Henry Louis Gates and the Workplace

If you think you’ve read all there is to read about the Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates/Cambridge Police Department Sgt. James Crowley brouhaha, you’re wrong. Here’s my commentary on the incident as it relates to the workplace and employment law. (For various news articles, click here, here, here, here, here, here and here.)

First, some points of recent history: Barack Obama’s brilliant speech on race relations during the 2008 presidential campaign; excited talk of a post-racial America if Obama were elected; Attorney General Eric Holder’s request for a substantive, national conversation about race; and President Obama’s address to the 100th anniversary celebration of the NAACP where he orated, “Your destiny is in your hands, and don’t you forget that. That’s what we have to teach all of our children! No excuses! No excuses!”

A week later, African-American Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested by white Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley at Gates’ house for disorderly conduct. Racial gloom set in. Post-racial America was declared a fantasy. Racial profiling had raised its ugly head. Jim Crow had set up residence in Cambridge, Massachusetts, home to the most renown, most inclusive university in the world.

Obama expressed anger and said that anyone would be angry if he were in the situation of Henry Louis Gates, an Obama friend. Though admitting he didn’t know all the facts, Obama said that the Cambridge police department had “acted stupidly.” He backed away from that position, acknowledging that his choice of words was unfortunate (could have been calibrated differently), that he didn’t intend to malign Sgt. Crowley, and that both the professor and the sergeant had overreacted.

So Attorney General Holder has gotten his conversation on race. Some of it has been thoughtful. Some of it has been filled with statements so extreme that one could assume a resurrected Strom Thurmond were serving as President instead of Barack Obama. So where are we on race — in the workplace, anywhere?

Just as African-Americans believe racial profiling is still a problem, they believe employment discrimination is still a problem, and so when an African-American is not hired, not promoted, disciplined, or fired and the decision maker is white, the real reason for the adverse decision is race. Both racial profiling and employment discrimination still occur. But the denial of significant progress in race relations and the President’s decision to make Gates a victim and diminish his admonition to African-Americans to recognize the dawning of a new day when it’s time to stop making excuses and start taking control of one’s own destiny are discouraging parts of our national conversation on race.

The problem underlying our racial issues is probably, in an absolute sense, insoluble. Look at older societies around the world where ethnic and racial tensions are so severe that citizens aren’t concerned about profiling or discrimination but massive bloodshed. In some cases, they haven’t been able to solve their race problems for thousands of years. We’ve only been around for 200 plus years.

Henry Louis Gates is awfully smart. Sgt. Crowley seems awfully dedicated. Both have records of racial sensitivity and tolerance. I don’t know exactly what happened when the Gates/Crowley hubub occurred, but it’s likely that both of them made a mistake. Mistakes happen every day in all workplaces. If they are based on racial issues (and most of them aren’t), they need to be effectively addressed.

When something like the Gates/Crowley incident occurs, we go nowhere by focusing on the sins of our ancestors. In the workplace and in society, we need to celebrate the progress we’ve made, move beyond mistakes we still make, and embrace the hope that character always trumps color. I thought that’s what post-racial America was all about.

1. 

   Mike Maslanka says:

   July 29, 2009 at 6:15 pm

   Guy comes back from a 13 hour flight from China, can’t get into his house and forces his way in, and then sees a cop on the porch and thinks “I am exhausted, now what gives !?” He gets cranky, says a few things he should not have and the cuffs are slapped on. Here are the lessons and they appy to the workplace and have nothing to do with race.
   (1) We all say things when we are exhausted that we should not. Give a co-worker(or even the boss) the benefit of the doubt in those cirumstances.Give them a time out.
   (2) Don’t let the hormones fly. Walk away. Not everything is worth a fight. Knowing when to fight and when to walk is a sign of wisdom.
   (3) Don’t try and inbue meaning to everything that happens. Freud: “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”
   The End
   The End
2. 

   John Phillips says:

   July 30, 2009 at 10:30 am

   Mike,

   Thanks for your comment, a good one as usual.

   While I’m inclined to say you’re exactly right, what happened in Gates/Crowley incident is more likely to happen than your suggestions as to the way something like this should happen.

   Unfortunately, race still seems to be an automatic factor in any somewhat adverse situation involving an African-American and a white. Even the President thought it was a factor.

   Though class has been mentioned little in comparison to race, it seems to me that class played a big part in the incident in question. I’m guessing that if a white Harvard professor had treated a police officer, white or black, the way Gates was perceived as treating Crowley, the same result might have happened — sans publicity.

   Good to hear from you.

   John