Jumping to Conclusions

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"Grant that I may not criticize my neighbor until I have walked a mile in his moccasins."

Indian prayer

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I learned many things in journalism school — the most important, probably, were the nuts and bolts of news writing and news editing.

I carried those lessons with me into most of the jobs I have held in my life, from being a general assignment reporter to working on a copy desk to instructing young journalism students and preparing them for their own careers in a field that has always been very special to me.

But today, as I read a commentary by Maria (Maki) Haberfeld at CNN.com, it occurred to me that I haven't always followed the admonition I received in journalism school — although it actually is something my parents instilled in me when I was a child — to withhold judgment until all the facts are in.

Haberfeld was writing about Barack Obama's comment during his press conference the other night that the Cambridge, Mass., police "acted stupidly" when they arrested Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. last week.

In fact, I said almost the same thing the day before Obama did in this blog.

But I have to conclude, based on Haberfeld's observations, that the president and I — and countless others — were wrong to do so. At least, at this point.

The president and many other black Americans were responding from the perspectives of those who have lived as black people in America. Given the facts that Gates is black and the arresting officer is white — and the use and frequent abuse of racial profiling is known to exist, even if it is not always acknowledged — that is an understandable reaction.

I am not black, but there have been times in my life when my actions or statements were misunderstood by people who did not know — and often did not bother to find out — all the necessary facts.

The police officer in this case was responding to a citizen's report that there appeared to be a break–in occurring at Gates' home. According to Gates, the front door of his home was jammed when he returned from a trip to China. Only Gates and the investigating police officer know how that information was relayed to the police — and whether it was complete and accurate.

With that in mind, let me share with you a couple of Haberfeld's observations. She is a professor of police science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York:

"One needs to understand that the interaction between a police officer and a suspect is just part of a larger context," Haberfeld writes. "When a neighbor calls the police to report a burglary in progress and a police officer is dispatched to respond, a decision–making process begins for the officer."

That decision–making process includes the experiences police officers have had on the job. It is certainly a fact that these experiences can breed racism in some people. But, as Haberfeld points out, these experiences also play an important role for people who must respond to all kinds of situations, many of which can turn deadly at a moment's notice.

"Yes, the professor identified himself as a legitimate occupant of the premises," Haberfeld writes. "However, he was not arrested for trespassing. He was arrested for disorderly conduct.

"Police officers arriving at the scene of a suspected burglary in progress do not put down their armor of suspicion just because somebody proved to them that they are the legitimate occupants of the dwelling. ... A person usually does not break into his own house — it is true that it can happen, and it apparently did in this case — but this is not a standard behavior that, once explained to the officer, should mandate an automatic approach to put down your guard."

Police work, of course, is an extreme. Seemingly innocuous situations can get out of hand rapidly. And, while the public may be apt to forget instances when police officers are killed in the line of duty, as Haberfeld points out, "police officers carry these stories as their secret weapons."

Perhaps racism did play a role in Gates' arrest. To this point, though, is there any evidence of that, aside from the facts that the arresting officer and the person who was arrested are members of different racial groups and Gates accused the policeman of racism?

It is best to know the whole story before jumping to a conclusion. Let's wait until all the crucial questions have been asked and all the information has been gathered before handing down our verdict.

I am reminded of something.

When I was growing up, there was a popular TV series based on the Neil Simon play and movie called "The Odd Couple." Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau starred in the film; Tony Randall and Jack Klugman starred as the fussy Felix and the slovenly Oscar in the TV series.

In one episode of the TV series, Felix and Oscar were wrongfully accused of ticket scalping by an undercover policewoman who did not bother to get the whole story. So the case wound up in court.

During the proceedings, Felix acted as his own attorney. He questioned the policewoman on the stand and got her to admit that she assumed a crime was being committed.

Making use of a chalkboard in the courtroom, Felix wrote the word "ASSUME" and said, circling the appropriate sections of the word as he did so, "You should never assume. Because when you assume, you make an ASS out of U and ME!"

Circumstances are not always what they appear to be.

In fairness to all, I urge the president — and any who take their cue from him — to withhold judgment until all the facts are in.

I Could While Away the Hours ...

"... conferrin' with the flowers, consultin' with the rain ..."

Well, that makes about as much sense to me as some of the things I'm witnessing.

Here's a good example. Today, Fed chief Ben Bernanke told Congress that the pace of the economic decline appears to have slowed, but unemployment is likely to stay high for another two years.

So what happened on Wall Street? The Dow Jones industrial average closed at its highest level since two weeks before Barack Obama took the oath of office.

Ever get the feeling that the Scarecrow from the "Wizard of Oz" is running things on Capitol Hill? Or Wall Street?

Maybe he's running the Cambridge, Mass., police department, which arrested Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home last week. Charges against Gates, who is black and is also a law professor who spent a couple of years working on a documentary on Abraham Lincoln that was shown on PBS earlier this year to mark the occasion of Lincoln's 200th birthday, have been dropped, but they never should have been filed in the first place.

Apparently, Gates returned from a trip to China to discover that his front door was jammed. He managed to open the back door of his home with a key, but he was unsuccessful in his attempt to open the front door from the inside. Gates, the director of Harvard's W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, had been in his residence for a few minutes when a police officer arrived and asked him to step outside. He said he had received a report of a possible break–in.

Gates produced his driver's license and his Harvard ID, but that apparently wasn't sufficient for the police officer. Gates was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and taken to jail, where he spent the next four hours.

Seems to me the driver's license and the Harvard ID should have been enough to make the police officer aware of the identity of the man he was speaking to.

Maybe Gates could have handled things better, but my guess is he was tired after returning from a trip to a country halfway around the world. Presumably, his luggage was nearby and he must have had his passport and airline ticket stub handy.

Surely, that would have been enough to convince the police officer — unless his head was harder than the Tin Man's.

Lincoln — the Myth and the Man

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Chris Wehner had an intriguing post in his "Blog 4 History: American & Civil War History" blog recently — "Lincoln a Racist? What, You're Kidding Me!!"

In it, he quotes an article by Henry Louis Gates Jr., an author and professor of African-American studies at Harvard — "Was Lincoln a Racist?"

This is a subject on which I touched last month, when I posted an article following Barack Obama's inauguration as president.

In my post, which I gave the heading "The Great Emancipator," I pointed out that Lincoln did not enter the presidency with the objective of ending slavery. In his inaugural address, Lincoln clearly stated that his goal was to keep the nation together and that there was no reason for the people of the South to be apprehensive about his presidency.

He cited his own speeches prior to his election as proof of his intentions.

In his article, Gates recalled reading a "troubling" essay by W.E.B. Du Bois that had been published in 1922. "Du Bois wrote that Lincoln was one huge jumble of contradictions: 'he was big enough to be inconsistent — cruel, merciful; peace-loving, a fighter; despising Negroes and letting them fight and vote; protecting slavery and freeing slaves. He was a man — a big, inconsistent, brave man.' "

Du Bois, wrote Gates, supported his point by quoting from a speech Lincoln gave two years before being elected president:

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"I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races — that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this, that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I, as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race."

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Thus, Lincoln has become the source of great conflict for many black Americans. Gates writes about accepting two years ago an assignment to co-produce, write and host a PBS program on Lincoln that would coincide with the 200th anniversary of his birth this week.

That program, "Looking for Lincoln," is airing on the Dallas PBS channel tonight from 8-10 p.m. It may be airing at a different time and on a different date in your city and state.

I think Gates had at least an idea of what he would find.

"Lincoln's myth is so capacious that each generation of Americans since his death in 1865 has been able to find its own image reflected in his mirror," Gates wrote.

"Lincoln is America's man for all seasons, and our man for all reasons. In fact, over and over again through the past century and a half, we Americans have reinvented Abraham Lincoln in order to reinvent ourselves. The most recent example, of course, is captured in the journey of our 44th president, Barack Obama, who launched his presidential campaign in Lincoln's hometown, Springfield, Ill., cited Lincoln's oratory repeatedly throughout his campaign, retraced his train route to Washington from Philadelphia and even used Lincoln's Bible for his swearing-in ceremony."

That is as honest an appraisal of Lincoln as you will find — and it seems particularly poignant coming, as it does, from a black man.

Many Americans — black and white — have seen in Lincoln what they wanted to see, but perhaps it is most pronounced in the black community.

"Lincoln continues to occupy a place of almost holy reverence" among blacks, Gates wrote, "the patron saint of race relations."

But Gates observes that "until very late in his presidency, Lincoln was deeply conflicted about whether to liberate the slaves, how to liberate the slaves and what to do with them once they had been liberated."

So it should not come as a surprise to anyone that the search for the "real" Lincoln continues, nearly 145 years after his death.

Lincoln was a man. He was a good man, perhaps, more generous than most. He certainly was more eloquent than many. But he wasn't blessed with gifts of prescience or insight that are unavailable to other mortal men.

Lincoln lived in the 19th century. And, no matter what 21st century people think of slavery, it was not seen as a moral issue but as an economic issue in the 19th century.

Whatever his views were on any issue, though, Lincoln did keep an open mind. And, as Gates points out, his attitudes and beliefs about blacks changed in part after meeting Frederick Douglass at the White House. "He was the first black person Lincoln treated as an intellectual equal," Gates observes, "and he grew to admire him and value his opinion."

Lincoln's life was emblematic of the nation he led. America remains, as it was in the 19th century, a work in progress. It is a better place because Lincoln was its president. But neither the man nor the country have achieved perfection, regardless of the mythical reverence with which some insist upon regarding both.

As Gates observes, Lincoln's "journey was certainly not complete on the day that he died," and America's journey is not complete today.

It is fitting that the nation should honor Lincoln tomorrow on the 200th anniversary of his birth. But the most fitting tribute that can be paid to our 16th president is to continue the quest for improvement.