I'm Concerned

The African American Dr. Henry Gates story of being arrested by a white cop for disturbing the peace after his white neighbor phoned police to report a possible break-in is getting bigger by the minute. Our president has even weighed in on this. I am concerned, riots begin over things like this with lines being drawn in the sand. Apologies demanded, apologies refused. I recently listed to an iReport commentary on CNN that made me think that maybe there are some sane people in the world that view this incident the same way as I do--RIDICULOUS!!
I have no doubt racism exists in America, I know it does. I am from a small Southeastern Oklahoma town known as Little Dixie. A race riot shut the town down for 3 days in the late 70's over something ridiculous because the people living on the other side of the tracks--black--were frustrated. And things have not changed much in the intervening years.
But this incident should not have happened. Dr. Gates from the start made this a racist interaction by questioning the police officer who asked to see his ID with "Why, because I'm Black?" Now, I have been a minority for many many years as a Gaijin and as a Houli. I know without a doubt when I was pulled over by a Japanese police officer, if I had started out with "Why? because I am Gaijin?" the interaction would have gone south immediately. And this in a country that generally but not always likes foreigners of the white variety. Provocation will get arrested no matter what color you are. I will give Dr. Gates the benefit of the doubt, he was tired, jet-lagged and had years of frustration built into that moment. He reacted badly, maybe the police officer could have been more diplomatic and tried to de-escalate the situation that he had been thrust into but in this case he didn't.
The fact that our president weighted in on the side of Dr. Gates automatically concerns me. I am disappointed.
I realize that I don't truly understand the plight of minorities in the US. But wait maybe I do, I am a woman that has to work an additional 2 months into the following year to make the same as a man. But I don't truly understand the plight of African Americans with the history that clothes them. But I do know about being a minority--I lived years as a Gaijin and while in Hiroshima, I made sure that I avoided streets that costumed groups of wannabe mafia/right-wingers were marching. There were restaurants and bars that I was told that I wasn't welcome in. There were times when Gaijin was said maliciously. And in Hawaii, I walked into a job interview with a panel of local Asians knowing that my chances of getting the job was very very slim. I didn't they hired another local. Perhaps she was equally or more qualified than I was, perhaps not. Maybe the interview panel was being racist, maybe they weren't. No matter, I will always have my lingering suspicious that it was and that in the end is what is important. I realize that enough of these events happen then you start getting a knee-jerk reaction to them no matter what. I think that this is what happened in the Dr. Gates incident. But here is the crux of the matter, enough knee-jerk reactions back will cause equally knee-jerk actions on the other side. And in the end, we have not made any progress. As a foreigner and a minority, I often realized that I represented all foreigners to the people I had interactions with. It was a burden and it is a burden for all African Americans but this is also the reality of being a minority.