because even if a black man saw another black man outside a house trying to break in, he too would call the cops. I would be naive if I said that racial profiling doesn’t exist, but in this situation I don’t believe it was the case. I feel that Gates was arrested because it’s better to be safe than sorry. If you’re suspicious about someone’s actions it is best to investigate before you let them off the hook. This meeting did not get to the bottom of racial profiling or anything of that matter, it simply brought the attention right back onto Obama…once again. I am not a racist person at all and have tons of African American friends whom I am very close with here at Penn State, but I do feel that many African Americans have some sort of complex where they think that everything white people say and do is somewhat racist or trying to bring them down. When I dance at parties I constantly have African Americans tell me that I can dance better than most black girls even can…but do I turn around and flip out and say that they are being racist toward white people…of course not! That’s why I get so frustrated when misunderstandings happen like the Henry Louis Gates case and everyone, especially the media, has to make up B.S. in order to make things more controversial and exciting. The last line in the video was not only funny but made me think a lot…but seriously the next time an important issue comes up is Obama going to roll up a joint and pass it around the meeting in order to “clear everyone’s minds.”
“Let’s just sweep it under the rug” should be the motto of America. It seems like a lot of incidents are just swept under the rug. I understand that some things happen and the past can’t be changed but that does not mean that a conversation about the situation cannot be started so that possible solutions can be thought of. Plans of actions can be made for future incidents. I don’t know if the incident was just an officer doing his job or just an incident of some “honkey” that wanted to lock up some “nigger”. But either way that should be discussed. A beer definitely does not solve the problem. The officer should be honest and explain to the professor as to why he acted the way he did and vice versa. But in the same breath I wonder if conversation will help anything. Maybe it is just my community but it seems that if a subject such as race and injustices that may come with it comes up that it is discussed and then things go back to the way they were. It’s like this journal. Everybody in class has to write one but are the TAs really going to have time to read them or are they going to do a word count and go on to the next one. Someone could write a whole bunch of bullshit about how wasted they got last night and it may not even matter because like in real world situations some things are accounted for and passed by.
I get angry and then sometimes I feel sorry for America knowing that a subject that affects everyone no matter color or creed is considered solved over a beer. What if the men didn’t like beer? What then? I then feel sorry because I myself do not even have an idea of how to discuss issues that some people are sensitive or frankly do not care about because they figure that it has nothing to do with them. If someone is set in their ways about what they believe what on earth could I, little ole me, tell them to make them change their minds.
Being pessimistic I know is not going to solve anything. If I think like this sometimes I can only imagine how many people give up hope of peace or common understanding because they can’t bring someone to believe what they do.
To the “beer summit”, even if this wasn’t a racial situation there are racial situations out there and they are swept under the rug like this was. I may be overreacting but at least I’m reacting. Some people out there could give two shits about the problems of another person let alone a person who clearly does not look like them. People in this world really need to open their eyes. We will never accomplish anything as a world if we do not accept our neighbors. I’m not saying everyone has to be bffs but to try to understand someone else speaks measures towards a better world. But then again like Sam says what does it all matter because we are all going to end up dead whether we get along or not.
I believe that our ways of just pushing away disagreement and staying in our own comfort zones has always been the routine. It is frustrating how sensitive we can be, no matter how strong one would feel about a certain issue, most times they never fully confront and resolve their beliefs. Here we have the president, Barack Obama, personally getting involved with an issue that clearly has nothing to do with him but grasping the opportunity to make a change. He doesn’t do it. He makes the first right move and gets all the victims in a room together so they can confront the true problem, however it is over “beer”, unprofessional but it works nonetheless. Yet, when they all step out of the room, nothing is still solved. Here is a leader who can really make a difference in how our society “naturally” reacts to things, and he, just like any other politician or sensitive being, for that matter, lightly brushes things off and continues on ignoring our judgmental views. It is really frustrating knowing that someone with so much power can do so little here. But this also raises the question, how much can Obama do exactly? He can set an example, that is understood, but it is the audience that has to be willing to change our naturally set perceptions of races. At least he took a step towards the right direction, now we only can hope for a continuous progression in this direction.
I think what I am most upset about is the media’s involvement, though. Here is a group of people, getting together to share a beer and discuss certain “problems” or possibly just talk about how Harvard’s sports and academics are doing during that current year. Yet, the media spends WEEKS (not just a day, which could have been a reasonable amount of time for new coverage) but weeks on a “beer summit.” There is so much more outside of the white house that are more serious than men drinking beer. For example, our economy failing, the hatred between countries and religions that surround us, and the amount of poverty and uneducated have a much more amount of seriousness to them, yet our media is becoming more and more like paparazzi. Media in the past compared to media in the day is a complete shock, not only are they left or right-sided, they are manipulative. For this issue at least, if they could not spend less air time on the beer summit, they could have at least provided the audience with reality towards races and how we function towards diversity. The media has just as much control as the President of the United States, in a sense where they can influence the public. Unfortunately, they only care for themselves.
I see absolutely nothing wrong with The Great Beer Summit. Nothing but good can come from any, and every second of open conversation. Though, I have noted several fallacies in your argument. First of all, you say, “I don’t know” what they talked about. If “you don’t know” what they did talk about, then how do you know what they didn’t talk about? Nonetheless, I feel this is perhaps just a little technicality, which really isn’t that important. Most important in your argument, I feel, is the question of when it is okay to walk away from a subject. Rather, at what point are opinions so varying that no mutual opinion will be formed? Whilst I completely support your position stating that discussions are important in times when one person will be able to gain another’s point of view in a way that they never had previously understood, I do not think The Great Beer Summit is a proper example for all of us to look for such conflict resolution in. Obviously, the participants in the Summit locked heads, and backed away, but in this context, what is there exactly to discuss? While reading the Wikipedia concerning this topic, I read that the woman who called the police initially didn’t even know the race of the two men trying to break into the house. Therefore, how could this be a racially charged arrest?
Again, I believe that it is important to discuss race issues, and not just settle on skimming them on the surface, but this incident was definitely not racially charged by the players who were primary to it, and at the actual Beer Summit. Only after it was publicized did racist remarks emerge. Those are the people who should be sitting down to discuss points of view on race that they might have never noticed before. While this situation is not ideal to discuss what you think should have been, I do believe that Barack Obama would be an excellent leader in showing America to discuss openly and freely the topic of race. But where would such an open mind, allowing the discussion of these topics, come from? That is what we should be focusing on; the origins of a willingness and openness to discuss race, and resolve race issues. Finally, at the very end of the video, you say “At the end of the semester in Sociology 119, we will be able to gain a personal perspective.” Isn’t that what the entire discussion is criticizing; the formation, and unwillingness to change your perspective on a certain issue? If this is indeed the entire thesis which you are protesting in the beginning of the video, then your entire argument comes full circle to undermine itself.
I think that Dr. Richards and his wife, Laurie, made a great point in this video. They opened up discussion to a topic that too many people avoid speaking about. Racism, both past and present, and racial issues in general occupy such a sensitive position in our lives that many times we are afraid to confront them. It has gotten to the point where the vast majority of people are willing to sweep these issues under the carpet as opposed to bringing them out into the open and discussing them in a proper fashion. Race has become such a taboo topic that a number of people, whites especially, have literally become afraid to speak their minds and to be open with their opinions and viewpoints. As a nation, we have become too occupied with “offending” other races to appreciate our differences and to acknowledge and support them. This is especially surprising considering the original basis that our nation was built upon; acceptance and affirmation of differences (even if only for whites at that time).
The “Great Beer Summit” was a prime example of just this type of behavior. President Obama himself, someone who seems to be the face of a new age of racial equality and acceptance, allowed what grew to be a nation-wide racial issue slip under the radar. He accepted the two parties decision of agreeing to put the past behind them. As Laurie said, they “skimmed the surface,” of the issue, rather than having a mature, adult conversation about the racial issues at hand. Regardless of which party was in the right and which was in the wrong, Professor Gates and Officer Crowley should have confronted the racial accusations and claims instead of taking the easy way out by agreeing to leave the past in the past. How are we, as a nation, expected to get past our differences and accept them if we can’t even find the time and put forth the effort to recognize their existence?
We are all aware of the presence of these issues in our society, but there are very few who actually take a stand to confirm their reality and take a step in the direction of verification and appreciation of racial differences. In my opinion, this class is a great place to take that first step. Professor Richards is obviously not afraid to bring up any “taboo” topic, and we as the next generation of leaders should not be afraid to respond and to bring up our own questions and concerns. In order to better ourselves as individuals and as a nation, we must be willing to enter the areas of concern that those before us were to afraid to enter. The most important discussions about race are those that do not emphasize our similarities, of which there are many, but those that draw attention to our differences and allow us to work through those differences to find a common ground.
When I first heard about this situation, the arrest of a black man by a white police officer, I immediately thought that it was just another episode of a black person accusing a white person of racial profiling. And it was. Though I understand where Henry Gates is coming from in being ticked off about the accusation of breaking into his own house, this did not need to make national news. Sadly, there are countless incidents of racial profiling every day in this country and this one was no different from the rest, except for the fact that President Barack Obama decided to voice his opinion on the matter.
I am not exactly sure why Obama felt that he had to get involved in this issue, but it appears that he made a mistake in doing so. After he criticized Sgt. James Crowley for his handling of the matter, law enforcement immediately criticized Obama for his comments made. This led to an apology made by President Obama in the days following. The meeting arranged for the two parties involved at the White House with the President and Vice President was completely for the purpose of the media. The only reason Obama got involved in the situation was because of the media blowing the entire escapade out of proportion.
I believe that the media knew all along how big of a matter they could make this thing. Being that the current president is half black, this is the perfect time for a racial profiling incident to headline the national news. Obama knew that his black supporters across the country may have been upset with him if he had not stepped in and proclaimed how Crowley handled the situation poorly. Unfortunately it back fired on him as he upset law enforcement agencies; it’s too bad you can never make everyone happy.
I am curious to know as to what was said at that meeting at the White House. Were amends made? And if so, were Gates and Crowley sincere in their apologies? The only reason that this meeting took place was because Obama felt that something like this had to happen after how he had clearly taken the side of Gates by showing his disapproval in Crowley. I like the idea of having a beer or two while in a meeting such as this, it makes the environment more laid back and social. I’m sure that it was just a media stunt, as was the whole meeting in general. It’s sad how things like this still occur in a country that preaches equality and freedom for everyone. Hopefully a day will come where no one will ever be accused of racially profiling another because it is simply a thing in the past.
The initial concept of the Great Beer Summit seemed to be a pretty direct route in addressing race issues in America, but as the media hype got everyone in a frenzy, we were all soon disappointed. The huge failure (yet slight success) of Obama’s plan to have both Henry Louis Gates and his arresting officer sit down for a beer and reconciliation proved that race is still an uncomfortable issue in society. As human beings, we tend to have a difficulty tackling the issue of race. As stated in the video we will either lock heads and not move from our standpoint or shake hands and go our separate ways without even acknowledging the problem. I think Obama was trying to make a comfortable atmosphere that would lend itself to civil conversation with hopes of speaking of the incident that led to the wrongful arrest of Gates, but as the speaker in the video said “they only skimmed the surface”. In other words: both parties involved agreed to put the past behind them, but what does that accomplish? Absolutely nothing. One may argue that it is for the best if they dismiss the situation and go back to their lives, but that isn’t making any progress in attempting to figure out the underlying problems with race that this country doesn’t want to believe it has. Obama did however take the initiative to attempt to resolve some of the troubles that we as Americans face on a day to day basis whether we realize it or not. His intentions were nothing but good, but the way it was carried out could have been improved. I don’t believe that there is a way that two individuals in the public eye would be able to come together and voice their opinions on race without being slammed by corporate media, especially if they are doing it over a beer. If this was in more of a formal setting, with more people with different viewpoints, it may have been more appropriate to “dig deeper” into the situation. More might have been addressed and there is a possibility some of the problems about race that seem so taboo in our culture may have been put into the public mind, but the fact of the matter is we don’t know what would happen, instead we now know that our president enjoys Bud Light. The media glorified the summit, romanticizing it in the minds of each viewer, listener and reader to be some monumental piece of history, when in fact it was not. It was a small step in trying to figure out how to ‘fix’ an issue that I believe will never truly be solved (at least in my lifetime)…but it was a step nonetheless.
I unfortunately was one of the people that were clearly not paying attention to the mainstream media during the month of July. However, I feel that this is defiantly the media blowing up a situation to make a profit or just to create headlines. It is no secret that they have done this before in the past and they will continue to distort and exaggerate facts as long as they continue to generate an income from them. Race is a touchy issue and the media knows just how to pull on America’s heartstrings. Race has been an issue in our country since the time it was declared a country and it, unfortunately will most likely continue to be an issue for a long time. We haven’t had a nice, rough, well publicized racial dispute in a while so why not stir one up now with a few pen strokes or key strokes. The public will eat that shit up! And apparently in the latter part of July we were starving.
Why did Barack Obama even get involved with this issue in the first place? I am absolutely positive that there were and still are much more important things that he could have been focusing on at the time. With everything that’s going on in our country right now he is worried about a disorderly conduct which was dropped within five days? We are thinking way too much into this issue simply because it has the potential to be controversial. And controversy sells, it has the potential to win or lose votes and it stirs up emotion.
I agree with Laurie Mulvey that they did probably just skim the surface of the issue during this “great beer summit.” However I don’t necessarily think that that is a bad thing. I really don’t think that this was much of an issue to begin with. It might have been blatant racism or might have just been the police officer doing his job. Or it might have been a paranoid nosey neighbor with nothing better to do. I don’t know and neither does anyone else really. Taking a step back and looking at this event it’s pretty cool that these two people can come together and just kick back and have a beer after all is said and done. I’m sure it was even cooler kicking back and having a beer with the president in the white house but either way they’re trying. Whether they agreed or disagreed or agreed to disagree at least they were civil about this whole thing. The image of the racist white cop and the black “perp” is almost becoming cliché or stereotypical. Stereotypes and clichés are both made up of a combination of truth and lies. All I am saying is that lies sell and truth is sometimes just too good to be true.
A man was arrested for entering his own home. He was acting reckless, banging on the door and he was considered a potential threat by the police. Who was right and who was wrong? Who cares? President Obama, however, addressed the American people and referred to as the police who detained the African-American, as “stupid”. The act in itself was a demonstration of racial profiling but the fallout following the event was merely an over exaggeration by the media and a selected group of Americans. Not only is it out of Obama’s jurisdiction to address the situation, it was completely inappropriate for him to demean the authority of the police. In addition, to initiate a “beer submit” to rectify the situation in a time of War and economic crisis, really makes me doubt our president’s priorities. The 2008 election stirred up many issues of racism and discrimination which I felt that Obama pursued head on yet this time around he happens to fall short of everything that he proved during the election process.
I honestly believe that Obama had no right to intervene in the situation, but since he did I figured that he would make the best of it and try to face the problem head on. He acknowledged that he made a mistake in the way he addressed the situation and that is precisely why the beer summit was even called. Now as an outside audience we have no idea what the beer summit could have possibly entailed but odds are that it didn’t exactly address the situation and was chosen to be buried into the past. Then what was the point of the beer summit at all? I feel as if in our country it has almost become taboo to talk about race relations, or in this scenario it makes people uncomfortable to even talk about the fact that a white police officer arrested a black man. No one knows who is going to offend the other, but if we never get the conversation going, misinterpretations of situations like this will continue to occur. Obama took the right step in calling the beer summit and rectifying his own actions, but the whole thing was just made too public. This meeting should have been done in private, having the three men talk out what prompted each of them to take the action they too. Yet with the excessive media coverage these days it is almost impossible. What I fail to understand though is why so much importance has been given to this one particular situation. Its not as if similar situations haven’t occurred before. Maybe it has something to do with the mixed racial background of our president…? To get to the point, the president really needs to get his priorities in order. Instead of holding beer summits, he should be holding summits about coming out with a direct plan for health reform. Not sipping away on coronas.
After reading this, I’m more focused on Obama’s idea of a “Beer Summit.” Is this meant to be the only way the President of the United States can think of to get a professor and a police officer on common ground? Is this the only way to get a black man and a white man on common ground? I wonder if this is how Obama is trying to appeal to the public, not necessarily trying to solve anything, or even saying that getting them in the same room with a six-pack is solving something. But it also brings more deeply the point of public appeal. But what part of the public is he appealing to?
I also want to know what kinds of ideas were thrown out before this one was chosen. The professor is a distinguished and educated black man. Maybe, if alcoholic beverages are a necessity, he would prefer brandy or scotch. How do we know which stereotype to think of. I wonder if Obama sees a professor first, or a black man first. Or does Obama identify with him first as an educated man or as a black man. And why does he think the combination of a conversation and a couple of beers will solve something.
Is there a connection between a black man and the necessary presence of alcohol? Obama, a half-black half-white man, raised by his white mother, could hold similar assumptions about black men, or black people in general, because of his predominant comfort with white people, as we discussed in class regarding our eyes being used to looking at the race we spend the majority of our time with.
But suggesting Obama’s supposed and probable racism is not my sole purpose of writing. I also question the idea of a single conversation or meeting to solve such a dramatic and publicized supposedly racist situation. It’s hard to say whether the police officer acted by seeing a man who couldn’t open the door to his home, or a black man breaking into a house that couldn’t possibly be his.
It’s obvious that a white man will not admit racism in mixed company (without his white conical hat and friends donning the same), but he may not be self-aware enough to realize racist tendencies. And a point in his defense on not recognizing the professor: without taking his classes or being an avid PBS view, the probability of having realized or known who the professor was is very low. (I know I had no idea who this man was prior to reading this article.)
But for such a meeting, what did Obama hope to accomplish? Did he plan and accommodate for a heated racial debate or just to get both parties in a room and declare everything A-OK? With each moment, I just think of more questions for everyone involved in planning this “Beer Summit,” but the one at the forefront of it all is, “What were you thinking?”
"The Great Beer Summit" was okay for Barack Obama to put together; however, I do not feel like it gave the public much satisfaction. No one knows exactly all of the words that were exchanged during this "Great Beer Summit", and I feel that for that specific reason, many feel as though it did not help the situation very much, especially with the title it was given. Although this summit did not do the public a significant amount of justice, did it do anything for Gates or Crowley? I highly doubt that as well.
Obama is known for his words and overall great speaking skills. With that being said, I am sure he said some meaningful things to the two gentlemen and helped them to see things from the other person’s point of view. Now, forgive me for sounding pessimistic, but according to Crowley and Gates' reports, each of them has two fairly different sides of the story. Therefore, one of them is always going to consider the other to be a liar-- and I am sure much more than that!
Overall, do I believe this beer summit helped to solve the issue? No. But I do feel that Obama had to do something in order to give the public some sort of satisfaction, even if it was not much. He had to find a way to make up for him making an “unintelligent” comment in response to the situation, and additionally, find a way to have some sort of closure or conclusion to the situation. I do not know all of the specifics regarding the case, but I strongly feel that agreeing to disagree is simply not enough. But then again, I guess I cannot say what I feel would justifiably be enough.
It would have been interesting to see them publicly discuss the issue, and pretty much see who was right or wrong, and I am sure that a lot more people would have liked to see that as well, but as previously mentioned, would that give Gates or Crowley justice? Probably not. I suppose that in life, you do not always need someone to be the person who was right and for someone to be the person that was wrong. Maybe putting things in the past is all that one can do, being that if you do not leave it in the past, what else are you going to do? Fight it out until someone is labeled as right and wrong? Or forever hold a grudge against someone? In this case, I feel that the common expression, “forgive, but do not forget” is valuable. Once again, as previously mentioned, both Gates and Crowley have already formed an opinion of one another, and it is unfortunately very hard, in most cases, for someone to change their opinion of someone, especially in a case like this. Sure Obama may have had the most amazing conversation with the two of them, but that does not change what occurred Thursday, July 16, 2009.
“The Great Beer Summit” is a perfect example of how partially insignificant issues are blown up by the media and exacerbated by propaganda. I am absolutely not stating that this case of racial profiling was insignificant, merely that these types of incidents occur multiple times a day throughout the entire country. And that it is appalling how this issue was singled out by the media, and spoken of across numerous news channels. I admit I am sad to say that these issues to even occur. I wish I had more faith in our population to say that this was a unique incident but in fact it was not, and it was interesting to see how it was portrayed that way. Portrayed in a way to say that this is incredible and unbelievable when in fact it happens all the time.
However, President Barak Obama did the “right” thing according to society, playing the “good guy” attempting to reconcile both parties when neither party probably wished to even make attempts at reconciliation. I completely agree with Optimus Prime on this issue. The media just loves to blow these things out of proportion. Was a “Beer Summit” even necessary? Shouldn’t our president be paying attention to more demanding problems out there, like for example the new Health Insurance Policy? It very well could have even been purposely publicized, who knows?
Honestly, if we’re just going to be reconciling over beers in this country for cases of racial profiling why doesn’t President Obama just stock up on a couple hundred thirty packs, because that’s how many times racial profiling occurs daily. It’s so unbelievable that this was made into an issue. It demonstrates the fact that our country still has a long way to go before we are equitably treating people.
I know for a fact that the Summit was merely a Crisis Management event put together by White House Public Relations in order to eradicate the words President Obama said at his Press Conference for Health Policy. Simply a ploy to cancel out the mistakes he made, I believe no one wanted a reconciliation and even if one was needed, at the White House? Seriously?
I absolutely sympathize with Nate and do admit he has a point in saying that it was big of Obama to even address the issue, but would he have addressed the issue if he weren’t pressed to during that last question? Would he have addressed the issue if those not-thought-out words had left his mouth and he was forced to correct his mistake? I think not. Instead our society should just accept those of other “races” and leave discrimination out of the picture. It’s getting ridiculous, the end of the Civil Rights movement ended long ago and these types of incidents should not even be occurring. I just find it interesting that this particular issue in general was picked out by the media and spun into an out-of-control racial profiling tragedy.
So this “beer summit” was a complete waste of time and an utter failure at progress. Barack Obama first of all should not have gotten involved. Is it because he’s partially “black” that he feels he must strike down the heart of racism? He has much more pressing issues to worry about these days, such as healthcare, the Economy, and the war on Iraq. Yes, the Harvard professor may have been his friend, but this issue was an all-in pot. He either had to address this issue headstrong or have left it to a simple statement concerning the misunderstanding turned media hyped debacle. Instead he holds a conversation with the two over a beer and discussed the small situation and apparently to no avail. Why hold this meeting if you’re not going to tackle the issue as a whole. Sharing a beer with the two to discuss the issue was a poor attempt if at all at race relations. Race relations are a much broader and intricate issue that cannot be mended with the president stepping in on one occasion. Similar situations happen every day and go unnoticed, whether it is from racial profiling or following protocols doing your job. For hundreds of years now racial dilemmas have plagued our country and our world. It is a problem, but not one that the president can solve himself, and unfortunately one that will never be completely eradicated. Over the years relations have gotten better, but differences still exist. This particular case seems like a misunderstanding that could have been easily discussed and put to rest amongst them. Media outlets are known to blow stories out of proportion for the sake of public interest. Not only did this story get national coverage, but the President stepping in put it over the edge. To top things off, the beer of choice seemed to be a topic of much discussion, more so then the actual goal of this so called summit. It’s sad that we fight over who was right or who was wrong, when no one has all the facts. It could have been a reasonable mistake on both accounts. Could the officer just been doing his job and the professor was just having a hard day and took it out on him? Possibly, it’s too hard to tell from recalled memories. Alas we are left with what we got and it is unfortunate, but things happen we move on. We the people, as a country and as individual must work together on this matter. This is a team oriented endeavor, and if we are ever to relieve this world of racism, we must learn to forgive and accept that we are all humans, we are all monkeys living on this wonderful place called Earth.
I think this entire incident was ridiculous from the start. The officer was simply responding to a report of a break-in, its not as if he just pulled over because he saw a black man entering his home. From my understanding Mr. Gates has a history of stirring racial controversy, which makes one question even further how the officer could be percieved as wrong. I think if anybody actually expected anything to be resolved from a two or however many hours it was visit to the White House they are simply delusional. Race issues have always been an extremely sensitive subject in America and will remain so, mostly because white people are afraid to talk about it because often time they become percieved as racist. It would take days, maybe even months or years, to make any serious inroads in a race discussion.
All that being said I think the media is seriously to blame for many of the race issues we see in the world today. It is hard to blame them, as it is a topic that many people have an opionion on even if they do not express it out loud. By taking a controversy such as this and giving it the absurd and undue amount of coverage it received helped fuel even more anger and tension. This cycle will continue, despite the amount of progress we have made and there will always be illogically racist people. I think this is truly a “culturalist” fear, essentially not trusting or being afraid of a culture you do not understand. For example, a midwestern white person may have had minimal contact with any black people in their lives, so their only impression would be the hip hop culture on tv or the image of a “scary black man.” These get blown out of proportion by word of mouth, as a story of a small incident somewhere can gain gruesome details along the way as people like to exaggerate to make their story more interesting. The only way to be able to solve something like this would be to have the person spend time around black people and to gain a better understanding of the culture to help alleviate their fears. This will continue for eternity as its simply impossible to expose every person in the world to every other type of person. This is true when you talk about current western attitudes towards muslims. September 11th certainly stepped up the animosity and anger, but going back to the middle ages when the christians waged war on the ottomans we can see where these feelings of hatred started to develop, simply for fear that a takeover would force them to change their lives.
I agree with everyone else when they say the media blew this event out of proportion; even the title of the headline “The Great Beer Summit” shows how the media was propelling this story. I was in a restaurant when I saw this on the news, and my immediate thought was “Oh great, another thing President Obama does that gets blown out of proportion.” As the president of the United States, President Obama should be careful as to what he decides to associate himself with because just like wildfire, it will spread. We don’t know exactly what they talked about while they were in the White House, so we can’t say if President Obama did his “job” or not as far as addressing the race card that was pulled out in the event. Speaking of the race, the gentleman that pulled the race blew the arrest out of proportion. Speaking as an African-American, I’ve seen plenty of instances where people that were of a different ethnicity than the African-American hurt the person in some way, and out of anger the person would always say, “It’s because I’m black isn’t it?” or “You wouldn’t do this if I was white.” There will always be people that will pull the race card, and that will pre-judge people, so I think an attempt to solve this problem (although a good effort) will not result in any changes.
For example, let’s say you like hamburgers, but 3 other people you know do not. However, you try to force your opinion of hamburgers on them, and they are not receptive at all because they are strong in their opinion about the hamburgers. Now, I know this has event has nothing to do with hamburgers, but the underlying concept still applies: we cannot try to change people into our way of thinking.
What’s wrong with the president inviting people over for beer? Is he not supposed to have a life? Maybe he wanted to give the two parties a comfortable, casual, informal, environment to talk about whatever it was they talked about. Sometimes it’s good to be neutral in an argument, especially one like this, and especially if you’re in a position such as that of President Obama. We can’t solve every problem there is in America; sometimes it’s good to just agree to disagree and move on. We can’t try to force our opinions and our way of doing things on other people. If we as a people are noticing that there is still a racial problem out there, why are WE doing anything about it? Why should we just let President Obama do everything? Yes, he’s our leader, but we have ears, eyes, and a mouth as well and are perfectly capable of talking to people in power about this issue.
Racial profiling happens every day in our world today. It is impossible to avoid and it is nearly impossible to prevent, as well. The situation between the Gates and Crowley is no different than any other racial profiling instance. If President Obama wants to have a meeting about this particular instance, then he mine as well have a meeting with every target of racial profiling. In my opinion, this was a situation in which the President had no need to get involved. Simply making a statement about the instance would have been enough on his part. It is not his job to play the mediator role between two people and I believe this “Beer Summit” did not make much of a difference. The two men are adults and could have figured the situation out without the help of the President.
Not only did Obama get involved in an issue where he was not needed, but he also went about the meeting in the worst way possible and obviously wasted his time. The men did not even seem to talk about the topic at hand, which was racial profiling. If Obama was going to waste everyone’s time with this meeting, he should have made it worthwhile and discuss the issue of racial profiling and not just graze over the subject.
In Obama’s defense, it is not his fault that this situation was blown out of proportion. There was no need for this situation to become a national debate because once again, racial profiling happens every day. People are arrested every day and are targeted because of the color of their skin. People should be worried about racial profiling on a regular basis, not just when once incident occurs. This situation makes it look like racial profiling only happens once in a blue moon. It surprises me that this was made into the deal that it was and makes me wonder how ignorant some people are. Do people believe that this happens only when it is reported or on the news? I am not saying that this problem should not be addressed, but it is going to be addressed all of the other instances should be, as well.
It almost worries me that Obama put so much effort into this particular situation. In my opinion, there are more important things that he should be investing his time in. I do not necessarily think he shouldn’t be worried about racial profiling, but in no way do I think this meeting was necessary. I especially think this because nothing of importance seemed to have been discussed at the meeting and it does not seem as if they touched on racial profiling as much as they should have. This whole debacle was unnecessary and in my opinion, a waste of everyone’s time.
I gave this Beer Summit a lot of thought. I thought about race, about police officers, about misinterpretations, and about anger. My final conclusion was that anger is a wasted emotion, which I’ll expand on later.
At first glance, I was certain I sided with Gates. Why, because he is a respected citizen wrongly accused of breaking and entering into his own home. After studying the situation more thoroughly, I was inclined to support the officer. Why, because he was keeping his promise to society. Gates appeared to be the one to bring race into the issue. Gates lashed out at the thought of being considered an intruder, which he related back to being a black man. It seems some stereotypes are carried through the very race being categorized. It was the black man that brought race into the equation.
Aside from the fact that I do believe the conflict was blown out of proportion due to media influence, the Beer Summit gave me a different perspective of thinking about race. I have been telling myself there are no racial issues in the United States, or at least in my community. The actual reality is that I have been lying to myself. Of course there are racial issues and there have been in the U.S. for the majority of our existence. I believe my opinions on race have shifted from believing we can’t mention race because that would be offensive to realizing that not discussing it is just as close-minded. The Beer Summit has not reversed my thinking but progressed it. I believe now that race distinctions are a part of human beings. As “intelligent” beings, we question differences. The amazing part about it is our ability to change and evolve, which I believe is what is happening concerning race. I think people’s acceptance levels have changed positions over the last half-century dramatically. And when I say “acceptance levels,” I really mean that people’s understanding of different races, cultures, and lifestyles has changed.
Getting back to anger being a wasted emotion, I believe that people are still upset about the United State’s unfortunate history of slavery. When looking at any race, everyone one has a clouded history. Until people realize that holding pent up hatred delays progression, no one, especially the media, should be promoting resistance. President Obama’s decision to “talk” about race issues over beer was laced with good intentions but as the old saying says, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” I’m not saying Obama is on the road to hell, but I believe his decision was rash and disappointed a lot of people. If he wants conflicts like this to be resolved, then he should lead by example. From one angle, he has the right idea. Something like this could easily be solved over a beer and listening to others. When people say they are upset with Obama for not doing more, they should be pointing the finger at themselves. No one can do anything alone. We’re all here together.
President Obama inviting the Harvard professor and Sgt. Crowley to the “Beer Summit” has laid the foundation to possibly a less racially divided America. Racial problems have been deeply rooted in America for decades, and it cannot be resolved in one simple conference. However, by casually inviting the professor and the sergeant for a drink, President Obama has demonstrated to the rest of the country that the incident is behind us now and that we should not focus on matters of the past. The original incident was not a big deal. Due to the lack of trust between black and white societies, the situation was escalated by the two men. Fueled by mass media, the controversy has become the headline news story of the month. In an attempt to calm the nation and avoid racial outcries, president Obama hosted the Beer Summit. While critics of president may think that Obama should’ve tackled the issue of racial discrimination more seriously, I believe that president Obama did the right thing to calm the matter. Had the professor been a white man, the officer may or may not have approached the matter differently. Professor’s hostility toward the officer may also have influenced the officer’s view on the situation. As both sides failed to make the right decision, a simple misunderstood incident was turned into a national headline. Laurie Mulvey’s description of the Beer Summit is far more realistic and accurate than the media depiction. The news world wanted a big story out of this and president Obama used the Beer Summit to push the issue aside and set the tone for a more racial friendly environment. His decision in telling both men to forget the past and look forward the future not only avoided possible protests among different racial groups, it also demonstrated that Caucasians and African Americans can live together in harmony. In my honest opinion I believe that this was a small thing blown out of proportion. Racial dialog is not needed in today’s world because it will only bring out the ugly history of racial discrimination in United States. Many people may say its Obama’s obligation to fix or solve the race issue. Racial controversy has resided in America for many years and will not go away easily. It is not up to the government to repair inter-racial relationships but it’s up to the people to look into the mirror and realize that racial problems only exist because they are so sensitive to it and take no part in trying to solve it on their own. I hope people can learn from this incident that all the racial problems in today’s societies can be avoided if people take an active role instead of laying back and hoping the congress or president Obama can come to the rescue. What happened in the past is behind us now. A brighter future is still possible if people believe in it and help shape our world.
The Great Beer Summit was an extremely unnecessary event. Need anything else be said? It was a small incident that was blown way out of proportion. The president had no need to get involved in the first place. The only reason why the Great Beer Summit happened was because President Barack Obama felt bad about his original statement regarding the issue when he didn’t have all the facts. I mean in terms of internal affairs and foreign policy, this situation should be at the bottom of the totem pole to fix. A well known man is arrested for a misunderstanding. I don’t know why this leads to that man and the cop who arrested him getting to drink with the president. And what exactly gets accomplished when you have a beer with the president? I’m going to have to agree with Laurie Mulvey and say that nothing really gets accomplished. You can’t really talk about anything if you don’t talk the situation out. First thing, let me reiterate that the whole situation of having a beer with the president to discuss the arrest is pointless. No other small event like this would be given such a national spotlight if the president had no comment on the situation. Nor would the event be given such recognition unless the person that was arrested was someone such as Henry Louis Gates. Next, if something like this is given such attention, the problem should be worked out. With Barack Obama in charge of the summit, one would think that the whole race issue would be resolved. Both parties involved could have talked it out another and shown the other where each one was coming from. Then the “racial healing” would begin. And I mean seriously, Barack Obama is half black, half white, so he’d be able to see where both parties were coming from. Honestly, I think that this issue should have been worked out if a gathering involving the president was needed because of such mass media. To prove that the whole event was blown out of proportion, once the beer summit was over, most news stations picked up on who drank what type of beer as their main story of the gathering. Okay, so Barack Obama picked Bud Light as his beer of choice during the summit, big deal. That’s not what everyone wanted to know. What went on during the confrontation? I think more people would be interested in knowing the answer to that question than what beer each person drank. And I don’t think we will ever know what was discussed between Obama, Gates, and the cop because that’s not what the media cared to tell us. The media outlets just wanted to make a really interesting story out of nothing.
If we are to discuss solely the issue of whether or not we have a need for racial dialogue and racial healing I am in some ways torn when I think about this specific instance. Do I believe that there is a large gap of communication between races? Yes. Do I believe that if somehow we were able to comfortably confront one another with out fears of stepping on another’s toes that we could at least begin to heal the racial tension when a matter of race arises? Yes. Do I wish that as Laurie Mulvey said they could have gotten to the real stuff rather than backing away? Yes. However, I feel as if this particular debacle was blown far out of proportion and the fact that neither was willing to open up and be real about why they acted the way they did or listen to the other man’s reasoning might have had nothing to do with race, but is simply refusal to accept any other truth than their own. I think obstinacy is embedded in our human nature. Maybe they were both too stubborn to admit that they them self could have been at fault in either way. Instead both chose the passive aggressive route and agreed to disagree. What if it had been a white woman arresting a white male, and it had been said that she was only targeting him because we think of robbers and thieves to be typically male? Would they have had more of a chance at speaking their true feelings? I doubt any one would have even cared, but if they had I find it hard to believe that they would have taken a different route.
In an ideal world we would all feel liberated enough to say our true feelings and others would listen and try to understand. Sadly, this is not now and will never be an ideal world. There are times that we can never understand another person’s view. I think it was absurd for the world to know about this unfortunate situation. Since that was unavoidable I think Obama had the right idea about bringing them together to talk after the media brought him into the mess. The fact that they did not really dig deep into the situation is not really so terrible though. Is either man really to fault for wanting to just forget the whole thing? In my opinion it is better that they left that day willing to agree on anything at all when they could have left fuming over the incident still. I also don’t believe that Obama had any responsibility towards steering the conversation in a direction that would have led them to dig deeper. It was a mutual decision on both men’s parts to let bygones be bygones which leaves no reason for anyone to try and change that.
Even though the United States is one of the most liberal and advanced countries, it is disappointing that we have not yet overcome our prejudice and stereotyping when we are surrounded by diversity. I believe that good leaders are those who are not afraid to speak up and can put others as a priority. It is ironic that Obama the first black president is not vulnerable to a problem dealing with racism. I do understand that as human beings it is uncomfortable to face our mistakes and talk about them. Its sad to know that the one responsible for our nation’s most important decisions cannot face reality or at least talk about how the situation got out of control because of a racial stereotype. We as citizens look up to our president, but his actions about the conflict between Sgt. James Crowley and Hanry Louis Gates are not to be proud of. He should of stand up not only for black people, but for all the other color people. I think that coming from him is chaotic, because if Obama can let go an insult to a black Harvard professor then everybody can. I would be extremely offended if I was the professor, because there is a major probability that he was strongly supporting Obama in his election. Having someone from my race ruling my country would make me feel secure because he would understand and fight for my beliefs. In this case it is upsetting that not even because the president is from his own race is courageous enough to stand for his rights as a citizen. Putting race and similarities away, as the president he has a responsibility to at least talk about the abuse of power the police had in this particular case. Regardless of the color, he showed enough evidence to proof that the property was his and they ignored the law putting him in jail anyways. The professor should of not been to friendly after his rights were violated, having a beer would not fixed the fact that there was a discrimination act against the professor and either the citizens will forget how Obama reacted to such a serious problem. I ask myself if Obama really has the passion a leader requires to represent the people, or if he fixed all his personal problems this way. Putting things aside will not eliminate them they will just stand aside creating baggage which is not a smart decision to make. In real life any kind of good relationship requires work and that is part of the work, being able to put your feelings aside and talk about the real issue, how to solve it and how it got to that point to not repeat it anymore.
I think there are two points here that coincide with one another. Let’s state the facts that make this case bigger than it should have been: black professor, white cop, Harvard University, Barrack Obama, and beer. If this situation had occurred in a no- name town with a no-name professor this case wouldn’t have come close to gaining as much media and press (even if the black-white combination remained the same). The casual aspect of “throwing back a beer” with the President of the United States of America feeds fuel to the media’s fire as well. With that being said, after the Beer Summit took place, it was disconcerting as well as aggravating that nothing seemed to be accomplished. Though I must say, I can understand why Barrack Obama chose not to engage in any dialogue that could have been risky. As a politician, a move like that could be dangerous, but then why even have the Beer Summit?
In order to understand Barrack Obama’s judgment call for hosting “The Great Beer Summit” I had to get into the political mind set. Of course the goal is to settle differences, reconcile, and then hide the issue as though it never happened, but at “The Great Beer Summit” that wasn’t the agenda. Instead of Obama acting like the great political communicator America knows him as; he appeared to be more of a “host” than anything. I wonder when prepping for the Beer Summit if the White House staff questioned who would prefer the dark ale and who would prefer the light ale (no pun intended). Obama’s choice to act as a host may have been the safer bet though. If matters were to get heated this could have caused much more turmoil than expected. For instance, if Professor Gates and Sergeant Crowley hadn’t “agreed to disagree” a much larger political controversy could have prevailed. As stated in the video, the idea to “put the past behind” them didn’t achieve much at all. It’s upsetting and disconcerting that this meeting was more or less useless dialogue that achieved little. It’s true that in todays day and age its much easier to skim the surface of issues than actually find some closure and/or resolution. It makes me wonder if there was even a true goal that went along with the Beer Summit. I can understand Obama’s decision to hold some sort of public offering, but again, it upsets me that someone like Obama, one of the greatest communicators, can skim the surface of such a large issue. This situation is a prime example of how people today find it easier to skim the surface or put things behind them, rather than address the realism of the issue.
Obama's decision to invite both parties involved in the Henry Louis Gates Jr. arresting incident over for a beer is one I have mixed feelings on. Do I think his morals and values were in the right place? Yes, definitely. I feel that he attempted to turn the issue into more of something that could be solved personally rather than politically. Instead of turning the ordeal into a media explosion where he was continuously misquotes and attacked for possibly taking sides, he attempted to take matters into his own hands. My dad is always trying to instill me the extreme importance of communication, and how so many of life's problems and misunderstandings could be solved before they are started if people would take the time to communicate with each other. I agree with this logic and I think Obama's goal was to accomplish this without bringing the media into the matter. I definitely am not in favor of the President of our country trying to settle things over a beer however. I find it unnecessary and unprofessional. It almost makes us look a bit vulnerable if this is how our leader goes about solving problems. He could probably have used better judgement, but I do like the way he chose to try and bring both parties together in a casual setting to work out differences. Should he have instead acted out harshly or doled out punishment? What would that have solved? I admire the approach he took, I just don't think he needed to address it as summoning over for a beer. I agree with 'optimus prime' when they start off by saying that the media blew the Great Beer Summit out of proportion, which is not surprising. Nothing he does will float under the radar and because no other president in the past has ever done something like that, he has been under a lot of scrutiny and the media has been having a field day. This got me thinking about what a negative effect the media can have. It's imperative that the citizens of this country have faith and trust in our leader. When they knock him down and pick him apart like that, aren't we all losing? How do we keep up morale when our president's credibility and ability is constantly in question? Unfortunately, I don't feel that this advanced us in the race relations regard. I am not confident that if the same situation occurred tomorrow, that it would be handled any differently. We are still ignorant, we are still fearful of one another, and therefor issues like this will still continue to arise. I definitely think Obama took a step in the right direction, but I don't think the Great Beer Summit of '09 needs to be repeated anytime soon.
What’s so god damn wrong with “putting the past behind us”? Why do we always have to nitpick the negative and want so much more on controversial confrontations like this? You want more racial dialogue? This incident and Beer Summit got it’s full of media and national attention. Clearly the officer fucked up, he made a mistake that was feverishly and publically criticized across the nation; he served his just sentence in my book from the embarrassment and shame him and his family felt alone. The fact that the physical victim Henry Louis Gates was able to forgive and basically befriend his arresting officer over a beer is an awesome and humble act that should be take for what its worth: a positive and inspiring direction towards the resolution of racial profiling and racism. What would you rather Gates or Obama have done? Started a law suit and anti-racism demonstrations all over Harvard’s campus. No, the intelligent and merciful Gates was able to forgive and reconcile, to serve as a positive example and to take a step in the forward direction of racial unity and equality rather than a backward one of uprising. Listen, as long as there are different races on this earth there is going to be some sorts of racism throughout each respective race, much if not all of it rotted in the hearts of evil individuals. That evil as all evil in this earth is always going to exist as it has from this earth’s beginning; our mission can only be sway or change this racist evil. Work everyday through positive and inspiring examples of your own life to show others we all are the same and judgment and treatment of others for physical differences is simply stupid and irrational. So why do we always have to surface the bad and the wrong and the mistakes? In the surfacing of racial evil we only show the world what’s wrong and how bad we think it is. We need to praise and surface the good, the improvements, the unity, and the love we all can share with each other. We need to take Gates’ positive example of peace and reconciliation as a step in the right direction, a step closer to the resolution rather than condemning Obama for a step backward, which it was not at all. Yes, The President of the United States should of never even got involved with the incident or made any public comments which he did later regret, however, from the position he got himself in he did the best he could. He invited the two over to converse over a beer, I mean come on you have to think that’s a little cool no matter how you look at it. They were able to reconcile and move forward, Gates was obviously graceful enough to do so from the beer and even further lunch plans with Crowley, so why can’t we move forward? Is moving forward and accepting The Beer Summit in a positive light and even a miniscule step in the right direction that naïve? I don’t think so, in fact, I don’t think so at all; it is only through forgiveness, the learning from mistakes, and the learning and obtaining of respect for each other that will solve our race relations problems. Bitching and criticism only keep us down and prevent the world from improving; it is only through genuine acts and positive examples like that of Gates in his respect and mercy at the Great Beer Summit that will lead to a resolution and end to the evil that possesses so many minds.
This incident proves that racial tensions still exist and that our society needs to quell these tensions sooner than later. The men who met at the white house agreed to put the past behind them. In other words, they were brought together in the White House and were unable to find the perfect solution. Putting the past behind them is another way of ignoring the tensions that arose and dodging the bigger issues, the overall racial tension prevalent in society. When they met at the White House and discussed the incident over beers they made a feeble attempt to mend things. As Mulvey says in the video, “they agree to disagree and call it dialogue. “ The problem is that they attempted to sit down and talk it out, but accomplished nothing. Crowley, at a press meeting following the Summit, stated that the two men agreed to disagree on the matter. Even though they were mediated by President Obama, and in the presence of the White House, they were unable to change their positions.
Although Obama felt the meeting to be a success, I think that not all the cards were left on the table, so to speak. Especially when dealing with ethnic and racial topics, parties tend to hold back their tongues and enter discussion timidly. I am not suggesting that it is easy to accomplish a successful racial argument, but I am saying that at this particular meeting, people were cautious and didn’t speak their minds. At this meeting Crowley and Gates entered discussion knowing that their views on the matter would not change regardless of Barrack Obama’s intervention. Gates felt he was racially profiled, and Crowley felt he acted accordingly to the situation with race playing no factor at all. Given the history of this nation it is understandable how gates could feel the way he did, and Crowley similarly can understand where Gates is coming from. There remains people, and even police officers who racially profile people. When Obama learned of the incident, and wasn’t provided with all the information, he was furious. He called the incident “stupid.” It wasn’t until he got all the facts that he was prepared to conduct an unbiased meeting.
This article is a representation of how tricky relations can be between individuals of distinct backgrounds. If someone as well educated, urbane, and eloquent as President Obama was unable to make these men feel comfortable during discussion, then it goes to show how long these tensions have been built up. Instead of engaging in discussion with co-orientation (shared goals), Gates and Crowley left the white house with the same stubbornness as they entered it.
The incident that occurred on July 16, 2009, was obviously a great opportunity for people to talk negatively about the president of the United States. This controversy mainly affected African American people in which the president is included himself. I believe Obama should have not been involved in the controversy between Henry Louis Gates, Jr. His actions were more about appearance then finding a solution to the problem instead of fixing it. President Barack tries to keep a stable relationship with all the people from this country, but in his attempt he is ruining his reputation by not doing anything at all. Also another error Barack Obama made was that the police officer didn’t receive any type of penalty because of what he did to Henry Louis Gates, Jr. It was a bad thing because African American people are going to think that Barack Obama is in favor of racism. But the truth about all this chaos is that our president is trying very hard to maintain a good relationship between African Americans and white people. Not only that but he probbably had other intententions relating this issue, in which the general public took it the wrong way. In my opinion I think the president should be focused in helping people from all races and ethnicities. No matter what the outcome is he should try to maintain equality between people. Also the proffessor from Harvard should take this problem to the court or something more proffesional. He has to fight for this case because the police man should’ve been punished for his actions. Because what he did wasn’t fair to Henry, they violated his rights, and President Barack Obama didn’t do anything about it. Instead he should’ve asked the court to punish the police man, or try not to get involved in these types of problems. Another thing that don’t think is right is that the president used beer inorder to solve this issue. The fact that he used alchool and reached the media says a lot about how racist issues are solved. Usually policemen abuse power, and I think these types of things should be stopped. All the time minorities are affected for these kinds of racial acts. Most of the time here in the United States, a lot of these issues or racial acts are committed and the people get away with it. But there are also people who do it and get punished. In conclusion I dissagree with the way they solved this problem.
On my own prospective, I think Barack Obama did not do any good by inviting the Professor and the police man to the White House. I think Ms. Whalen did a good job on calling the police because she saw this guys getting inside the house and it looked suspicious, but I think nothing would have happened if she had look first, see who he really was and make sure what was going on before calling the police department. I can not believe that they are neighbors and they did not know each other. I knew by the time Mr. Gates was getting inside the house the police was going to go to his house. And as I predicted Mr. Growley the police man got there and arrested Mr. Gates. I really disagree with Obama in this situation. I had never heard on my life the president inviting people to his house for a situation like this and to have a beer. I keep wondering why he invited them to the White House. They did not even talk about the problem. They prefer to just leave it in the past as if nothing have had happened. He probably did it to bring racial relations together or something like that. So, everyone could see that even the president got involved in this type of situations, but it does not work that way. The audience of this video clearly sees the hypocrisy behind because they did not even talk about it, it just made me think that they always try to hide things so they do not get in trouble. And just make it seem that nothing is going on. That everything is good. So people can think is always our fault and think that they always do the right thing. I am sure we are all aware of this situation in which they are always having the right things in the right place. We always think that the president lets us to the real things. That he will fix everything for us, but probably everything is just political. Barack Obama could had done the right thing on doing the great “Beer Summit and expect the racial problems in America to be corrected”. He is also the first African American President of the United States, so he probably just wants to deal with the problems on a different way, ways that he thinks are better for us. I still keep wondering why they did not even mention anything about the issue; it just does not make any sense at all. Why did they get together? It could be because he wanted them to make a different racial relation between them or just to get more publicity. None of us know what Barack Obama really had in mind.
Journal # 1
Before watching this blog I knew nothing about the beer summit. It was very interesting to find out about this incident and how the issue was resolved. I think that this whole issue was based on a racial situation. The person who lived in the same neighborhood as the professor did not even take the time to find out the truth or what was going on. In a way that tells a whole lot about the person and their actions. By the person calling 911 proves insecurity in the person and in the neighborhood. In this case I believe that the person tried to be practical and be safe, therefore the police was contacted. On the other hand, the person did it intentionally just because he or she saw a black man trying to brake inside a home. Once the police arrived there they should have investigated the situation instead of arresting the black professor. In a way the police officer was not capable of doing such a job or he just based everything on racism. I strongly believe that if the police officer was capable of his job, he would have investigated the situation and set the professor free. Also, once the police came, I am assuming that the black professor tried to explain what was happening and prove that he was the owner of the house. If the police officer was capable of resolving the miss understanding, things would have not escalated to the point where president Obama had to interfere.
In a way I disagree with this situation because I cannot believe that president had to interfere in a situation such as this. I think that a lot of people in the U.S. look or once looked up to president Obama. The way the police officer, Obama, and the black Harvard professor resolved the issue with beer is definitely not the best way to handle issues. In a way the president is showing a week side of him because he solves issues among people with beer. One of things they could have done is sat in a conference room and discus the situation in a more professional manner. Also try to keep it away from the media as much as possible. I also believe that in way this is planned by the people in government because it is a little odd that the U. S. president would be part of a beer summit. In a way I think that because knowing obama and being who he is wouldn’t do something like this, but then again it is possible. On the other hand it was purposely done in order to distract the general public from something else. Besides that the whole idea of thinking that the president is covering a racial incident with a college professor and covering it with a beer summit is astonishing. Over all it is a crazy that things like this do happened and they are tried to be covered up with simple things. As if beer was the solution to everything.
The actual idea of having this beer summit seems like an interesting idea, meant mostly to provide an example of conflict solving to the whole nation. That being said, I highly doubt this will catch any kind of following as people have always dealt with their own disputes in different ways. Some people would rather take a conflict to a legal court while others may use violence to gain what they want. The idea is decent enough but I just don't see how it could possibly change how Americans deal with conflicts.
Therefore I would say on the whole I see sense in what Obama did even if it was in vain and nothing was really achieved by it. It's better that our President is trying something like this instead of downplaying it or over looking it. It's much better for more personal attention to the citizens that negligence. Whether it succeeded or not is irrelevant, because the main aspect to be taken from this "Summit" was that our President at least has a mind to relate to the American people.
I can see how this can be about racial profiling as well, but that happens all the time in every part of the US. You can never change the personal opinion of someone. If someone holds something to be true most often it is impossible to assuage their ideas.
I never really heard about this Summit until now. I obviously heard about it, but really didn't have the energy or care to really investigate it further. This kind of misunderstandings, crimes, racial profiling, whatever you want to call it, happens every day. There will be no significant change brought about by this one event, but perhaps the ideas of meetings like this will catch on.
I don’t want to argue about who was “right” and “wrong” in the situation, but would like to talk about the principles behind racial profiling. In my hometown I have many different friends who are of different races and have been pulled over or stopped while driving due to their color. I feel ashamed that our society looks at the color of someone’s skin to assume they are more crime-ridden than another. I feel that not only cops, but also everyone in our world needs to stop the stereotypes that continue to destroy the meaning of equality in America.
Back to the Beer Summit, I feel that it was right for Barack Obama to do what he did to solve the mess that the media made. These days every event dealing with race is automatically blown out of proportion. It’s actually sad how the media continues to do this, which only hold us back from diminishing the “race line” that still lingers in our society. I feel like both the media and the government took it a little too far, and stirred up the whole mess even more. Even though the cop and the professor still may not agree, I feel that it was important for them to sit down and talk without the emotions involved in their first encounter.
I do agree with Laurie when she says,” we see people either locking heads and not getting anywhere or shaking hands and backing away,” because she explains how people act fake and almost scared of talking about race, when it is such an important issue that needs to be discussed and evaluated. I feel like the professor and the cop still don’t see eye to eye and never truly will, which is sad to say. From wars to mass murder, racial problems have been inherent since ancient civilizations. I think that we as people need to try and put race behind us and see people for who they really are and not by the color of the skin.
I do think that a local police officer shouldn’t have gotten carried away to actually arrest a man who was only trying to get into his own house. It could have been dealt with very differently, but instead got blown up to drastic proportions. The man was a Harvard professor, so he was obviously very literate and formal to be breaking into a house, let alone his own. They should have talked to him before creating problems that led to an arrest and huge media frenzy. The cops should not have based their actions on a description of a black male from a neighbor when the man actually lived there. It was ridiculous.
I strongly agree with Laurie Mulvey on this issue. I believe that people are always walking on egg shells, and brushing their true feelings under the rug. In this particular instance instead of discussing what the issues were that caused it, they chug a beer and pretend nothing ever happened. I hope that is not what this great president of “change” or not was meaning when he wanted to break though racial barriers. It is not only accepting people’s racial differences, it making a conscious effect to learn about other races then accepting them. This does not mean you have to agree or practice their views, it means accepting other human beings right to live. By stepping back and learning what another culture does, it can help any mind process the reasons for one’s actions. We have all been in this situation as one time in our life where we racially discriminated against someone. What were our reasons? Why would we degrade another human life? Are we are not breathing and are our hearts not beating? The reason probably is lack of education or interesting. For those that do not believe that to be true that is the ignorance right there.
The truth of the matter is everyone should take a minute to reflect on a time where they were misunderstood because of race, and remember then taking the time to actually get to know that individual and realized the, “madness behind the mystery.” It was a great shock to discover, “wow, they are just a human.” I am not ashamed to say that I have discriminated, then reevaluated the situation and would attempt to relate to the person. I found when I made that effort to process what is was that I disliked about that person, or what stereotype I connected, or what action had offended me, I was wrong on all accounts. I would begin to like that person and if not at the very least be able to accept them.
In this case I can only hope that what happened at the White House was the realization that the hatred or differences were uncalled for. I can only hope that both people spoke their minds on how they each felt and on what happened that night. I can only hope that they were able to say, “I made a mistake, I prejudged you.” Now, we all know that probably did not happen because if it did we wouldn’t have to pretend anymore that Barack Obama can actually help fight racism.
At this time United States is famous for been State liberal but sometimes occurs many things that I can’t agree with the Government because when I saw this video I felt very sad because when it occurs something bad the government wants to hide the real problems. When Barak Obama didn’t do anything to make justice, the police are racist to black man or he is accomplice of all these violations. When the police didn’t want to hear reason and act only by impulse or because he didn’t like some people for their color or race the make unfairness whit innocent people. If I was the president of the United States for one day I hope that this person that arrest this boy he goes to jail and I remove his police permission. I didn’t know what the boy thought when he accepted to go to the White House because if I was him I will have never accepted because is an insult for myself because afterward happens all this problems they never invite me to go to the White House to drink a beer with Barak Obama. When I hear about the “beer summit” I think many things but the only thing that I never imagine is that the president didn’t say anything about the problem.
At this time I get very angry because the black men make up with the little things the Government due to repair the error, but they never do something to reward the problem. I think that the Government doesn’t want everybody to see what the real situation is or what happens inside the White House, so they want to keep all people whit uninjured or pretty thought about the president and the Government in the United States. I have many questions or things to say but the most important is why the police didn’t ask any questions to the man??? The only answer that I find is racism but I can imagine what will happen at this time because the black man didn’t say anything about his rights. Another thing that I want to know is what they say when they were in the White House because if they didn’t say anything about what happen with the police and the boy what topic the president choose to talk with the black man. I didn’t agree with the way that government choose to end the problems in the United States. The Government wants to keep the image that they have of all the worlds. The main point of this story for me is that when in your life pass something similar you decide to make a police report. If you want that other people respect yourself you need to start to respect your own self.
First off, I don’t think there is any question Mr. Gates’ arrest was an example of racial profiling. My one big question in this whole arrest is who made the call for breaking and entering? Was this person white or black? I think this would go a long way to piece this whole thing together. If it were a white man who called, there is even more evidence that this is racial profiling. Had it been a black man who called, this might change my opinion. I also think it is completely outrageous that Mr. Gates was arrested in this situation. When they took down his information did they not notice the address he provided matched the address of the home he was trying to “break in” to? I think officer Crowley completely missed the boat on this one. I think the legal system did its job in eventually dropping the charges, but I still think it is absurd Mr. Gates even had to stand before a court over this. This all should have ended shortly after it all began. Officer Crowley should have realized the situation at hand, apologized for the inconvenience, and allowed Mr. Gates to proceed in entering his home. I don’t necessarily see why this story made national headlines. If you ask me, I would bet this sort of thing happens everyday. Of course I can see why this case made some bigger headlines, being that Mr. Gates is a professor at a top notch institution, but I still don’t think this story should have made it past the local news level. I would expect it to stir up some controversy in and outside Cambridge, but I would never think this would become a national story. The fact that Obama chimed in his two cents is what I believe made this a national story. If you ask me, Obama should have just kept his mouth shut. Being that he is a black man, and the first black president, he should have known it would make big headlines for him to comment on a case such as this, which involves racial profiling. Being that I am young and immature, I think Obama sort of righted his wrong by inviting the two parties to the White House to settle the issue over beers. I don’t think this case needed to drag out any longer than it already did, so the fact that Obama tried to put an end to it and let the two settle it like grown man goes a long way towards making up for his previous comments. At the end of the day, my reactions to this article are this: yes it was racial profiling, but I still would like to know the race of the person who called in the incident. Yes, Obama was wrong for throwing in his two cents originally, but Yes he did do the right thing in inviting the two parties to come together and discuss the issue.
Diego Bernal Torres
The great beer summit had no purpose. The Harvard professor only got arrested because he was of color no questions asked. The professors neighbor, white of course thought that someone was robbing the house just because it was a person of color. This case only got famous because it was about someone known and famous, if not no one would have known about it. The professor had some guilt because he was breaking into his own house but was not enough to send him to jail. I have forgotten my keys before and I've "broken" into my house too but I've never gotten arrested for it. Fact that police man was white really hurt the professor because racism still exists to some levels. All the charges were dropped because there was no reason for it. The president sat with the policeman and the professor to have a beer apparently to clear up the whole situation and have a beer. The great beer summit as its called was not appropriately carried out. So both of the parties agreed to go and have a beer and talk about the issue that they had. It was going to be an uncomfortable situation and Mr. president was supposed to be mediator and helper of some sort. The main issue that they had to deal with was racial discrimination and how it still affects us today. The president was supposed to be in the Professors side because he was the affected person but he was indifferent and careless. The president did not want to take a side because he is half white and that's why he didn't support the professor. The president was not raised as a children of color, he was raised as a white person that's why he didn't take a favorite. Actually no one took the whole thing seriously, they were just having a good time with president. I think that the incident shows that there are still some racism towards people of color. I think that a lot of things can be done to fix this issue. Police man that do this kind of behavior for no reason should be sanctioned and or fired. The rights of the professor were clearly violated. Someone should take responsibility for what happened. The major points that had to be discussed in the great beer summit were overlooked. They let the "past" behind because they didn't want to talk about in part because the president knew that there was racism. This event shows us that there is racism, even though we have a black president. The president is an exception to the rule because he is not completely black and he does not know what it's like to live in the hood.
When I first heard of the incident between Henry Louis Gates and the Cambridge Police force, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. I needed to get all of the facts before I could formulate some kind of conclusion. In the coming weeks, after the dispute, I watched news reports and read articles (in Newsweek, for example) about the situation from different viewpoints. In doing so, I was able to determine that this incident should have been a big indication for Americans that we are all in need of a racial dialogue and racial healing.
Being the child of a police officer, I was able to better understand where Crowley (the arresting officer) was coming from. When the police received the phone call, they had to react to the situation by what they were being told. If the neighbor called and said a man is trying to break into a house, the police needed to be prepared for that and have their guard up. Interestingly enough, in one of the reports I read, the neighbor never specified the race of the perpetrator until pressed for a decision by the officer who took the call. If the police arrived and treated Gates as though he was a criminal, it was because in their minds he was. Understandably, Gates was defensive from the way the police were treating the situation. Until Gates told them it was his house he was trying to break into, they had no idea.
I can understand Gates being defensive, but I can’t understand why he felt it necessary to pull the race card claiming the police were only treating him this way because he was black. How about a thank you officer for doing your job, sorry for the misunderstanding? Instead, the police were forced to arrest him for disorderly conduct when he began his confrontation with officer Crowley. It may seem like it was unnecessary to some, but to me, knowing my father is a police officer, I think the situation was handled appropriately. Although the police are there to protect the public, they need to protect themselves as well.
The first indication of America’s need for racial dialogue was when Gates pulled the race card. The second indication was when President Obama insisted that the police officers acted “stupidly.” No matter if you voted for the man or not, he acted unprofessional. He should be setting an example for Americans to follow; not taking sides and name-calling. How about giving these officers a little credit for putting their lives on the line for us everyday?
I agree with Mulvey and believe the “Beer Summit” was a way for America to sweep this issue under the rug. The past is very much the present, and the only way we will ever be able to make any progress and heal the tension between races is if we open up a dialogue between them. The “Beer Summit” should have started this. America hasn’t gotten as far as we may all believe when it comes to racial equality. I think this incident is indicative of how much work we still have to do in order to achieve that.
So what was the point of this? A white officer arrested a black member of the society under a racial discriminatory eye and all of a sudden it was huge news. This happens every day. Simply put, racism is everywhere; it will continue to be everywhere because there is no realistic way to curb the problem as a whole in this society. Reading the past comments left by others so many are quick to point out that Obama had only good intentions and that his beer summit was his way of trying to solve the issue on hand. But really, if we think about it, why was this such an issue to start, and what did Obama really think he was going to solve? This has been an ongoing problem for an outrageous amount of years and the only light at the end of this tunnel is a person holding a flashlight. It’s hopeless, racism is part of American society and it is here to stay. Some may accuse me of being racist just for saying that, but I’m not, I’m just being realistic. If everyone would stop being so optimistic and just take a step back to see that many people are racist, whether it be secretly within them, or tattooed on their upper arm.
So enough with that, because that topic could resonate for days, onto Obama’s “great beer summit.” What was he trying to do here? Just get a better rating in the public eye? Mend this single dispute? Or was he just trying to help a brother out? It doesn’t matter what you think about the officer or his actions right now. I’m not saying I don’t think he was wrong, but I’m not looking at that issue right now. My problem in this whole situation is where Obama fits in. There is an isolated incident that all of a sudden gets the attention of the President of the United States of America. What was his though process here? “I’ll bring these two in, sit around a table by the rose garden, pound down a few cold ones, say we fixed some race problems, and look damn good on camera.” Ridiculous. I agree wholeheartedly with the video response made by Dr. Sam Richards, next time have them over for a special packed hookah, the chances you get a hell of a lot more down are sky high. Because the little beer summit that you had with a white officer and a black victim did nothing. Tweaking a line from Shrek, “Racism is like an onion. Layers, racism has layers. Racism has layers. Onions have layers. You get it?” This meeting might have scratched that first layer, but there is not a chance that shit shallow meeting dug deep enough to even being to solve any racism related problems that this society has. So take a seat, fill the hookah, and try again.
Gates and Crowley both had different perspectives of the situation. Each had a reasonable reaction in their behavior. In Crowley shoes, he was investigating the brake-in progress. Gates along with many other people in his position will be on defense of being accused of a crime they did not do. I feel that the beer summit was an act of resolving racial unrest. It will forever exist in the world due to ignorance and lack of knowledge. I feel that Barak Obama stepped up to the plate by using this situation as a teaching tool for the rest of America.
People in society seem to think they are right. They’re perceptions are skewed and assumptions can get people into trouble acting in the moment. Blacks and along with other races are constantly on defense and feel that they are the targets. Thus, they try to milk the situation dry and take advantage of any “unethical” actions. On the contrary, white people feel that anything they do or say will be accused of racisms or discrimination. All these issues are examples why we need racial dialoged and racial healing to give society awareness.
I do agree that Obama wants them to forget the past and move forward to the future. However forgetting and not resolving tensions is letting a math problem unsolved. There has to be a formula or a way to get to the right solution, it is a matter of both parties willing to work in sync. What makes this so hard for many people is that everyone has grown up with different backgrounds, been taught all sorts of channels of knowledge. There are repressed feelings towards certain groups of people. In any disagreement, both parties feel that they are right and the other is at fault. In order to fix it is to communicate with each other and for both parties to understand each side of the story.
I agree on what Laurie said that the beer summit only skim the surface and to put things behind. There is way too much history and knowledge behind an individual eye that triggers them to act or look at a situation a certain way. But in our society we are taught as little children to forgive and forget. Others are taught to be the bigger person and let it go. However, what does being a bigger person even mean? It could mean suppressing negative feelings towards the situation, and later be resurfaced if its not resolved the right way. Obama can help but we as a whole can start uproar of change. We need to be educated and open. We need to be willing to talk about race and not get offended. Therefore, everyone can learn from each other inside out.
The media tends to over emphasize and exaggerate the incident. Any story with racial profiling, or that may look like it is, the news camera are on it with in minutes. I feel that this is one if the underlying reasons why people still feel hostile about their race. We would like to think that it’s behind us, but once the news finds another story, society will be reminded in the wrong way. The Beer summit positively show that two parties can set aside their differences and set a example for the rest of America
The Great Beer Summit was Barack Obama’s plan to throw back a few rounds of cold brews with Gates and Crowley, in hopes that it would promote racial comity and relieve some racial tension. The fact that the arrest of Gates by Crowley was so controversial was just absurd. Honestly it wasn’t any different then your day-to-day arrests by white officers of black people and vice versa. The mass media took yet another situation and blew it completely out of proportion. The media took advantage of the fact that racial tension spurred back to hundreds even thousands of years ago, and played with that to make it seem like a huge racial issue.
The arrest generated a national debate on racial profiling which led to a variety of numerous opinions on the situation. There wasn’t any racial profiling involved it was simply an arrest due to a report of a robbery. When Barack Obama heard word of this he made statements, that he later recanted because he had to keep society happy or on board with him. Personally I don’t believe he should have even been involved with the controversy in the first place because it only put him at risk of being called out in the issue. He didn’t want to distinguish one side or the other because then it would completely shatter his political standards. Society would have completely destroyed him if he actually went public to confront the controversy. So he called The Great Beer Summit in a way to escape actually touching on the mass issue at hand. He took the coward approach by bringing them together at the White House to talk over beers rather then publicly dealing with it. It was pointless and useless to have The Great Beer Summit because nothing was solved it was just pushed aside.
Since Obama lacked to address the issue publicly, we as a society weren’t able to touch on the subject together. This of course leads to yet another lack of dialogue within our nation/society. The lack of actual dialogue and cooperation leads to the misinterpretations of certain circumstances. If racial issues were approached more often and debated upon there wouldn’t be as much tension. For example situations like these wouldn’t spark connotations of hatred or disgust. The president needs to be more thorough with issues such as these instead of pretending to be oblivious to the matters of society and misusing his authority to just brush things off as if they don’t truly matter.
Mass media is powerful; more powerful than most people believe. Numerous media outlets essentially control what we hear, see and feel. It’s up to us, media viewers, to act as media filters and figure out what information from the media outlets is true and what information is unreliable. Certain media sources have one focus in mind and that is to gain power and profits. It is natural for them to blow a story out of proportion so that it attracts more publicity. Stories may be covered falsely and with more hype than it actually deserves.
What took place on Professor Gate’s porch that particular day may have been a simple misunderstanding or an honest act of racial discrimination. International news media quickly jumped on the story and put it in the spotlight. They easily made it into another story, throwing around accusations, involving social issues. The coverage on the incident left it standing as a major issue attracted by a lot of media viewers. As soon as a story sells, the “spillover” continues and sells too.
If the professor had been white, would the news coverage on it have been worthwhile for media to capture? Would Obama have invited two white gentlemen to the White House to talk over beers? If the two men agreed to put it behind them and forget about it, is it a type of racial healing or is it racial ignorance?
I believe that there will always be a racial divide. However, I believe that in today’s world it is more unintentional than it used to be. White people are more apt to accidentally do or say something racist and then deny it. Typically, after denying it, both parties move on and it is quickly forgotten about.
In the case of Gates and the arresting officer, some unwanted attention was definitely involved. It could have easily been settled behind closed doors and labeled as a mistake. Once the media got a hold of the happening, race relations is taken into account. This quickly blows the problem out of proportion and then certain precautions are taken to settle it.
There are problems with ignoring that the incident ever happened and using the phrase, “putting the past behind us.” It ignores uncomfortable confrontation and it doesn’t help with social problems that affect us daily. If Obama would have done more concerning the racial aspect of the problem than it could have served as a model for how people could/should reconcile between one another.
I feel strongly that a lack of media coverage could have lessened the blow and things could have been settled easier than they were. However, media will always be looking for the best story, whether the publicity is official or not will be the question.
Barack Obama tried dealing with this touchy subject by creating a comfortable informal environment to ease the tension of both parties. This was a good idea but maybe not the best way to handle it. This matter should be dealt with in a more formal manner because it is not just a small issue that can be dealt with in a small meeting over a beer. This situation could have been used as a precedent and used as a starting point for a whole new outlook on racism and there is and should be no tolerance for it. But this does not give the right for people to cry hate crimes every time something happens between a white person and a person of a different race.
The news and other media is a whole other topic amongst itself. The media played a huge role and made this out to be much worse than things actually were. Every time there are issues that deal with race the media jumps all over it and makes it last for weeks when it should only last for maybe a day or two. But honestly if a white male professor was prosecuted for the same charges that were pressed by the authorities it never even would have made the local news. It is funny how when there is a feud with someone from another race it is automatically a hate crime or at least the subject of hate is brought up or in questioning. Then when President Obama welcomed both parties to the White House for a beer to talk about what happened the media went crazy. The story then went from being a local story to a national headline. Amazing! All this beer summit did was give the media a few extra days to collect some more money off the headline.
Another situation that bothers me when I think about it is when people accuse someone of being racist just to try and get out of charges, trouble, or even work that they do not want to do. This is common between white and black people a lot. Slavery between white people and black people happened many years ago and I just think that yes it did happen and slavery is not right and never should exist but in a sense we have to get past that and start looking forward. Stop accusing people and claiming racism when it is not a factor.
This was an interesting attempt on trying to solve this matter but did it really solve anything? It pushed it under the rug in a sense because the matter was dealt with but racism is still everywhere today. No matter how many years pass, how advanced our society becomes racism will always exist in the world.
Obama’s Idea was to get Harvard professor Gates and arresting officer James Crowley together for a beer, at the great “beer summit.” The objective of the “THE GREAT BEER SUMMIT” was to prove to everyone that Obama was not the racist figure in this affair. Obama our countries leader failed to do his job in this issue. Obama called an officer of the law and “idiot” for making an arrest on someone who looked suspicious. Obama proved in his statement that he is an unprofessional leader. Since Henry Gates was a friend of Obama we got to hear about this story more and more. After Obama realized what he had stated on national television about the officer he figured he need to make things right, but did he?
Touching on the issue about that the great beer summit, which did not, need to make headline news seem to grab our presidents attention more than his healthcare plan. The most important issue about the arrest is that the officer was going his job. Just think about it, “if” the arresting officer would have not made an arrest on Henry Gates and he was not who he said he was what would have happened? For example, 1, officer sees man trying to get in to house; officer does his job and attains man, 2. Stops a possible break in 3, Next time an officer see a potential break-in he may let it slide so that he doesn’t have to put up with the bullshit and void being called an idiot by our president. If the officer does avoid making the arrest or questioning the suspicious suspect it could end in a deadly conclusion because he let the suspect go. So, if the officer does let the suspicious person go without being question and he does commit a crime the officer will then be looked upon as an idiot. The question that needs to be answered is, would they have had a beer on Capitol Hill if the officer was a hero and saved a family from a potential criminal or would we have heard about this if a white officer arrested white suspect or if a black officer arrest white man falsely. Maybe color did have play in issue is the ordeal but the black guy won.
Through my eyes and many others this issue went too far, the officer “did not” make the arrest based upon the suspicious man’s color, the officer was doing his job and looking out for the community. If former president Bush spoke about an African American police officer as being an idiot we would still be hearing about the issue and would have been thought as being racists. So if bush would have been considered to be racist so then we should consider Obama to be as well. The officer was doing his job and he did!
I had not heard of the “Beer Summit” until I first read about it for this class online, and the more I learned about the situation, the more disgusted I became with the actions and reactions of both parties, the President, and the media. The questions that first came to my mind were how did such a simple situation become so blown out of proportion and create such controversy. But since both parties’ recollections of the occurrence contradict each other, and the result of the “Beer Summit” was nothing more than Professor Gates and Sergeant Crowley agreeing to ignore the controversy completely, the truth will not be brought to light on who was right and who was wrong. Now not as if this was not problem enough, our President only made the situation weirder and brought about even more questions by simply “putting the past behind them” and never actually pressing the issue and getting to the bottom of it. I'm disappointed in the fact that Barack Obama was not able to resolve the issue completely and lead us, or show us how to fix or talk out the problem. Instead they made an agreement to leave it alone completely? I strongly disagree with their decision and would rather they talk out their differences and come to an acceptable conclusion. Although it was a smart move on the President’s part politically not to get in too deep and be forced to choose sides for fear of losing support, I feel as though some type of conversation should have been held on the occurrence to at least give us an example of how a situation like this should be handled. Without closure to this controversy, room is only left for more question and tension to occur.
I think this was another lost opportunity for people of different races to come together, talk out their problems or dislikes with or about one another, and eliminate the need for prejudice or racial profiling, which probably occurred on behalf of both the Professor and the Sergeant. Now what really annoyed me was the fact that in the post interview with the Sergeant, he said that no apology was made and then kept right on moving with the interview. I feel as though without an apology from either party leaves the situation completely unresolved and that neither party is regretful for their actions. I guess neither of them are ready to set an example for the rest of the United States to see or learn from. Now we will just have to wait for some other event to occur that the media will feel the need to pick apart and blow out of proportion on the basis that it contains some level of racism or prejudice.
I’m not sure why Laurie is so disappointed. I remember in July news people wondered aloud what the president would say about this situation, and seemed disappointed when there was nothing more to report. Why did anyone think President Obama was going to lead us through a model for how to have a conversation about race? He might be a community organizer, but he’s not a professional mediator. While I agree with the idea of any kind of summit, (beer, hookah, or otherwise, especially with a feast!) I never got the impression the result of their meeting was going to be ground-breaking. While the mainstream media made a big deal about it, there were many headlines without much substance. So, I checked what Henry Louis Gates himself had to say. After the meeting with Officer Crowley, President Obama, and VP Biden, Gates posted at Theroot.com that he was grateful for the opportunity to, “foster greater sympathy among the American public for the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand.” He mentions an important point. There are two (or more) sides to this (and every) story and we sometimes forget that, focusing on ourselves. And micro or macro, it’s a complicated story. Historically, police and African-Americans do not have a good reputation for getting along. Then take this specific incident where the police officer was trying to keep the neighborhood safe and the “suspect” proved he lived there by showing ID (where the incident should have ended) and it STILL got a little out of hand. These men are not thugs, rather, educated men in the arena of diversity and it still spiraled beyond what I presume they would’ve ever wanted or intended.
Similarly, years ago I worked as student security at a University of Minnesota library where I patrolled hourly and locked up the place at night. One night I noticed a group of women who had a ton of food sitting out despite the ridiculous amount of signs posted everywhere that read, “All Food And Beverages Will Be Confiscated.” (If the rule seems strict, it was the medical library where the books were especially expensive and there were plenty of food-friendly places nearby.) I did not like enforcing this rule, but did so anyway because the job was cake. When I started to give them my schpiel about the rules and started removing the candy and beverages lying about, they immediately jumped up, came within inches of me, and threatened my “skinny, white ass.” I radioed to dispatch for help because I really thought they might follow through. They stormed out loudly with me standing in disbelief. What had just happened? The police were called but I was not present since it was outside the library. A couple weeks later, we had a mediation group where these students continued to insist I was racist. They did not listen when I said I treat everyone the same. A mediator later cried at the end.
Sometimes I feel like crying too. There seems to be a lot of hurt, still, after so many years. Slavery ended so long ago, generations ago, but we are still shackled to this racial divide.
I think that the great “beer summit” was a result of an intense overplay of media attention. This immense amount of of media attention almost forced our President to pay attention to this “racial event” and to make a comment on it. In my opinion, there must not have been too much going on in the world that day for our President to pay attention, let alone invite these two parties to have a discussion about the event. I mean really, of all of the other issues that need tending to you would think that this one would not even be on the list, let alone cause a national event.
I do not really agree with or even understand Obama’s comment about this occurrence being a “teachable moment.” If this event had been between two people of the same race there would not have even been an issue to talk about. The only thing that happened was an unfortunate misunderstanding which resulted in this ridiculous media event. It should never have been made into a race relations problem. Obviously there are still things that need to be ironed out between races in this country, but a police officer just doing his job is not one of those things. The only way that I could see this even being a teachable moment is if we, as a nation, not make such a big deal out of the little things and focus more on the bigger problems such as child abuse, unemployment, or anything else that matters. Also, Al Sharpton commenting on the incident is not shocking at all. That man considers everything that happens an injustice to his race. I was born in Washington D.C., one of the most diverse areas in the world and maybe I just do not have the mentality that Reverend Sharpton does, but not every interaction between black people and white people needs to be censored. That would completely defeat the purpose of creating a stronger bond between people.
This arrest, in my opinion, does not reflect on racial tensions in our country, but it does reflect on our nation’s ability to overreact. In reality there are always going to be differences between our races simply because we are all individuals who have different opinions about the world we live in. There was no need to have a racial dialogue over this event because in the grand scheme of things it does not really matter, sometimes bad things happen in life and not everything needs to be made into such a big deal. Obviously the people who did make this situation into a big deal have way too much time on their hands and need to focus on more important matters.
I am glad that the Henry Louis Gates, Jr. incident was one of the options to write a journal about. I have had several heated arguments about this subject over the summer, so I felt a natural inclination to read the blog. I would have to agree with the latter of Sam Richard’s theories, meaning that the situation was blown way out of proportion by the media. In fact, I think the main perpetrator was President Obama. when he came out and said that the police officer was wrong. While Mr. Obama admittedly did not know the full details of the situation, he sparked a great deal of unnecessary controversy.
I think that the Henry Louis Gates skirmish highlights a major problem in the portrayal of racial tensions in today’s society. If both parties involved were the same race, whether it be black, white, asian, etc., I don’t think anyone would have made a big deal of the whole arrangement. Also, I think the situation was further escalated by the fact that the black man involved is a Harvard professor. I think that it is very unfortunate that they were held to a different standard due to their respective social statuses. If I were trying to break into my house because I was locked out, and my white neighbor called the cops on me, most likely no one would have cared; it definitely wouldn’t have garnered national attention. Even if I called the cops on my black neighbor trying to break into his own house, it undoubtedly wouldn’t have circulated further than a local publication.
I think Henry Louis Gates falls highlights a broader problem that I observe frequently: black people receiving special treatment due to their past. I want to clarify that by no means am I racist, and I would like to consider myself a very accepting person. That being said, I think that people play the “black card” entirely too often. Henry Louis gates was not being discriminated against by his neighbor. The woman who called the cops was simply a concerned lady who saw a man breaking into her neighbor’s house. I think most logical, unselfish people would call the police under those circumstances. However, just because Henry Louis Gates is black people start freaking out. He would have received the same treatment no matter what race he is, and it bothers me when people say otherwise. Thus, I feel that the Henry Louis Gates overdramatic spectacle was nothing more than a misunderstanding.
The one good thing that came out of said altercation was Mr. Obama’s reaction. I was proud of the way he handled everything. I was originally against Obama, but I am starting to come around to him. Even though the beer summit resolved very little, it gave Obama a great public image, and provided closure to the situation. I hope he continues to impress me.
After watching the “How the great beer summit failed” video and reading the article I had mixed feelings about the situation. I agreed with both opinions that were suggested; the opinion that the event was blown out of proportion for media attention and also how the event showed the need for racial dialogue and racial healing. I agree with saying there was no right or wrong person in reference to the white officer involved or the black Harvard professor. I honestly think it was more of the outsiders involved who created more of the complications and controversy, such as the neighbors who made the call to the police. I feel as though if it was a common arrest for any other type of crime it wouldn’t have got as much media attention as it did or the arrest wouldn’t have been viewed as negatively as it was. Since the arrest was for burglary, or should I say what appeared to be burglary I think people made their own assumptions. It seems as if people had the idea it was a racial conflict only because the officer was white and the person being arrested was black and what the arrest was for, but didn’t think about the world today and how many blacks or any other race are arrested daily by white police officers.
Now going back to saying the neighbors caused the fuss and racial conflicts is what I truly and strongly believe. I think if Mr. Gates was a white man not a soul in that neighborhood would have believed he was trying to break into a house, but would have believed he was just as financially stable as them and could afford to live in the community he does. People didn’t see him as the positive, intelligent black man that he was or may have been but rather his skin complexion and his surroundings and their personal racist opinions about blacks or some other minority race. No matter where you go, black people have certain reputations and stereotypes placed on them, whether they live up to them or not. I personally think the stereotype Mr. Gates had to suffer from was that blacks belong to the lower class in society and can’t afford what white people may have, as well as black people are angry and hostile people who commit crimes more than other races. Unfortunately people don’t erase these stereotypes from their minds but rather show their ignorance towards another race and let these racist opinions reflect in their personality or choices they make, which is what the neighbors did. I overall feel that before and after the call was made to the police, people didn’t put themselves in Mr.Gates’s place and think about how they’d feel if they were arrested based on assumption and stereotypes.
In the case of the “Beer Summit” I do believe that the media blew this event up as it does with many small things, but could we blame them? It was one of the first race issues to occur with our first black president. However, although this is an annoying thing that commonly occurs, it is also a beneficial thing that it was so well known. This is because it leads society to focus on a common issue that we choose to ignore a lot when dealing with race. It just goes to show how whenever an uncomfortable situation comes up, instead of taking the matter and tackling it head on, we back off and just brush it off of our shoulder. Clearly, we do not realize that instead of sitting down and having a beer and laughing about what happened, we could sit down, still have a beer, and lay out everything that happened on the table. This way, we could focus on the issue, get the problem straightened out, and laugh about it after with no hard feelings (most of the time). People just do not like the awkward feeling that they would have to face right then and there, which is understandable, however, they do not realize that by sweeping it under the rug it only leaves for more awkward feelings in the future. Clearly these two parties and Obama chose the easy way out. Honestly, I know what would be the smarter thing to do, however, I can’t criticize them for how they handled this because I cant say that I would actually try to tackle the issue head on either.
I feel like this “Beer Summit” received a lot of criticism for a few reasons. First, as I touched on before, this is one of the first problems to come about outside of the debates dealing with race that Obama had to face. I feel like this is a main reason why this became such a big deal in the media. Everyone wanted to see how he would react and deal with such a contovercial thing. Because of the high anticipation of what might come out of this, many people do not agree on how this was dealt with. As I said before, I cannot honestly say that I would have straight out stated the problem and suggested that it be resolved right then and there, however, this event was highly publicized. Because of this fact, I do think he should have handled it a bit differently. The men should have discussed what had happened and why it had happened. Although this possibly could have created more problems between them and what the public would have said, it would have been one less possible case of racial discrimination that was swept under the rug.
After watching the video on the blog and reading the summary about the beer summit, it appears to me that this is simply another exponential overreaction that somehow finds its way to our consciousness. It begins with a misunderstanding and snowballs into this monstrosity that ends up being the focal point of most evening news talk shows for a week. I think it’s easy to say that the catalyst in the situation comes about due to race and the history it has in this country. I say that Henry Louis Gates definitely has a right to be upset but from the looks of it, he took it to an inappropriate level. It also seems that Crowley, as he was about to leave in his car, abused his power by detaining Gates, even though he had warned him. That is something that we definitely see a lot of all over the world, not just here in America; police officers exercising power to uphold their image when it really appears that it’s unnecessary in many cases. I think that that action is what catapults this issue into the spotlight. Crowley, in all fairness, should have seen this coming. You can’t detain a black professor for yelling while he’s in his own home and not expect this kind of thing to stay quiet.
I find the whole following event to be quite funny. Obama hears about this (obviously) so he decides that this is a great opportunity to give it the attention that only he can give. Who’s not going to listen to the first black American President have a dialogue about race with these two? And its over beers!? Don’t say anymore! So Obama knows that people will watch and this is going to be a great first in his term as president. But the problem with this is that everybody in America has such high hopes for this because there has never been such a precedent as a black President speaking on his perspective of race. Ultimately it looks like this is a failure. But here is where I disagree. This is a much bigger deal now that Obama is President. Before if say George Bush were to do this there would be much fewer people tuning in to listen. Few people, especially those who are in a minority, would expect great strides to be made by Bush. In Obama’s case though, there is hope, and so more people tune in. People rally around Obama unlike recent Presidents. So what if you couldn’t appreciate what’s happening because strides weren’t made. You only seriously expected them to be made because it was Obama speaking in the first place. There is hope for this long and hotly-contested issue of race and it lies in Obama. I give him this mulligan because he won’t make that mistake again. He knows why it didn’t work to some people’s liking and he knows where he went wrong. I have faith that we will see great strides from him in this area in the future. We just need to give it some time.
I do not think that the beer summit was a total waste of time nor do I think that it effectively solved the problem. I agree with an earlier poster who stated that Obama made a smart political move by calling the two men together to peacefully talk about the problem and shake hands over it. We live in such a diverse country that it is impossible to please everybody, and digging to get to those deep issues would probably ensue another event that would have somewhat been similar to the one involving the Jena 6, where both sides are arguing to justify themselves and expect higher up officials to side with them. Through it all, everyone would expect Obama to take a side and then criticize him for something like dancing around the subject if he wouldn’t. The summit seemed to have settled the main obvious situation at hand, which was the faulty arrest of one black man, between the arrestor and the arrested. In my opinion, that’s a good thing; one step forward, no matter how tiny and insignificantly small it may seem, is still a step forward. I don’t know exactly was talked about in the White House or how deep the conversation got, but I’d like to optimistically think that such a conversation between the president of the United States, an esteemed Harvard professor, and a law enforcement officer would have gone a tad bit farther than just scratching the surface area of the issue.
Personally, I like the way that Obama handled the issue. Talking over an issue over beers, in a relaxed non-confrontational setting, was probably the best way to handle the situation. As president, he could have just ignored the issue all together and the let media run all over it as they pleased, but instead he stepped in. I think that this shows that our president really does think of racial profiling as an important national matter and that he does want to do something about it. Who knows? Maybe this beer summit was actually the first, experimental step in an even greater scheme that Obama has to help solve these problems.
In conclusion, the summit did not seem dig much deeper to try and get to the bottom of the main hate-race related problems that plague this country, but that seems like a problem that we as a country need to work on together and not something that should be expected to be solved between a few men and a couple of beers. Perhaps, it might even be a good idea for Obama to cancel all work and school for a day so that the whole country can partake in a National Beer Summit… Nevermind, that sounds like a horrible idea.
I read most of the comments written about this blog and came across some pretty interesting ones. One that interested me the most was Fed Up’s post about who really cares. This whole incident just seems to be a blown up incident about a man getting “arrested”. It happened at a time when news reporters had nothing to report order than this and the other incident that happened in a suburban Philadelphia swimming pool and therefore had to keep on firing the story until some proper news come along.
The man got detained for four hours, I shall reframe from using the word arrested because it wasn’t like the man was put in jail over night and had a couple of guys giving him the looks all night long. The reason for being detained wasn’t that he was black and trying to “break into” the front door, because he had shown prove of residency so the fact that he is black doesn’t play a role because ITS HIS DOOR!!. If the was made on the bases of skin colour, why wasn’t the driver also “arrested”?, for according to the story, they were two guys trying to ply open the door, and both of them were black, why would one be arrested and not the other. The reason the professor got detained was for his behavior toward the officer. The crime was charged with is disorderly conduct, which has nothing to do with any racial profiling. All the hype the story were just media created and therefore the need for the president to step into it to calm down the situation was unnecessary.
People get arrested all the time. The president has many things to wrestle about than a citizen getting arrested. If Barak Obama is to worry about settling every little racial profiling incident that spurs up with a chat over a beer, then he needs dozens of liver transplant donors lined up already. Pretty much every little confrontation between two individual from two different races, the minority is going to yell out racial profiling used. Having a president settling these petit confrontations is not what a country needs.
Making reference to the beer summit, what is there for the Obama to say? Is he now supposed to educate them about race? Are people so uneducated about racial profiling that the president is the one suppose to take time and educate them? The only thing he can really say to them is take what happened to them was very unfortunate and that they should put the past behind them and reconcile. That exactly what he did, there is nothing more he could have done, because these are well educated guys, in fact the professor is the director of Harvard's W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research and that wouldn’t the time for a long speech about what’s good and bad.
First of all, did anyone ever ask themselves, why did President Barrack Obama have to interfere on such a relatively “small” incident? Seriously, how often does that happen? In my opinion, the great beer summit failed for a very simple reason. The great beer summit failed because President Barrack Obama failed to address the real issues about the incident, like why didn’t Cambridge officer James Crowley leave, after Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. told him that this was his residence he was trying to get into? Why did the Harvard Professor get charged with disorderly conduct, for trying to get into his own house, after the fact was already established? Think about it, who would not freak out if they were getting arrested for trying to get into their own house, after coming home from a long trip? How did neighbor Lucia Whalen not recognize Professor Gates? And finally, why are people so eager to say that racism was the cause of the incident, when it could have just as well been a lack of good judgment on both the officer’s, and neighbor’s part? I know the era of segregation and civil rights wasn’t so long ago for the people lived through them, but why do they feel the need to say racism is the cause for every little incident between a colored and a Caucasian person. I personally grew up, outside this country, and for the longest time I never even heard of the term racism. Now that I reflect on it, is mostly because I grew up in a multicultural environment, where there really wasn’t a dominant skin color, and the people were not afraid to share what was on their mind. All the people that I had been around brought problems and conflicts to light, in order to keep them from escalating, and getting out of hand. It seems to me that the only reason Obama intervened on this incident, and called for the “Great Beer Summit”, as it is now being referred to, was to keep this problem from gaining more attention, than it had already acquired. Obama wanted to have the general media just forget about the incident. From my point of view, that was the goal of Obama’s, beer summit. He failed to address the real issue and instead tried to have both parties put the incident behind them as a way to prevent further action from being taken by either party. But how can you solve a problem if you’re not willing to address it? The fact is racism still exists in today’s world, whether you want to acknowledge it or not, but the only way to come up for a solution to it, is by addressing the issue.
I am not aware of the details regarding the great beer summit or the details of the incident before it where the professor was falsely accused and arrested. Many say that it was racial profiling, if so, I feel that not enough was done to reach a solution to this problem. Yes the “beer summit” was planed with good intentions but it simply was not enough, and to me the issue is still unresolved. I am not sure how I would have went about it, but I feel that instead of reaching a solution, the “beer summit” of reached a compromise.
Now regarding the arrest, I don’t understand why Gates was arrested after showing identification and proof that the address belonged to him. With that being said I feel that the arrest was an act of racial profiling. I feel that Crowley completely disregarded Gates’ identification and proof of residency because, he was only concerned with making an arrest and found a reason.
For me, the Great Beer Summit was simply a disappointment. I was honestly upset about how the “great beer summit” was carried out. President Obama pretty much just invited these two guys for a couple of beers while the rest of the world watched and waited for a discussion that quite frankly never happened. All the attention was turned to what kind of beer they were drinking instead of what topics these three men were discussing. I wished that there had been a racial dialogue to clear up the confusion that this country went through. The questions of Who was right? or Who was wrong? is not nearly as important as the topic of how the United States handles the issue of race. It is obvious that the United States has many races, and it is because of this that controversial situations happen all the time. We as a nation unfortunately almost never get to hear about most of these situations. But we all heard about this issue and although we will never know exactly what happened, we should have and needed to use this opportunity to take a step in the right direction. It is necessary that we address the issue of race now and today. I completely agree with the opinions of the woman in this video. Why do we have to put the past behind us? Why are we so afraid of race or talking to people about race? We have to address issues now, no matter how uncomfortable they make us. It is so pointless to ignore current events and just put them in the past. Every time that we decide to ignore a situation or push it aside, we are actually creating more damage and a greater gap between race relations. It is essential that we learn from our mistakes now so that we will not repeat them. There is no doubt that racism still exists in this country and it is on us to reverse this and create progress. But how can we create progress if we don’t have racial dialogue? President Obama should have addressed this issue with the nation instead of having some beers. Having a couple of beers is not going to solve this ongoing problem. Getting people together is the first step, and for that we can congratulate him. But then President Obama should have followed through with an in depth discussion. And of course, the media will always blow things out of proportions but at least they raised questions and caused controversy. They started debates between people and caught their attention. They created interest and most important, they created conversation. So if everyone else was talking about it, why didn’t Obama?
So pretty much both side just swept the issue under the rug? Played it off like it was an awkward misunderstanding between two frat guys settled over a beer? Well good job America, the great “change” that we heard so much about is simply keeping things the same, but have a beer to keep things calm? What a great way to set an example for the rest of the nation. Well shit, next time I have a racial misunderstanding I’m going to ignore the greater point of the problem and get a case of Lager and smooth things out till I can’t walk. I was watching “Spin City” last night and the episode was about Michael J. Fox’s character trying to con one of the other workers in the mayor’s office to make a weight loss campaign for children. The “lucky” canadate was the black character played by Michael Botman. In one scene while Botman’s character was running through Central Park with his hood up waving his arms while singing, a NYPD police car saw this and the two white officers arrested him on seemingly nothing. The mayor’s office suggested that the entire situation was forgotten about, or “swept under the rug”. This seems to be the running norm ( I site the Beer Summit).
I cant claim that I would know what to do to better this situation if I were in the presidents shoes. But I could think of a few more professional ways to take care of this type of situation rather than a beer in the white house. And why did the president have to step in anyway? Wouldn’t this kind of thing be better handled by the parties involved, you know have them resolve their own differences and misunderstandings? Hell ill get in a racial charged- well publicized-over blown incident with someone just to have a beer in the white house with the president. But if I was having a beer with a president wouldn’t I have it with the president that would be more fun to have a beer with (That Bush Guy)? All im saying is that this might be a thing for the ACLU or the NAACP to handle. Throw a few flashy words on it like hate crime, civil injustice, or anything else that comes to mind and they should jump all over it, not Sam Adams, or Keystone LIte, or the ever popular Natural Ice. In short I have beer and civil injustice on the brain now so im going to wander off in to the outside world full of hate and misunderstanding, and I’m going to have a beer, because beer solves all the world’s problems. I needed three words.
To be quite honest, the issue was not resolved in a manner of my liking. The man that was arrested probably still holds a grudge against the officer that arrested him. Its not possible to solve an issue of this magnitude by gathering the two parties and having them discuss the matter over a beer. It's deeper than that. Living in such a diverse nation such as America gauruntees us that there will be a problem of rascism. It has to be combatted in a different, more effective manner. I understand where President Obama is coming from. He did not want to stir up both sides, so he did what he thought was best and just brough the two men together to talk. However, is this really going to change anything in the future? If another incident like this occurs again, is the President going to get involved and bring the two parties to the White House and have a beer? The only reason this issue was brought to national attention was because the man that was wrongly accused and arrested was a friend of Barack Obama. If it was any other person, the media would not have heard about this matter. It may have been a misunderstanding, but a precedent needs to be set. Cops just can't go around arresting people all willy nilly. There has to be consequences for your actions despite the fact that it's an accident. It should not have happened.
Although I feel as though Barack didn't do enough to solve the problem, I can't really fault him for his actions. I totally agree with "Mr. Usual" when he said that if Barack had chosen a side, then it would have stirred up controversy from the side he did not choose. Being that he is relatively new to the President job, it would not have been smart to choose a side. He already has enemies. He can't afford to have any more.
Barack had to follow his gut and pacify both sides. Although critics may argue with his approach, he did what he felt would cause the least amount of trouble. Everyones not always going to be satisfied. The fact that the two sides talked is extremely positive. I would like to hear from the two parties to see whether or not they agreed with how the matter was handled.
If it were me and I had to solve the problem, I would have gone about it in a different way. I would have had the two sides talked, but the officer would have faced consequences. I believe that punishment is needed in this case to set an example. I would have made an example of this officer which basically would show others that if something like this ever happens agaian, then they will face punishment. He may have been trying to keep the peace, but he still needs to integrate some punishment.
In my opinion, it is wrong to simply dismiss the “beer summit” and the events leading up to it as a cry for attention from money-hungry, ratings-seeking cable news outlets. I think it is certainly justifiable for a passerby to inform the police of suspicious activity that may look like a break in. I think it is justifiable that the police would respond to the call. However, what is not justifiable was the action of Sergeant Crowley when he arrived on the scene, and this is where the race card comes into play. Mr. Gates was able to produce valid identification proving that the house was, in fact, his. That is when police involvement should have stopped, not escalated. This is a blatant case of racial discrimination. Sergeant Crowley ignored irrefutable evidence, and his own racial biases led him to arrest and innocent man. And Sergeant Crowley is not the only police officer with prejudices against minorities, he is not an anomaly in the system, he is simply the product of a law enforcement system which encourages racial discrimination. It is hard to believe that Sergeant Crowley’s actions would have been the same had Mr. Gates not been black.
I think that President Obama’s response to these events was very well-intentioned, but poorly executed. What better way to resolve things than a casual meeting over beer? In this manner the President gave the issue at hand attention, but didn’t overhype things by turning it into a formal debacle filled with news cameras and reporters. However, I fully agree with Laurie Mulvey in that “the actual issue at hand was only lightly skimmed”. In saying that they were going to “put things in the past”, they are ignoring the larger issue of racial profiling and law enforcement. What should have been a deep, provocative dialogue on race relations turned into a casual, feel-good hangout between buddies. It’s like if the writing of the Declaration of Independence devolved into a bunch of dudes rolling a fatty and watching Lord of the Rings, instead of tackling the larger issues at hand. The messed up part about this was that it was exactly what President Obama probably wanted. Why would he want to ignite a larger controversy that could be very easily avoided by “putting the past behind us”, especially when this country is having enough problems as it is? The President made a compromise for the sake of PR, he gave up what would have been a heated discussion for the betterment of America for the tactic of simply brushing it under the rug.
It is a sad case of politics trumping larger moral issues, but it was a thrifty move by Barack Obama. I would have liked to have seen Sergeant Crowley been reprimanded in some larger way, to serve as an example for other racially biased law enforcement officers.
I couldn't agree more. I am so tired of people pretending like racism is dead or that it's not relevant anymore and all that nonsense. I really just can't see why it is so hard to sit down and talk to someone else and just be frank with him or her. It really just comes down to a mutual agreement on honesty. Nobody wants to just come and pour out all of their bad thoughts and experiences without the understanding that they won't be the only one confessing. However once that agreement is reached it is amazing how easily the words flow. I think it is funny how it seems most people understand that the key is to have open conversation, but none of them are really willing to engage in that conversation. So instead we all sit back and watch the president's attempt at open conversation. Obama doesn't know any super special secrets to making us all get along. All he did was sit two people down and try to speak with them openly, which in my opinion was an epic failure. You can't take something like this, which should be an honest conversation and broadcast it like some kind of spectacle. Also it came under the wrong circumstances, you can't have an episode like the one that happened between the two, where there were obviously emotional strains and then say a week later "hey let's sit down with the president in the White House and talk about it." Oh please. Come on who didn't see this coming. As soon as I heard I thought okay so how awkward is that going to be? All three men show up with a painted on smile sit there for some time, drink a brewski and then go back home where they settle into the same mindset they had when they woke up that morning.
I really feel it has to be something that comes about voluntarily. It absolutely cannot ever be forced or else the result will be the predictable one. This is why all those “race relations” programs never work in schools or in the workplace, because if you come to it knowing that your not going to open up anything serious then you won’t and neither will anyone else. On the other hand if you have an open invitation to anyone who wants to sit and seriously talk about the way things are then I think you stand a much greater chance of success, the real kind. The only people who will show up will be the ones who really want to actively engage in a discussion. I say all these things because I know it can happen. I took a course last spring called race dialogues in which there was a group of 10-12 students like myself plus two amazing facilitators. I can honestly say that class was the most amazing experience I have ever been apart of. We spoke on such an extremely intimate level that my entire outlook on the way I carry myself was changed. It felt so good to really be able to speak freely. Actually speak freely. To be honest it really wasn’t even that awkward. The first two classes were pretty quiet but once we realized that we were all on the same page and really wanted to be enlightened the dialogue took off. I took this class because I honestly want to get to that place again with another group of people.
...and thats the bottom line cuz STONE COLD said SO!
“The Great Beer” submit is what we are now calling the meeting between Barack Obama’s attempt to patch things over with American Harvard professor and officer James Crowley over to the white house for a beer. It is another feeble attempt for Barack Obama to not ruffle the feathers of both sides and basically not take a side at all, but we have seen this time after time and are going to see that until he gets to boot from the office (which will be a glorious day). But furthermore, I believe that this whole incident was blown way out of proportion by the media which trickled down to the American people. If it was a white person being arrested and taken into custody this would not even be news worthy. Why is it such a terrible thing that the police were trying to keep the mans house safe when it looked as if someone was trying to break into the house. I am sure it has happened before because I even have a friend who got the cops called on him because he was trying to get into his house because he lost his key. It just one of many incidents of a black person totally freaking out because the police were “racial profiling”. It really was not a big deal, but you better believe when the media got a hold of this they took it and ran with it. It is simply entertainment and will undoubtedly will get higher ratings and will sell newspapers. Anymore any small incident that involves a black person is drawn out now a day.
Don’t get me wrong or get the wrong impression. I am sure that there are cops out there who arrest innocent black men out there just because of their skin color. It is a terrible travesty, but it does happen. To be honest aren’t the police supposed to protect and air on the side of caution when it comes to these things? Imagine what would have happened if someone was trying to break into his house and he didn’t arrest him. The headline would have read “White cop doesn’t arrest intruder because house owner is black”.
But what pisses me off even more is that the United States has to get involved with such a non issue. Why is it our spot at all to invite them to have a beer and patch things but when we had nothing to really do with it. Is it because Obama is “black” or is it just some kind of publicity stunt? Either way, I think we should have sat back and watched this one out, and even though it is dead and done with we will hear about it for months and even years to come.
President Barack Obama’s decision to organize a “beer summit” to resolve the disputed issue between Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sergeant James Crowley was merely another ploy a politician makes to lead people to believe what actually is politically correct. I personally don’t think there was any reason for the “beer summit” to occur. Had this situation involved two white people there would have been no “beer summit.” I agree with Mr. Usual’s post in that I don’t think either party involved (Professor Gates and Sergeant Crowley), nor the average citizen truly has an understanding of why the “beer summit” happened.
After reading more about the event that led up to the “beer summit”, I learned the facts for myself and had trouble discovering what caused so much controversy. Sergeant Crowley simply responded to a phone call received by the police about a potential burglary in a Massachusetts home, and he followed correct protocol regarding the situation. However, the situation turned out to be a big misunderstanding. The man trying to enter the home was in fact the owner and resident of the property. Once I read about what happened and assessed the situation, I realized that this is a simple mistake that probably happens all the time all over the country. With that in mind, I think the only reason this became national news was because the dispute was between a white man and a black man. In this case, the media definitely blew this out of proportion. The fact that President Obama recognized the situation at all is completely unnecessary. I think he did so to try and create an example to use as a problem-solving technique people can use in instances such as this one. In reality, not everyone is going to get along with each other. It doesn’t matter what race people are. It just isn’t part of human nature for everyone to see eye to eye. In my opinion, President Obama recognizing this case as a means for racial healing just continues to beat the drum we’ve been hearing since we’ve been born. Everyone’s goal in a perfect society is racism to be nonexistent and a thing of the past. However, if we continue to put instances such as what happened between Crowley and Gates in the national spotlight, we will never put racism in the past. This was just a confrontation between people. They both were right in the situation. Sergeant Crowley was correct by simply following the proper code of behavior within his profession, and Professor Gates had the right to be furious at being evicted from his own home. The fact that race was ever brought into the equation is a step in the wrong direction in minimizing racism. Having awareness about racism is one thing but to go out of the way to create it is socially irresponsible.
The fact that this happened on or near the campus of one of America's best colleges is really shocking. i guess it doesn't matter where you are racial profiling still happens!
These things tends to happen quiet often in the black community, but since the arrested man held such a high place in the community and it happened on one of America Best Colleges, it was brought to light. If they could get over it, why cant we?
I’m not sure why Barack Obama got involved in this issue in the first place. I understand that he was trying to touch on black profiling but it was probably ended up being addressed more towards individuals who were involved or heard of similar cases. I’m not sure if I really understand the negativity coming from Mrs. Mulvey and how she thinks Barak Obama let her down. Again, Barak Obama should have known that this was probably going to turn into a main stream media story but I don’t see that the way he went about it was wrong. Yes, in certain cases we can give two aggravated parties a beer and they can peacefully agree to disagree. This to me is called healthy dialog even though we didn’t get to hear or see it. It’s true that we either see people locking heads and not getting any where or shaking hands and walking away (agreeing to disagree) but isn’t that better. If I tried to really “get down to the real stuff” with every cop that arrested me I would probably end up with more charges then I began with. Everyone white and colored was taught to be polite and never talk back to a police officer because there will be consequences. It obviously isn’t that different for Harvard Professors because the police officer wasn’t getting what he wanted and he arrested the man. Mrs. Mulvey said she thought Barak Obama was going to show us the correct path of how to come to reconciliation but she didn’t give us any examples of what she thought was acceptable or what Barak should have done. If it were me I would have done the same thing as Barak Obama, sit down the two fighting parties and talk about it over a beer. Mrs. Mulvey was surprised that they seemed to come out of the whole thing “jolly wit each other” because they put the past behind them. In my experience I solve things by talking them over with who ever it is, stating my point and in return hearing out theirs, then putting the past behind us. If you’re able to civilly sit down with the person, then you are able to talk and come up with a solution. If the situation was that bad you would never even try to talk, this is how fights start then leading into wars. Mrs. Mulvey was right, in their sit down “light bulbs probably went on, wow I thought this about you but now I’m hearing that and I never realized that before, and oh you were thinking that and that’s why you did that, I get it I would have done that if I were you”. I immediately assumed all that, why would they both all of a sudden appear to be ok with each other if that didn’t take place. Yes we were not able to see and hear what was said in the sit down while having a beer so I guess in the end the racial dialogue and healing that was supposed to be portrayed wasn’t. That was what created such uproar, but in the end the media blew it out of proportion in search of sales. For the future I totally agree with Sam and the hookah summit with the special tobacco and the feast afterward. We did the same thing back in my town between friends, we called them peace blunts.
In the case of Professor Gates in July, a minor situation escalated into a major issue in national media. One could blame many different groups for escalating the situation beyond what it was, a minor misunderstanding that the police looked into and dismissed. First, one could blame the police for arresting the professor for disorderly conduct. The officers even stated that they realized he was the resident of the home. However, Mr. Gates’ actions could be deemed as disorderly and the police did their jobs correctly in my opinion. The police are required to quickly check up on a scene when they receive a call. Once they realized that he was not breaking in, Gates’ following actions were enough to warrant police action. Second, one could blame the national media. On both sides of the news spectrum, there were many storylines to play with in this case. A reporter could play up the black guy getting into trouble and then “pulling his race card,” or they could headline the black guy who has association with the oft-criticized new president gets arrested. Again, there were many different ways to spin this. However, media outlets are ultimately responsible for one thing, profit. A story that is talked about, read about and watched on television, is a story that is successful, whether it is morally right or wrong. Thus, I feel that the news outlets, from Fox News to MSNBC and everything in between, fulfilled their duty, to report news that people want to hear about. Lastly, one could blame the situation on Professor Gates. If the police knock on your door, you should greet them politely and treat them cordially, especially if you have nothing to hide. To open the door and release a tirade about how he was only scrutinized because of his skin color was the wrong reaction on his part. That being said, Gates did just return from a trip overseas, and I’m sure he was tired, hungry and frustrated by being locked out of his home. For that reason, I think he probably would have acted differently if the situation had been forty-eight hours later. When I heard about President Obama having a beer with the two men, I feel that it was a good message to send to the country, as it showed that these grown men could act mature and not discuss racial issues over nothing. It showed a mutual respect that the situation had been laid to rest and people wanted to move on. I’m sure everyone involved looks back today and can see a different path they could have taken to avoid the backlash that ensued. At the Beer Summit, there was no need to delve deeper into racial issues, and all men involved realized that they needed to move on. Now, not even two months later, each of the men involved has resumed their normal lifestyle.
i think this situation is mostly a miss communication. Mr. Gates was having his guard up for the cop and the policemen was also out his guard up in a policemen view of point incase things goes wrong. Both were over reacting and situations doesnt go the right way. I dont think it necessary for the president to step in and try to resolve the problem. When the president gets involve it only make the media goes even more crazy about the story and only make the problem bigger. Media is the one that make lines and divided people. so when they gets involve, some people might take the situation to the next level and blow it up even more worst.
I think that it was a mix of both our need for racial dialogue and the media blowing the incident a bit out of proportion. When the two parties met at the White House for a few beers, agreeing to put the past behind them will temporarily put the obvious lack of racial dialogue “under the rug” for a few years. However, when something like this occurs again in five, ten, fifteen years, US society will be back at the starting point. I also think that it was a case of the media blowing it out of proportion because if it was not for the fact that this professor knew President Obama, we would have never heard about this incident. How often do you think that this kind of thing occurs in the US? It’s a lot more common than the media depicts it to be. So, if that’s the case, why are we hearing about this individual case for weeks? If it wasn’t for whom he was this would have been swept under the rug, along with all of the other similar events that occur.
There is no question that “putting the past behind you,” especially after having many days to think about the incident on your own time before meeting at the White House again, is the easier and safer route to take in this situation. However, what is safer is not always better. If President Obama would have elected to allow the two parties to talk further about the arrest, they may have ruffled a few feathers but would have advanced race relations in the US further. Keeping silent about misconduct will only get you so far.
I do not think that Barak Obama did enough to help race relations in the future, at all. I’m sure that Mr. Gates still hold a slight grudge, or displeasure, toward the officer (or maybe he doesn’t, but most people would).
In response to Rodney, why/how would you make the officer face consequences? What did he do that is out of the realm of penal authority and control? It greatly depends on whose story you choose to believe, and I very highly doubt wither one is 100% accurate – it’s likely somewhere in between.
Laurie Mulvey was correct when she expressed what usually occurs when two people meet after a conflict, through my experience. They either butt heads and clash, or remain silent about the issue, “put the past behind them,” and move on (as if they truly do just move on). By just skimming the surface, a problem cannot really be solved. This was more of the same – more of just skimming the surface as the White House under the guise of having a beer. By simply putting the past behind them and never having true dialogue about the issue, nothing was resolved.
This event is very intrinsic to the way that we think about reconciliation. The idea that the matter of race plays into it only adds another dimension. If it was a white professor who had been arrested on his front porch, would President Barack Obama still have invited the man to enjoy some beers to dilute the controversy? But another thought could be, would the man have had a police report for him breaking and entering if he had been of another race. It seems stereotypically natural that black men do not get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to situations like this.
What if all situations where the American justice system were handled in the same manner? If the accused were to be given the honor of sharing a beer with some political figure, would this ease the mind of the falsely accused. It seems that when people are falsely accused then just get a sorry after everything has blown over, there will always be some hard feelings. If an apology was granted to the accused over a few beers, maybe it would show a bit more sincerity. It would show that people could show fault for their mistakes. If you think about it, when people are accused of a crime, they will either be charged with a fine or spending some time in jail. If they are found not guilty it will give them nothing except some suspicions of the crime they did not commit. This in turn sometimes leads to counter lawsuits. So, when found not guilty would they find some gratitude or solace being given a proper apology?
This event showed that people can forgive and forget. The idea of having both the officer and the accused share a beer seems effective, because it leaves both parties able to share their recount of the story. Not only is this good for the two parties, but it also seems to be a good media outlet. It helps ease the publics mind towards authority figures, knowing that they can admit when they’re wrong. In the end it seems to have helped both parties gain some sort of respect for one another.
Another prospective on this issue would be to show that different cultures can find their differences and explain their methodology. Let’s say for instance a black man from a lower class neighborhood is given this same opportunity, would it have had the same affect on the media and would it have given the same amount of ease to the accused? Or would the tension between the two till be present? Could this possibly break the barrier of stereotypes and preconceptions of things that we do not understand? I am very curious to see where it leads this country.
There has always been race issues in this nation with other presidents. I think that just because Barrack has such big plans to change our nation and he being our first president of color makes the people put greater judgment upon him. Just because the issues were not solved does not mean he did not try. Our nation has always been faced with race issues. One meeting wasn't going to solve everything. Yet people are acting as though he lost our only shot.
The Great Beer Summit was another one of those stories that the media repeatedly blows out of proportion. In response to Sam’s post, I believe that it didn’t fail at all. The police officer just made a silly mistake, was unlucky and had to deal with the press. He was undoubtedly ignorant. He obviously hasn’t been exposed to much interaction with people of a different race.
Obama did have good intentions in inviting both of them to the White House. However, it was very unprofessional. At the summit, by drinking beer the two (the African American and the officer) were able to get ‘loose’ and have a great time together. After the summit I think that the white police officer came out realizing that he was able to socialize with black people. The president being there may not have been the best thing though. He is a public icon. The two may have just been getting along because they were in the presence of someone of great power in our country and knew that if they didn’t show some sort of effort, punishment could potentially occur.
The talk most likely helped them out more than the press stated that it did. For example, I attended an American high school overseas with people of every ethnic background from all over the world. We had this thing called Challenge Day where we would pair up with random people who we had never talked to before (or someone from a totally different background.) Everyone was with someone of a different color. Our job was to have a 20-minute conversation with that person and get to know them for who they are instead of what they look like on the outside. I know it is stereotypical, but for a lot of people, if they have one conversation with an Asian and it decent, they are going to look at Asians differently. After Challenge Day everyone had to write a paper about what they learned from it. Most said that it was very beneficial and that having a conversation with someone is a lot better than ‘hearing what is right’ to become closer with a different background.
This applies to Obama’s situation because I feel like he subconsciously was trying to get the white police officer to realize that black people aren’t all that different from him. In the White House, they all shared a beer, which was one thing they had in common. By conversing with one another rather than being told that he shouldn’t discriminate only causes more anger. He needs to experience a situation first hand and by being under the supervision of the president only pressures him to do so. In the end, the Great Beer Summit makes sense!
The incident involving Professor Gates reminds me of a story I learned from a fellow Penn State student that was a guest speaker in my women studies class last semester. He told the class of an incident in which cops beat him because he was parked in a bad neighborhood with a nice new car. He said that the cops believed he stole this car because it was too nice. They not only beat him, but also ripped apart the new leather seats of his car searching for drugs and anything that could get him in trouble. Which race do you think this man was? I don’t think this would have happened if he were white.
I don’t remember his name but he was Black and a very smart and eloquent speaker. He said that he had never been so offended in his life. The thing that upset me most about his story was that he didn’t do anything to fight back to the police. The cops beat him and tore apart his new car and instead of filing charges or anything like that he let it go. He was the bigger person. But it will haunt him forever and he didn’t do ANYTHING wrong!
His story is similar to Professor Gates’ because both men were taken advantage of by police because of their race. I do think that Sgt. Crowley was wrong. One hundred percent wrong, and even though he arrested Gates for disorderly conduct, Crowley was the one who egged him on! If I would have been in Professor Gates’ position I would have been just as angry.
I think the way Barack Obama reacted to the situation was the only thing he could do to make it go away. I mean it was a nice gesture but incidents like this happen daily. The incident only got as far as it did because Gates is a successful black man. The President isn’t going to invite over every victim of racial discrimination for beers? Additionally, if George Bush would have been in office during this incident I don’t think he would have cared enough to have both men over for beers. I think Obama only did this because he is known to be a Black president so he has a personal connection to the incident and was trying to make a difference, which I respect. But I also think that this problem only got solved because it was in the spotlight and both men knew they had to make it look like they were over it. I guarantee Gates is still offended though…So does that mean the problem is solved just because the public thinks that now Gates and Crowley are beer buddies? No. I think Crowley should have gotten punished for his actions publicly. That would have been a better lesson in my opinion, rather than the two men just making up and putting the incident behind them.
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