The above statement by President Obama opened up the floodgates of criticism, as well as support, about whether he should have even gotten involved. Some say that racial profiling in America is an issue that needs to be brought up and discussed. But was this incident really about race?
Here's a slightly different view:
"My suspicion is that this was not about race, this was about power," said Richard Weinblatt, director of the Institute for Public Safety at Central Ohio Technical College. "In the old days, we used to call this 'contempt of cop.' This person was charged with 'contempt of cop' because they kept pushing and pushing. But it has opened up a very powerful national dialogue on race, and it's something that police need to address." ~ from a Washington Post article
If the issue is about power, then why are we not talking about power instead of race? I totally agree with the statement that power and class division are the bigger issues here.
Could the situation possibly be seen from the following perspective?:
a) a highly educated and respected professor refusing to succumb to what could be interpreted as undue authority imposed on him by less educated police officer
in direct conflict with
b) a highly respected and experienced law enforcement officer given the power to make arrests at his discretion feeling disrespected by what could be interpreted as academic and, possibly, upper-class arrogance
Perhaps race did play a role, but I don't think it was the main issue at all. I just think that the "race card" is grossly overplayed in this country. It's so much easier to blame it on racism than to look at a more complex problem that would put all of us under one umbrella.
