The President of the United States made a comment about the policeman that arrested Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.  The professor was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge. According to Gates, he was “being harassed in his own home because he was a Black man.”

I do not know if the President was speaking as a politician or if he was speaking as a Black man who had previous experience with the police. I am from a crime-infested city (Chicago) and I know that no one wants the police to be nonexistent but would definitely like to see them monitored more in minority communities.

I often wondered in my early years when I was on the corner selling drugs all day how the police would just ride by as if I was not doing anything wrong. I was young, not in school and obviously not waiting on the bus. My father who worked all day would often complain about the police pulling him over but never mentioned race. He would feel like he was speeding and rushing to get home like everybody else. My parents, like most African Americans, don’t like to question or think race could be a factor in any of their life’s short comings.  Even though my mother came home complaining on the regular how she had to train white people who ended up becoming her boss within months. My Father would later complain about being fired from his job for doing what white boys on the job taught him to do.

I have to admit as a Black man I was never harassed in Chicago or talked to by the police. I did not hear from them until I started having other people standing on the corners working for me. They let me know they knew who I was and that they would be discussing with me later how I would need to take care of them. I left that life and went back to school, moved to Minnesota for six years where I was profiled on the regular by white officers and pulled over constantly. I was once pulled over by a cop at a stop sign for not stopping. I said to the cop “I am stopped at the sign right now” and she said, “Yeah but you were about to pull off?”

I think the real problem is the police are given too much of a gray area when it comes to minorities and profiling. I feel that the President responded as a Black man and then remembered later he was a politician. We cannot forget the reason we love the President is because he was a community activist not a politician. I think in time he will learn the politically correct things to say. I just hope in the meantime we do not let the truth be hidden behind the hype.

The police department in every city in America has been given a green light to disrespect Black, Latinos, and Asians. I ask that we not forget the Black man in New York who was shot down; The 90 year old woman in Georgia who was shot down; The sister sitting in her car on a cell phone that was shot down by the police. Or even 18-year-old Corey Ward and last but not least Tramaine Miller who was shot in the face. The history in this country between minorities and police officers has not been positive. We have to remember the reason we created the Black Panther Party was because our people were being shot down in the streets by the police. The same thing today happens but our anger is not the same. Why? Have you ever heard of any police officer apologizing? Until truth prevails, my eyes will be watching.