The officer's perspective.... [View All]

[busymom]

I'm going to say this first....

I'm white. I know that this now negates anything I am about to say, but I'll say it anyway.

Racial profiling is a real problem and there have been many terrible things that have happened as a result. I can imagine that there is a lot of hurt and anger as a result of this and it is justified.

Consider for just a minute, the police officers....these are the men and women on the streets daily who see people viciously attacked and brutalized by people of all different colors...they are the ones to respond when someone breaks into a home and attacks/kills someone (white/black/asian/hispanic....these types of crimes happen by members of all of these ethnic groups). Imagine the fear one might feel going into a situation like this...not knowing if you will enter a home where a crime is taking place, where someone has a lethal weapon that they might try and use... All you know is that someone has broken into a home. You don't know if he is the homeowner, a rapist, murderer, or robber. Age doesn't matter. There have been old white men who have attacked young women....

Quite frankly, Gates should have handed over his ID calmly...he might have realized that actually this wasn't about racial profiling at all as much as it was a report that someone was breaking into a home. Hell, I would call the police if I saw anyone breaking into a house regardless of the color of the skin or their age!