Some things you can’t forget. Forgive, yes. But not forget. As most of us know by now, the recent encounter between Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and Sergeant James Crowley sparked national debate over the possibility of racial profiling.
I agree with The New York Times’ take on it: Maybe the real reason things blew up is because neither man got the response and respect he expected from the other.
That’s why I didn't mention in my first paragraph that Gates is black and Crowley is white. Can Harlequin Cat go out on a limb here and say the real issue is about civility?
Yes, I think I can, as long as no one forgets the quick assumptions made that July summer day on the porch of a yellow house in Cambridge -- assumptions made not just by those who were there, but by so many of us watching as well.
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