Henry Louis Gates arrest controversy#Presidential involvement

On July 16, 2009, Gates had just returned from a trip to China.{{cite news|title=Blogtalk: Gates, Obama, Race and the Police |url=http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/blogtalk-gates-obama-race-and-the-police/ |first=Kate |last=Phillips |work = The New York Times|date=July 23, 2009}} As the front door of his home would not open, Gates entered through the back door. Once inside, he still could not open the front door. Gates later stated that the lock was damaged and speculated that someone had attempted to "jimmy" it. Gates went back outside and, with help from his driver, forced the door open. Since the house is university-owned, he then reported the problem to Harvard's maintenance department.{{cite web |url=http://www.theroot.com/views/skip-gates-speaks?page=0,1 |title=Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. speaks out on racial profiling after his arrest by Cambridge police |work=The Root |date=2009-07-21 |access-date=2009-07-24 |archive-date=July 25, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090725092442/http://www.theroot.com/views/skip-gates-speaks?page=0,1 |url-status=dead }}

After Gates's driver left, the Cambridge police arrived, alerted by the 911 call of a neighbor. There are multiple published accounts of the subsequent events which led to the arrest of Gates, including the police report, interviews with Sgt. Crowley{{cite web|url=http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO119812/ |title=Officer who arrested black scholar is profiling expert |publisher=WHDH |date=2009-07-24 |access-date=2009-08-01}} and other officers on the scene;{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=8163051&page=2 |title=Obama Called Cambridge Police Officer James Crowley Who Arrested Henry Louis Gates|first1=Huma |last1=Khan |first2=Michele |last2=Mcphee |first3= Russell |last3=Goldman |publisher=ABC News|access-date=2009-07-26}} and published interviews with Gates and Whalen.

{{multiple image|align = right|direction = vertical

|image1 = Arrest of Henry Louis Gates.jpg|width1 = 186

|caption1 = Gates, arrested on the porch of his Cambridge home,{{cite news |title=Gates's neighbor captured the moment|url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/23/birth_of_a_flashpoint_gatess_neighbor_captured_the_moment/|work=The Boston Globe |access-date=July 24, 2009 | first=Jack | last=Nicas | date=July 23, 2009}} with Sgt. Crowley (right) and Sgt. Lashley (foreground).

|alt1 = On the porch of a yellow-clapboard house stands a middle-aged African American man in polo shirt and slacks, in the middle of a statement, his mouth agape, his hands handcuffed to the front. Behind him stands a uniformed Caucasian policeman, lightly grasping the man's upper arm. Facing the pair is an officer to the right, his left hand held up in a "hold on" gesture. Another African American officer is in the foreground, below the level of the porch, with his arms akimbo and his back to the scene while he faces the general direction of the camera.

|image2 = Henry Louis Gates, Jr. mugshot.jpg|width2 = 174

|caption2 = Gates's booking photo taken the day of the arrest.

|alt2 = A pair of mugshots giving front and profile views of a middle-aged African American man with very short-trimmed dark hair very short-trimmed grey goatee and mustache, a neutrally nondescript or matter-of-fact expression on his face, wearing very lightweight wire-rimmed eyeglasses and an orange-and-white variegated-pinstripe polo shirt.|footer = |footer_align = left}}

According to the police report, Sergeant Crowley arrived at the scene, went up to the front door, and asked Gates to step outside. Crowley explained he was investigating the report of a break-in in progress; as he did so, Gates opened the front door and said, "Why, because I'm a black man in America?"{{cite news|last =Washington | first = Jesse | url=http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Analysis-What-they-saw-during-the-Gates-arrest-692.php |title=Analysis: What they saw during the Gates arrest |agency=Associated Press |date=August 31, 2009}}

Crowley's report states that he believed Gates was lawfully in the residence, but that he was surprised and confused by Gates's behavior, which included a threat that Crowley did not know who he was "messing with." Crowley then asked Gates for a photo ID so as to verify he was the resident of the house. Gates initially refused, but then supplied his Harvard University identification card. Crowley wrote that Gates repeatedly shouted requests for his police identification. Crowley then told Gates that he was leaving his residence and that if Gates wanted to continue discussing the matter, he would speak to him outside. Gates replied, "Yeah, I'll speak with your mama outside." On the 911 dispatcher audio recordings, a man's loud voice is heard in the background at several points during Sgt. Crowley's transmissions.{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/28/gates_arrest_audio_indicates_race_was_not_factor_at_start/ |title=Gates arrest audio indicates race was not factor at start |work=The Boston Globe |date=July 28, 2009 |access-date=August 1, 2009 | first1=Peter | last1=Schworm | first2=John | last2=Ellement}}

Gates stepped onto his front porch and continued to yell at Crowley, accusing him of racial bias and saying he had not heard the last of him. Faced with this behavior from Gates, who was still standing on his own front porch, Crowley warned Gates that he was becoming disorderly. When Gates ignored this warning and persisted in his behavior, and likewise ignored a second warning from Crowley, Crowley informed him that he was under arrest.

Gates's account of the events first appeared in The Root on July 20. According to the statement, Gates saw Crowley at the door as he was speaking to the Harvard Real Estate Office to have his front door fixed. When he opened the front door, Crowley immediately asked him to step outside. Gates did not comply and asked Crowley why he was there. When told that Crowley was a police officer investigating a reported breaking and entering, Gates replied that it was his house, and he was a Harvard faculty member. Crowley asked Gates whether he could prove it; Gates told him he could, and turned to go to the kitchen to fetch his wallet. Crowley followed him into the house. Gates then handed Crowley his Harvard University ID and a current driver's license, both including his photograph, the license also giving his address.{{cite news | url=http://www.theroot.com/views/lawyers-statement-arrest-henry-louis-gates-jr | title=Lawyer's Statement on the Arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. – Charles Ogletree gives Gates's side of the story in controversial arrest of The Root's editor in-chief. | last=Ogletree | first=Charles | date=2009-07-20 | access-date=2009-08-19 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Gates then asked Crowley for his name and badge number, but Crowley did not respond. Following repeated requests for Crowley's name and badge number, the officer left the kitchen; Gates followed him to the front door. As he stepped out the front door and asked the other officers for Crowley's name and badge number, Crowley said, "Thank you for accommodating my earlier request," and arrested Gates on his front porch.

In an interview published in The Root on July 21, Gates said that when Crowley first asked him to step outside onto the porch, "the way he said it, I knew he wasn't canvassing for the police benevolent association. All the hairs stood up on the back of my neck, and I realized that I was in danger. And I said to him no, out of instinct. I said, 'No, I will not.' He demanded that I step out on the porch, and I don't think he would have done that if I was a white person." Gates called the references to loud and tumultuous behavior in the police report a "joke"; he had been physically incapable of yelling at the time, due to a severe bronchial infection. As he was walked to the car in handcuffs, he asked, "Is this how you treat a black man in America?"{{cite news|url=http://www.theroot.com/views/skip-gates-speaks?page=0,1|work=The Root|access-date=2009-08-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131122091150/http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2009/07/professor_henry_louis_gates_jr_speaks_out_on_racial_profiling_after_his_arrest_by_cambridge_police.1.html|archive-date=2013-11-22|last=Olopade|first=Dayo|title=Skip Gates speaks|date=2009-07-21}} In an interview with columnist Maureen Dowd, Gates denied he had made a reference to the mother of the arresting officer.{{cite news | last = Dowd| first = Maureen| author-link = Maureen Dowd| title = Bite Your Tongue | work = The New York Times| date = 2009-07-25| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/opinion/26dowd.html| access-date = 2009-08-01}}

Lucia Whalen was the witness and original 911 caller reporting the incident. Sgt. Crowley stated in the police report that when he arrived at the scene, he spoke to Whalen, who told him she had "observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks" trying to force entry. Whalen subsequently denied making any such comment to Crowley.{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=8207339|title=911 caller in Gates case hurt by racist label|last=Lindsay|first=Jay|agency=Associated Press|date=2009-07-29}} Whalen was hurt by widespread comments labeling her a racist, based on the "two black males with backpacks" quote in the police report.

A recording of her 911 call was released on July 27; in it, Whalen could be heard saying, "I don't know if they live there and they just had a hard time with their key."{{cite news|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jqwi0TSVtxC458-6AKpUuaTpH5FgD99N40G00|title=Gates 911 call: Witness not sure she sees crime|date=July 28, 2009|agency=Associated Press |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801002355/https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jqwi0TSVtxC458-6AKpUuaTpH5FgD99N40G00 |archive-date=2009-08-01}} When asked for a more detailed description by the dispatcher, her reply on the tape was, "One looked kind of Hispanic, but I'm not really sure. And the other one entered and I didn't see what he looked like at all."{{cite news | last1 = Ellement | first1 = John | last2=Collette| first2=Matt | last3=Jan |first3=Tracy | title = Gates caller says she didn't cite race | work = The Boston Globe | date = July 27, 2009 | url= http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/27/gates_caller_didnt_cite_race_police_say/}}

Gates was held for four hours and charged with disorderly conduct.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jul/21/henry-louis-gates-jr-arrest-harvard|title= Police arrest prominent black history scholar for breaking into own home – Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr held for hours in a cell by Cambridge, Massachusetts police|last=Pilkington|first=Ed|date=2009-07-21|work=The Guardian|access-date=2009-08-19 | location=London}}{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1912777,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090725232642/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1912777,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 25, 2009|title=The Gates Case: When Disorderly Conduct is a Cop's Judgment Call|magazine=Time |date=2009-07-25|access-date=2009-07-25 | first=Bonnie | last=Rochman}} The charges were dropped five days later, on July 21, 2009, by the Middlesex County district attorney's office, upon the recommendation of the city of Cambridge and the Cambridge Police Department.{{cite web|url=http://www.cambridgema.gov/CPD/News/NewsDetail.cfm?story_id=2250 |title=Joint Press Release |date=July 21, 2009 |publisher=City of Cambridge Police Department|access-date=August 18, 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090725125322/https://www2.cambridgema.gov/CPD/News/NewsDetail.cfm?story_id=2250 | archive-date= July 25, 2009 |url-status=dead}}{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/charges_to_be_d.html |title=Gates chastises officer after authorities agree to drop criminal charge |work=The Boston Globe |date= July 21, 2009|access-date=2009-07-22 | first=Tracy | last=Jan}} A joint press release by the authorities and Professor Gates said all parties had agreed that this was "a just resolution to an unfortunate set of circumstances" and that the incident "should not be viewed as one that demeans the character and reputation of Professor Gates or the character of the Cambridge Police Department."

Sgt. Crowley said he would not apologize for his actions. He was backed up by the Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association, which released a statement saying his actions had been consistent with police training, policies and applicable legal standards.{{cite news|url=http://boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/officer_in_gate.html |title=Officer in Gates case says he won't apologize |last=Saltzman |first=Jonathan |date=July 23, 2009 |work = The Boston Globe|access-date=August 26, 2009}}

The incident was first reported in The Harvard Crimson, the campus newspaper, the Monday morning after the arrest.{{cite news |first=Krissah |last=Thompson |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/20/AR2009072001358.html |title=Harvard Professor Arrested At Home |newspaper = The Washington Post |date=July 21, 2009 |access-date=July 26, 2009}} Following a write-up by the Associated Press that afternoon, the story spread quickly. Public interest in the arrest grew when newspapers published the photograph showing a handcuffed Gates being escorted away from the front door.{{cite web |url=http://www.theroot.com/views/obama-calls-sgt-crowley |title=Obama Calls Sgt. Crowley |work=The Root |date=July 24, 2009 |access-date=July 26, 2009 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

A number of individuals commented on the incident in the days that followed. The Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, stated that he felt "troubled" about the situation. The Mayor of Cambridge, E. Denise Simmons, suggested that the incident was a "teachable moment" and that she hoped there would be meaningful dialogue between Mr. Gates, the police force, and the general public.{{cite news | url=http://wbztv.com/local/Henry.Louis.Gates.2.1096348.html |title=Patrick 'Troubled' By Harvard Professor's Arrest |access-date=2009-07-22 |date=2009-07-22 |work=WBZ / (CBS Broadcasting Inc., Boston) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090725060424/http://wbztv.com/local/Henry.Louis.Gates.2.1096348.html |archive-date=2009-07-25 }}

Some members of the Harvard community raised questions about racial profiling.{{cite news |url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090721/ap_on_re_us/us_harvard_scholar_disorderly |title=Charge dropped against black Harvard scholar |publisher=Yahoo! News |agency=Associated Press |date=July 21, 2009 |access-date=July 26, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090727203819/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090721/ap_on_re_us/us_harvard_scholar_disorderly |archive-date=2009-07-27}}{{cite news |author=Staff |url=http://www.theroot.com/views/lawyers-statement-arrest-henry-louis-gates-jr |title=Lawyer's Statement on the Arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. |work=The Root |date=July 16, 2009 |access-date=July 21, 2009 |archive-date=July 22, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090722105122/http://www.theroot.com/views/lawyers-statement-arrest-henry-louis-gates-jr |url-status=dead }} The Reverend Al Sharpton discussed the incident and referred to it as one of "police abuse or racial profiling", calling it "outrageous" and "unbelievable."{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/Story?id=8131953&page=2|title=Prominent Black Scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrested After Racism Charge |date=July 20, 2009 |publisher = ABC News}} Gates argued that the police picked on him because of his race, and said that he would use the incident to raise awareness of alleged police mistreatment of blacks,{{cite news |first=Barrie |last=McKenna |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/obama-tries-to-defuse-racism-controversy/article1230910/ |title=Obama tries to defuse racism controversy |work = The Globe and Mail|date=July 25, 2009 |access-date=July 26, 2009}} suggesting that he may plan a documentary about it.{{cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/23/officer_at_eye_of_storm_says_he_wont_apologize/?page=2 |title=Officer at eye of storm says he won't apologize |work = The Boston Globe |date=July 23, 2009 |access-date=July 26, 2009}}

Sgt. Crowley's supporters noted he was chosen by a black police commissioner to serve as an instructor for a Lowell Police Academy course entitled "Racial Profiling", which Crowley has taught since 2004. While working as a campus police officer at Brandeis University in 1993, Crowley had tried to revive African American Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation after the latter suffered a fatal heart attack.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20090722cop_who_arrested_henry_gates_im_not_apologizing/srvc=home&position=0|title=bostonherald.com}} Crowley received public support from many police officers, including African Americans, who portrayed him as a good and fair officer.{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/07/24/officer.gates.arrest/|title=Obama: I didn't mean to slight Cambridge police|date=July 25, 2009 |publisher = CNN}}{{cite news|url=http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2009/07/white_cop_who_arrested_black_s.html|title=White cop who arrested black scholar Henry Louis Gates taught class on racial profiling to police |date=July 23, 2009 | agency=Associated Press|access-date=July 7, 2010 }}

Sgt. Leon Lashley, a black officer who was present at Gates's arrest, said he supported Sgt. Crowley's actions "100 percent." Lashley added that he thought it would have gone differently, with no arrest, if he had been the first officer to arrive on the scene and the initial encounter with Gates had been "black man to black man."{{cite news|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0907/24/acd.01.html |title= Transcripts |publisher=CNN |date=2009-07-24 |access-date=2009-08-22}} Another officer in the Cambridge police department said "racism is not part of it, and that is what is frustrating."

Jon Shane, who spent 17 years as a police officer in Newark, New Jersey, and is a professor of criminal justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who specializes in police policy and practice, told Time magazine that, had he been the responding officer, he would not have arrested Gates after identifying him. He described Gates's behavior as "contempt of cop" which officers are supposed to handle as speech protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (cf. Cohen v. California, which affirmed a right to "offensive" speech). Tom Nolan, a criminal justice professor at Boston University who spent 27 years in uniform at the Boston Police Department, was quoted in the same article supporting an officer's use of discretion in disorderly conduct cases. Eugene O'Donnell, a professor of law and police studies at John Jay College, told the Time reporter that disorderly conduct is "probably the most abused statute in America."{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1912777,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090725232642/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1912777,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 25, 2009 |title=The Gates Case: When Disorderly Conduct is a Cop's Judgement Call | first = Bonnie | last = Rochman |magazine= Time|date=2009-07-25| access-date=2009-07-26}}

David E. Frank, a senior news reporter for Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and former prosecutor in Massachusetts,{{cite web |url=http://www.masslawyersweekly.com/index.cfm/page/static/content/aboutUs |title=About Us |work=Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly |access-date=2009-07-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226222717/http://www.masslawyersweekly.com/index.cfm/page/static/content/aboutUs |archive-date=2009-02-26}} commented that, from a legal standpoint, "the decision not to prosecute certainly seems to be the correct one." In his analysis, even if the prosecution could prove all of the disputed factual allegations in Crowley's report, Massachusetts case law does not consider offensive and abusive language to be disorderly conduct per se, and they would be unlikely to prevail in court.{{cite web |url=http://masslawyersweekly.com/2009/07/22/making-legal-sense-of-the-gates-arrest/ |title= Making legal sense of the Gates arrest |work = Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly |access-date=2009-07-22 | date=2009-07-26}} Attorney Harvey A. Silverglate suggested that the charges were dropped because Gates would almost certainly have prevailed in court with a First Amendment defense, an outcome that would have severely curtailed future arrests for disorderly conduct in "contempt of cop" situations.{{Citation |last=Silverglate |first=Harvey A. |date=July 28, 2009 |title=Prof. Gates' Unconstitutional Arrest |work=Forbes |url=https://www.forbes.com/2009/07/28/gates-crowley-arrest-first-amendment-free-speech-harvard-opinions-contributors-harvey-a-silverglate.html |access-date=June 29, 2016 |quote=This gets us to the heart of the matter. Under well-established First Amendment jurisprudence, what Gates said to Crowley–even assuming the worst–is fully constitutionally protected. After all, even "offensive" speech is covered by the First Amendment's very broad umbrella. Think about it: We wouldn't even need a First Amendment if everyone restricted himself or herself to soothing platitudes. I've been doing First Amendment law for a long time and I've never had to represent someone for praising a police officer or other public official. It is those who burn the flag, not those who wave it, who need protection.}}

In an interview with CNN, Colin Powell, former Secretary of State and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman offered opinions on both sides of the incident. With regard to Gates, Powell said "I think he should have reflected on whether or not this was the time to make that big a deal". Powell recalled that he was taught as a child "not to argue with a police officer trying to do their job" and that Gates should have instead cooperated to avoid making the situation difficult, suggesting that Gates could afterwards file a complaint or lawsuit if he disagreed with the officer.{{cite news |url=http://www.mediaite.com/tv/colin-powell-on-gates-you-dont-argue-with-a-police-officer/ |title=Colin Powell on Gates: "You Don't Argue With A Police Officer" | first = Steve | last = Krakauer |work= Mediaite |date=2009-07-28| access-date=2009-11-18}} With regard to Sgt. Crowley, Powell stated that: "Once they felt they had to bring Dr. Gates out of the house and to handcuff him, I would've thought at that point, some adult supervision would have stepped in and said 'OK look, it is his house. Let's not take this any further, take the handcuffs off, good night Dr. Gates."{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/28/powell.palin/index.html |title=Powell: Both Gates, police could have handled things better | first = Jeff | last = Simon |publisher= CNN |date=2009-07-29| access-date=2009-11-18}}

A review conducted by the Cambridge Review Committee, which was formed by Cambridge City Manager Robert W. Healy at the recommendation of Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas, concluded that the incident was avoidable, noting that "Sergeant Crowley and Professor Gates each missed opportunities to 'rachet down' the situation and end it peacefully."{{cite news|last1=Thompson|first1=Krissah|title=Arrest of Harvard's Henry Louis Gates Jr. was avoidable, report says|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/30/AR2010063001356.html|access-date=July 11, 2016|newspaper=Washington Post|date=June 30, 2010}}{{cite web|last1=Cambridge Review Committee|title=Missed Opportunities, Shared Responsibilities: Final Report of the Cambridge Review Committee|url=http://www2.cambridgema.gov/CityOfCambridge_Content/documents/Cambridge%20Review_FINAL.pdf|access-date=July 11, 2016|date=June 15, 2010}}

Both Gates and Crowley have been active participants with the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the center, has invited both of them back to the center in order to "create the next real 'teaching moment' for our nation."{{cite web |url=http://www.faithstreet.com/onfaith/2009/07/31/gates-crowley-and-tools-for-tolerance/2538?hpid=talkbox1 |title=Reenlisting Gates and Crowley |date=July 31, 2009 |first=Abraham |last=Cooper |work=OnFaith}}

On July 28, it was revealed in the media that Justin Barrett, a 36-year-old Boston Police Department officer who had been on the job for two years, and is also a member of the Massachusetts National Guard, sent a mass e-mail{{cite news|url=http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/justin_barrett_full_email_072909|title=Justin Barrett's email in question|last=Barrett|first=Justin|date=July 29, 2009 |work=Fox 25 Boston|access-date=July 29, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728052750/http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/justin_barrett_full_email_072909 |archive-date=2011-07-28}} to fellow National Guardsmen and to The Boston Globe in which he referred to Gates as a "jungle monkey."{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/officer_suspend.html |title=Officer suspended for Gates slur in e-mail |last=Colette |first=Matt |date=July 29, 2009 |work=The Boston Globe|access-date=August 18, 2009}} Although the email was signed only JB,{{Cite web|url=http://bostonherald.com/news/document.bg?f=misc/Barrettletter.pdf&h=Barrett%20e-mail%20text&p=Boston%20Police%20released%20this%20e-mail,%20originally%20distributed%20by%20officer%20Justin%20Barrett,%20after%20repeated%20media%20inquiries.%20&k=bh|title=Text of Justin Barrett mass email (pdf)}} when he was asked about it, Barrett admitted to his BPD superiors that he was the author.{{cite news|url=http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1187845&pos=breaking|title=Officials: Hub cop used racial slur in Gates e-mail|last=Van Sack|first=Jessica|date=July 29, 2009 |work=Boston Herald|access-date=July 29, 2009 }} According to an article in the Boston Globe, Barrett wrote the email containing the racial slur "in reaction to media coverage of Gates's arrest July 16," in particular to a July 22 Globe column by Yvonne Abraham, who expressed support for Gates.{{cite news |title=Cop apologizes for 'jungle monkey' e-mail |url=http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/30/cop-apologizes-for-jungle-monkey-e-mail |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090731151214/http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/30/cop-apologizes-for-jungle-monkey-e-mail/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 31, 2009 |publisher=CNN |date=July 30, 2009 |access-date=August 18, 2009}} In the e-mail, Barrett wrote, "If I was the officer he [Gates] verbally assaulted like a banana-eating jungle monkey, I would have sprayed him in the face with OC (oleorosin capsicum, or pepper spray) deserving of his belligerent non-compliance." During the course of the message, Barrett used the phrase "jungle monkey" four times, three times in reference to Gates and once in reference to Abraham's column, which he characterized as "jungle monkey gibberish."

Upon learning of the incident, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis immediately stripped Barrett of his badge and gun, put him on administrative leave, and scheduled a termination hearing. The Massachusetts National Guard also suspended Barrett.{{cite web|url=http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/national_guard_suspends_barrett_072909 |title=National Guard suspends Barrett |publisher=Myfoxboston.com |access-date=2009-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801053114/http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/national_guard_suspends_barrett_072909 |archive-date=2009-08-01}} In reaction to the news of Barrett's conduct, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino compared the officer to a "cancer" and said he is "gone, g-o-n-e" from the Boston police force.{{cite web |date=July 30, 2009 |url=http://www.thebostonchannel.com/asseenon5/20224421/detail.html |title=Boston P.D. Promises Full 'Venomous' E-Mail Probe – As Seen On NewsCenter 5 Story – WCVB Boston |publisher=Thebostonchannel.com |access-date=2009-08-01 |archive-date=February 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222052653/http://www.thebostonchannel.com/asseenon5/20224421/detail.html |url-status=dead }}

Barrett, in a television interview, said that he used "a poor choice of words" in the email. He added, "I did not mean to offend anyone."{{cite news | last = Collette | first = Matt | title = Boston police officer suspended after racially charged e-mail | work = The Boston Globe | date = July 30, 2009 | url= http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/30/boston_police_officer_suspended_after_racially_charged_e_mail/}} Barrett also stated, "I have so many friends of every type of culture and race you can name. I am not a racist." In August 2009, Barrett filed an unsuccessful suit against the Boston Police Department and the City of Boston, charging that the suspension from his duties was a violation of his civil rights.{{cite news |last=Chutchian |first=Maria |title=Suspended Boston police officer Barrett sues commissioner, mayor |url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/08/04/suspended_boston_police_officer_barrett_sues_commissioner_mayor/|work = The Boston Globe |date=August 4, 2009 |access-date=August 8, 2009 }}{{cite news |last=Staff Writer |title=Boston cop who sent 'jungle monkey' e-mail sues|url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/05/massachusetts.gates.lawsuit/index.html|publisher=CNN|date=August 6, 2009 |access-date=August 8, 2009 }} Barrett was discharged from duty on February 5, 2010.{{cite news|title=Judge tosses civil rights suit|url=http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2010/04/judge_tosses_civil_rights_suit|access-date=January 20, 2014|newspaper=The Boston Herald|date=April 19, 2010}} On April 26, 2010, the Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) denied Barrett unemployment benefits. The DUA board's decision would be affirmed or reversed four times, the last being on July 15, 2013, when the Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled that his "egregious misconduct" was "obviously intentional."{{Cite court |litigants=Barrett v. Department of Unemployment Assistance |vol=84 |reporter=Mass.App.Ct |opinion=1102 |court=Mass. Appeals Court |date=July 15, 2013 |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12650429218157948620 |access-date=January 20, 2014 }}

During a July 22 news conference concerning health care reform, columnist Lynn Sweet, Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times, asked President Barack Obama "Recently, Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested at his home in Cambridge. What does that incident say to you? And what does it say about race relations in America?" Obama replied, "Now, I've – I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact."{{cite news|url=http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/07/obama_tells_lynn_sweet_police.html|title=Obama tells Lynn Sweet police acted "stupidly" in arresting Gates|last=Sweet|first=Lynn|date=July 22, 2009|work=Chicago Sun-Times|access-date=July 24, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090726101303/http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/07/obama_tells_lynn_sweet_police.html|archive-date=July 26, 2009|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/us/politics/23gates.html |title=Obama Criticizes Arrest of Harvard Professor |last=Cooper|first=Helene|date=July 22, 2009 |newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=July 23, 2009 }} The President also acknowledged that Gates is a personal friend.{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=8148986|title=Obama: Police Acted 'Stupidly' in Gates Case|last=Sweet|first=Lynn|date=July 22, 2009 |work=ABC News|access-date=July 22, 2009 }}

Obama's remarks sparked a reaction from law-enforcement professionals. James Preston, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Florida State Lodge, stated: "To make such an off-handed comment about a subject without benefit of the facts, in such a public forum, hurts police/community relations and is a setback to all of the years of progress." Preston further warned that "by reducing all contact between law enforcement and the public to the color of their skin or ethnicity is, in fact, counter-productive to improving relationships."{{cite news |first=Melissa |last=Trujillo |url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090724/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_harvard_scholar_police |title=Obama remark on black scholar's arrest angers cops |publisher=Yahoo! News|agency=Associated Press|date=July 24, 2009 |access-date=July 26, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804234034/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090724/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_harvard_scholar_police |archive-date=2009-08-04}} In addition, the Cambridge police commissioner, describing the impact of the accusations, commented that "this department is deeply pained. It takes its professional pride seriously".{{cite news|title=Crowley's union predicts Obama will regret remarks|author=Jonathan Saltzman |work = The Boston Globe |date=2009-07-23 |access-date=2009-07-23|url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/crowleys_union.html}}{{cite news|title=Cambridge police commissioner defends officer in Gates arrest|author=Martin Finucane and Tracy Jan|work = The Boston Globe |date=2009-07-23 |access-date=2009-07-23 |url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/cambridge_polic_3.html}} On July 24, 2009, a multiracial group of police officers demanded an apology from President Obama and Governor Deval Patrick for making comments which the police described as insulting.{{cite web |first=Bob |last=Salsberg |url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j4S-r9G0m8HEq4JAFUw7_epFRb9QD99KUAO00 |title=Mass. police unions ask Obama for apology |date=July 24, 2009 |access-date=July 26, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090727151455/https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j4S-r9G0m8HEq4JAFUw7_epFRb9QD99KUAO00 |archive-date=2009-07-27}} Republican congressman Thaddeus McCotter said he would introduce a resolution in the House of Representatives calling on the president to apologize to Crowley. An opinion poll released by Pew Research found that 41 percent disapproved of Obama's "handling of the situation," while only 29 percent approved,{{cite web|url=http://people-press.org/report/532/obamas-ratings-slide |title=Obama's Ratings Slide Across the Board: Overview - Pew Research Center for the People & the Press |publisher=People-press.org |date=2009-07-30 |access-date=2009-08-22}} and support from white voters dropped from 53 percent to 46 percent.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5961624/Barack-Obamas-support-falls-among-white-voters.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805011907/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5961624/Barack-Obamas-support-falls-among-white-voters.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 5, 2009 |title=Barack Obama's support falls among white voters |last=Harnden |first=Toby |date=August 2, 2009 |work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=August 18, 2009 | location=London}} Years later, in his memoir A Promised Land, Obama wrote that according to the White House's polling, the incident caused a larger drop in white support for his presidency than any other single event.{{Cite book |last=Obama |first=Barack |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1196086067 |title=A promised land |publisher= |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-5247-6316-9 |edition=First |location=New York |pages=397 |oclc=1196086067}}

Congressman Steve King drew unfavorable attention to himself when he remarked, during a radio interview, that "The president has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race that favors the black person, in the case of Professor Gates and Officer (James) Crowley."{{cite web

| url = https://siouxcityjournal.com/blogs/politically_speaking/will-black-comment-be-undoing-of-rep-steve-king/article_77c71322-4d8f-5811-a6a8-be160b40a460.html

| title = Will 'black' comment be 'undoing of Rep. Steve King'?

| work = Sioux City Journal

| last1 = Hayworth

| first1 = Bret

| date = 2010-06-16

| access-date = 2019-01-23

}}

President Obama appeared unannounced at a White House press briefing on July 24, and said, "I want to make clear that in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically – and I could have calibrated those words differently." Also, that "I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted as well."{{cite news|url=http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=8163051&page=1|title=Obama Called Cop Who Arrested Gates, Still Sees 'Overreaction' in Gates' Arrest|last=McPhee|first=Michelle|date=July 24, 2009 |publisher = ABC News|access-date=July 24, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615073623/http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=8163051&page=1|archive-date=June 15, 2011}}{{cite news|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/07/24/transcript-of-obamas-remarks-on-gates-incident|title=Transcript of Obama's Remarks on Gates Incident|last=Obama|first=Barack|date=July 24, 2009 |work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=July 24, 2009 }}

{{anchor|"Beer Summit"}}

President Obama called both men on July 24, and invited them to the White House to discuss the situation over beers. Both men accepted the offer.{{cite news|url=http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2009/07/henry_louis_gates_jr_arrested-2/|title=Gates Says 'Yes' To Beer With Crowley|date=July 24, 2009 |work=The Root|access-date=2016-11-07}}{{cite news|url=http://archive.boston.com/news/politics/gallery/073009_beer_summit_obama/|title=The White House 'beer summit'|work = The Boston Globe|access-date=2016-11-07}} Upon accepting, Gates stated in an email to The Boston Globe that "My entire academic career has been based on improving race relations, not exacerbating them. I am hopeful that my experience will lead to greater sensitivity to issues of racial profiling in the criminal justice system."Greene, Meg (April 11, 1995). [https://books.google.com/books?id=ULxYWTL8eDwC&pg=PA164 Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: A Biography]. Vintage. p. 164. Archived at Google Books. Retrieved November 7, 2016.

File:Beer summit cheers.jpg

One of Gates's lawyers, Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree, a former professor of Obama's, stated that "I think the president has taken the right approach by trying to make sure we move forward [...] He's always had the ability to negotiate difficult conversations, and his steps today are an important step in the right direction. I think the president has given his assessment, which makes a lot of sense, and, however you feel about it, it has reduced the temperature and allowed everyone to move forward in a constructive way." Ogletree has since written a book about the case.The Presumption of Guilt: The Arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Race, Class and Crime in America (Palgrave-Macmillan 2010). Steve Killion, president of the Cambridge patrol officers association, also stated "I'm absolutely pleased with [Obama's call]. I think it was a good thing for the president to do. .... We all want to see this behind us."{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/crowley_pleaded.html|title=Crowley, Gates camps pleased by president's phone calls|last=MacQuarrie |first=Brian|date=July 24, 2009 |work = The Boston Globe|access-date=July 24, 2009 }}

On July 30, Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Gates, and Crowley met at the White House.{{cite news |last1=Cooper |first1=Helene |last2=Goodnough |first2=Abby |title=Over Beers, No Apologies, but Plans to Have Lunch |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/us/politics/31obama.html |work = The New York Times |date=2009-07-30 |access-date=24 August 2009}} Initially the Gates and Crowley families were given separate tours of the White House.

{{cite news|url=http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/gates-reflects-on-beers-at-the-white-house/?hp |title=Gates Reflects on Beers at the White House |work = The New York Times |date=2009-07-31 |access-date=2009-08-18 | first=Abby | last=Goodnough}} The families then continued their tours together while the principals had a friendly conversation over beer.{{ref label|beer-served|A|none}}{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=8208602&page=1|title=Obama, Biden Sit Down for Beers With Gates, Crowley|website=ABC News}} Crowley and Gates told Obama that they had already planned to meet again soon for lunch. Obama said he believed "what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart" and that after the meeting he was "hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode."{{cite news | title = Obama More Bartender Than Mediator At Beer Summit | work = Reuters| date = 2009-07-30| url = https://www.reuters.com/article/us-obama-race-idUSTRE56U0KN20090731| access-date = 2009-08-01}}

Both Crowley and Gates issued post-meeting statements. Crowley commented that he and Gates discussed the topic "like two gentlemen, instead of fighting it out either in the physical sense or in the mental sense, in the court of public opinion."{{cite news|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0907/30/ec.01.html |title= Transcripts |publisher=CNN |access-date=2009-08-01}} Gates commented that he hoped "that this experience will prove an occasion for education, not recrimination. I know that Sergeant Crowley shares this goal."{{cite web

|url=http://www.theroot.com/views/accident-time-and-place

|title={{-'}}An Accident of Time and Place{{'-}}

|first=Henry Louis Jr.

|last=Gates

|work=The Root

|date=2009-07-31

|access-date=July 31, 2009

|archive-date=August 1, 2009

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801094008/http://www.theroot.com/views/accident-time-and-place

|url-status=dead

}} In an interview with The New York Times, Gates further commented on the meeting, "I don't think anybody but Barack Obama would have thought about bringing us together [...] the president was great – he was very wise, very sage, very Solomonic." When asked for his impression of Crowley, Gates joked: "We hit it off right from the very beginning [...] when he's not arresting you, Sergeant Crowley is a really likable guy."

During an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Gates stated that relations between him and Crowley are amicable. He also revealed that he asked Crowley for a sample of his DNA, and that he and Crowley are distant cousins and share a common Irish ancestor.Gates, Henry Louis. Interview. "The Importance of Ancestry" The Oprah Winfrey Show. Television Broadcast. ABC, Chicago. March 9, 2010. On the show, Gates stated that Crowley recently gave him the handcuffs used in the arrest. When asked what he would do with the handcuffs, Gates stated that he plans to donate them to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Gates later revealed during a National Press Club luncheon that he had met with Crowley for a beer prior to the Beer Summit at the suggestion of President Bill Clinton. Gates said that he was moved when Crowley told him "Professor, all I wanted was to go home to my wife at the end of the day." Gates further recounted that Crowley had feared that another black man had been upstairs who could at any moment have come down and killed him. Gates said this brought tears to his eyes as he "understands fear" and that ever since he and Crowley have been friends.{{cite AV media | date= March 14, 2016 |time= 58:00 | title = Ken Burns & Henry Louis Gates, Jr. at The National Press Club | url =https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmFtJdcfLdc}}

:a.{{note label|beer-served|B|none}}Obama had a Bud Light, Crowley had a Blue Moon, Gates had a Sam Adams Light and Biden, who does not drink alcohol, had a Buckler.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/30/AR2009073003563.html |title=Gates, Police Officer Share Beers and Histories With President |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2009-07-30 |access-date=2009-07-31 |first1=Cheryl W. |last1=Thompson}} Some local brewers had lobbied for a Boston-based beer to be served; Obama is generally said to prefer Budweiser.

{{reflist|30em}}

• Donald E. Wilkes Jr, [http://libguides.law.uga.edu/loader.php?type=d&id=776994 The Professor with the Limp and the Cane and the Cop with the Gun and the Badge] (2010)

{{Commons category|Beer summit}}

• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20190106235659/http://www.samefacts.com/archives/Police%20report%20on%20Gates%20arrest.PDF The 2009 Cambridge police arrest report]}}
• 9-1-1 call ({{cite web |url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HARVARD_SCHOLAR_911_TRANSCRIPT?SITE=MTBIL&SECTION=NATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-07-27-18-40-53 |title=911 transcript on Harvard scholar arrest |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090730020345/http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HARVARD_SCHOLAR_911_TRANSCRIPT?SITE=MTBIL&SECTION=NATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-07-27-18-40-53 |archive-date=2009-07-30}} [http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/cambridge_polic_4.html Audio])
• [http://www.wbur.org/2009/07/27/gates-arrest-crowley Police radio communications] (Associated Press)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090724065839/http://www.theroot.com/views/skip-gates-speaks Gates' description of incident] (interview published in The Root online magazine, of which Gates is the editor)
• Sergeant James Crowley post-meeting press conference ([http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/07/30/crowley_press_conference_transcript_97722.html transcript], [http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/30/harvard.arrest.beers/index.html#cnnSTCVideo video])
• [http://bostonherald.com/news/document.bg?f=misc/Barrettletter.pdf&h=Barrett%20e-mail%20text&p=Boston%20Police%20released%20this%20e-mail,%20originally%20distributed%20by%20officer%20Justin%20Barrett,%20after%20repeated%20media%20inquiries.%20&k=bh Text of Justin Barrett mass email (PDF)]
• [http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/7/20/renowned-af-am-professor-gates-arrested-for "Renowned Af-Am Professor Gates Arrested for Disorderly Conduct"]. The Harvard Crimson, July 20, 2009.
• [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-fuller/rankism-the-elephant-in-p_b_245111.html "Rankism: The Elephant in Professor Gates's House"]. Robert Fuller. The Huffington Post. July 27, 2009.
• [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.+Res.+680: Thaddeus McCotter resolution (failed)]{{Dead link|date=August 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

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