An Awkward Beer of Reconciliation

Today Obama is supposed to have a beer--the universal act of manliness--with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Sgt. James Crowly to foster the spirit of reconciliation regarding the shitstorm Gates's arrest in his home caused nationwide as it opened up Pandora's box on racial profiling, the issue of privilege combined with race, and the insulting words of Obama on the police acting "stupidly."

I have thought about this situation a great deal as a teacher, another civil servant to society, who is constantly faced with "verbal abuse" for which there is no law against. In NYC, if a student hits a teacher it is a felony (of course, the teacher has to press charges), but you can call your teacher every name in the book of bad words and there are literally no rules about what should happen to you. Henry Louis Gates is the student in this situation. He was accused of something outlandish that rang of racial profiling, his pride was injured, and he lost his cool. Anyone with a smidge of history of police relations amid the African American community should know that this freak out was sparked by ancient beef and to let it/him go. Walk away. The student lost control; it happens....a lot.

Now the cops who freaked out in response to Gates freaking out are the teachers in this situation. As a teacher, when a student loses it about something and is yelling and screaming at me, especially if they pull the race card, I try to diffuse the bomb and have us all back to singing "Kumbaya" around the fire as soon as possible. Only in rare situations to I have to call security to remove a kid from my class. But let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen of the world, that is is FUCKING HARD to sit there and have someone yell all sorts of shit at you and not respond. You can feel your blood boil; you can hear the smart-ass retorts forming in your head; and the rest of the class is waiting for your response and you are modeling behavior for all of them while all you want to do is body slam this little jerk for causing such an uprising in your classroom. BUT....you have to take the moral high ground. That's just the way it is.

Obama is the principal here, and let me tell you, if my principal ever said to the school faculty at large that I had acted "stupidly" in a situation as difficult as the HLG Jr. situation I'd be pissed. First of all, "stupidly" is a very lame word. It would be on my list of banned words that are not allowed to be used in writing in my classroom b/c it's so lacking in pizazz. Secondly, you weren't in that situation Principal Obama. Yes, teachers do stupid things when put in situations when students are yelling at them, calling them names that make gangsta rap lyrics sound like lullabies, and it's hard NOT to respond. And sometimes teachers do stupid things and regret it (or not). But for the leader of the school to publicly denigrate the teacher like that is unacceptable and unprofessional.

So, here we have a bizarre triangle of emotion and stupidity from all sides. But I am most disappointed in Obama, I must say, and his word choice that not only insulted the cops on duty but cops nationwide. I am not a cop lover nor do I blast "Fuck the Police" from my ipod earbuds, but I don't think society at large understands the tightrope walk between authority and humanity that civil servants balance daily.

Good luck with that beer of reconciliation. Hope they chase it with a few shots of Jack Daniels.