Race row as black scholar arrested at own home

A distinguished Harvard scholar is at the centre of a race row after he was arrested by police responding to a call about “two black males” breaking into his own home near the university.

Pre-eminent African-American studies scholar Henry Louis Gates had forced his way through the front door because it was jammed, his lawyer said.

His colleagues said the arrest in Cambridge, Massachusetts, last Thursday, was a clear case of racial profiling.

Cambridge police say they went to the house after a woman reported seeing “two black males with backpacks on the porch”, with one “wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry”.

By the time police arrived, Professor Gates was already inside. Police say he refused to come outside to speak with an officer, who told him he was investigating a report of a break-in.

“Why, because I’m a black man in America?” Prof Gates said, according to a police report.

Prof Gates – the director of Harvard’s WEB Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research – initially refused to show the officer his identification, but then gave him a Harvard University ID card, according to police.

“Gates continued to yell at me, accusing me of racial bias and continued to tell me that I had not heard the last of him,” the officer wrote.

Prof Gates joined the Harvard faculty in 1991 and holds one of 20 prestigious “university professors” positions at the school. He also hosted African American Lives, a Public Broadcasting Service TV show about the family histories of prominent US blacks, and was named by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential Americans in 1997.

He was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after police said he “exhibited loud and tumultuous behaviour”. He will appear in court on August 26.

Police refused to comment on his arrest last night and Prof Gates, 58, referred calls to his lawyer, fellow Harvard scholar Charles Ogletree.

Mr Ogletree said Prof Gates gave the officer his driving licence and Harvard identification, but became upset when the officer continued to question him.

“He was shocked to find himself being questioned and shocked that the conversation continued after he showed his identification,” Mr Ogletree said.

Mr Ogletree declined to say whether he believed the incident was racially motivated, adding: “I think the incident speaks for itself.”

Some of Prof Gates’ African-American colleagues say the arrest is part of a pattern of racial profiling in Cambridge.

Allen Counter, who has taught neuroscience at Harvard for 25 years, said he was stopped on campus by two Harvard police officers in 2004 after being mistaken for a robbery suspect and threatened to arrest him when he could not produce identification.

“We do not believe that this arrest would have happened if Prof Gates was white,” Mr Counter said. “It really has been very unsettling for African-Americans throughout Harvard and throughout Cambridge that this happened.”

Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust said he was “very concerned” about the incident and had asked Prof Gates to keep him informed.“

Civil rights activist the Rev Al Sharpton, who said he would attend Prof Gates’ court appearance, said: “This arrest is indicative of at best police abuse of power, or at worst the highest example of racial profiling I have seen.

“I have heard of driving while black and even shopping while black, but now even going to your own home while black is a new low in police community affairs.”

Mr Ogletree said Prof Gates had returned from a trip to China on Thursday with a driver, when he found his front door jammed. He went through the back door into the home – which he leases from Harvard – turned off an alarm and worked with the driver to get the door open.

The driver left and Prof Gates was on the phone to the property’s management company when police first arrived, Mr Ogletree said.