Stop. Look and Listen.

"There are people who, instead of listening to what is being said to them, they are already listening to what they are going to say themselves."

--Albert Guinon--

"To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation."

--Francois de La Rochefoucauld--

"It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen."

--Oliver Wendell Holmes--

The incident on July 16, 2009, that involved Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. has set off a flash fire in the media. It has all the ingredients for a sexy, popular, attention grabbing story.  It involves the next best subject to sex for instant ratings; it involves race!  The problem is that all it has done is created two passionately opposed camps that are more interested in shouting at one another than using this incident as a "learning moment" as Professor Gates has suggested.  The main reason such a moment will not occur is both sides are doing a lot off yelling, no listening, and therefore no learning.  

Had anyone involved been listening they would realize that what is called for is not an egghead discussion of race over high tea, a latte, or dinner with wine.  What is needed is an independent process to make certain that all allegations of police misconduct will be properly investigated and, if necessary, prosecuted swiftly, effectively, and fairly.  This will make certain that both citizens and police will be required to adhere to the law.

Police brutality towards African-Americans, particularly African-American males have been around for over a century.  That is nothing new.  The politics of race have been around since African-American men received the vote in the late 1860s.  Racial tension has been around since at least the mid twentieth century.  And race baiting opportunist have been around since the turn of the twentieth century.  Why is this important?  All of these historical realities make every story of police misconduct or police brutality into a powder keg with a quick short fuse and no chance of disarming it before it explodes.  

Police misconduct/brutality stories usually creates two sides.  On one side there are liberals and minorities that have real life experience with police officers that they feel acted unprofessionally or violently toward them.  Then there is the other side that automatically comes to the defense of the police without knowing what really happened.  Both groups are quick to embrace victim hood and rush to judgment before either group has all of the facts and neither side is willing to listen to the concerns of the other.  In addition, both sides are more than happy to make the smallest, slightest, and most minute incident into a grand example of why the other is the problem not realizing that they themselves are also a part of the problem.  That is why the media asked President Obama about an incident that he did not witness nor was within his jurisdiction since it was a local matter.

Many of these type of incidents could be effectively resolved by making sure there is a credible investigative body of the police.  This organization or body must make the protection of the citizens and due process and fairness to the accused its top priority.  That is what is usually missing from most cities, villages, and towns around the country.  Most cities, villages, and towns have an internal affairs or police review boards but many of those organizations seem to be more concerned with maintaining the status quo than maintaining a neutral, unbiased, and credible organization.  That is why every time there is a story about allegations of racial profiling and/or police misconduct it turns into a powder keg because all of the old frustrations from both sides come boiling up to the surface with no positive, effective, and productive method to direct the energy.

The bottom line is either the police or Professor Gates is wrong.  Either the police officers in the July 16, 2009, incident acted completely professionally and within their authority, Professor Gates is telling the truth and the police overstepped their authority, or what happened on July 16, 2009 was something in between the two stories.  None of us will ever know for certain because we were not there.  That is why an unbiased, credible investigative agency is needed in situations like this because regardless of what happened there will be people in the liberal and African-American communities that will assume the police were in the wrong without taking the time to find out all the facts.  And regardless of what happened there will be fellow police officers and people who automatically support the police who will assume that Professor Gates was the instigator of the incident without taking the time to find out all of the facts. The media will not provide most of the facts so an investigation by a credible independent agency is needed to try to find out what really happened so it can be properly addressed.

If there is an investigation by a credible government agency that is more concerned with the truth than substantiating old frustrations then there can be a "learning moment."  Government can not remove hatred, bigotry, or small mindedness from people, but it can set and maintain standards of behavior in public by its citizens and its police.  If there is not an investigation by a credible agency or there is no credible agency to investigate the incident then this small incident will be just another step towards an explosion that is due to occur because no one is willing to stop, look, listen and hopefully learn.