Acting White: Disorderly Conduct

This post is not about race, it is about egos, and how they get the best of us.

Cambridge Sergeant James Crowley (pictured), whose side of the story I have now heard (on WEEI Boston) as well as that of Professor Gates (on CNN), made a decision to arrest Gates on a disorderly charge, when experience and judgment should have told him that this was a very bad move. This is not to say that Gates does not have an ego or a willingness to raise his voice. Crowley, by his own words, believes that hearing bad things about himself (or family) is part of police work. So why did he not just hand himself a favor and do the water-on-a-duck’s-back thing? One word - EGO.

Last summer I had a run-in with two Oakland cops, which was all about ego (not race), mine and theirs. The first officer nearly ran me, on my bicycle, off the road, while pursuing a speeder. Mind you, no lights, no siren, no pardon me move your narrow ass on the bull-horn, no nothing.

When I caught the cop and lucky speeder (who got off) a mile down the road, I started giving her a piece of my mind, undoubtedly in a raised “Gates style” voice. Meanwhile another cop rolls up and tells me I am interfering and he will arrest me. In my adrenaline-fueled state, I told him to F-off and that he could arrest me anytime he felt the need. I also told him it would be my pleasure to watch his duty officer, Captain and DA take turns reaming his private parts for compounding the other cop’s stupidity with his own brand. There was never any mention of race during the entire exchange.

Well, the punch line of this story is that just maybe the Oakland cops are smarter than Cambridge, because the reckless cop knew she was wrong almost running me over (she apologized), and regardless, the two of them thought it would be the lesser of evils to endure my tongue-lashing rather than what awaited them back at the precinct, after being arguably right and patently stupid to arrest me. Are you listening Cambridge? My encounter was about safety, emotion, adrenaline, ego and common sense – mine and theirs.

I’m glad the Oakland cops neither arrested nor shot me for my indignant stance. I was not proud of my behavior, but a life of marginalizing incidents by authority figures caught up to me as my life flashed before my eyes, and over the deep-end I went. I partly hoped the cops would be stupid enough to arrest me, and partly hoped they would be smart enough not to fall for the trap I was presenting. After all, I was out riding for some peace and enjoyment, I thought.

To put it succinctly, we have big issues in this country around race, and the Gates debacle and other daily occurrences go to remind us that we have a lot of work to do.

James C. Collier

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