Pynchon's "White Negro" view of Watts & Scooby-Doo too

[Henry Musikar]

"Officer Barrett did not call professor Gates a jungle monkey or malign him
racially," said Barrett's attorney. "He said his behavior was like that of
one. It was a characterization of the actions of that man." 

Oh. OK! That's different!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/30/gates.police.apology/ 

Barret should be demoted for being stupid, and then fired for being racist
and creating a "public disturbance." He should not be conflated with James
Crowley, whose name is now rarely mentioned will all of the attention on
Gates's stature.

For my two cents, Gates is intelligent enough to know that when the police
are called to your home and ask for your ID, you need to be able to prove
that you are, in fact, the homeowner and not an invader. If the police had
not responded to the neighbor's call, or if they hadn't asked an actual
intruder of a black man's home for his ID, they'd be justifiably criticized.
If you make it so that they're in a lose-lose situation, then who are you
helping?

Henry Mu
Sr. IT Consultant
http://astore.amazon.com/tdcoccamsaxe-20/