I am African American and I can tell you with certainty that we didn’t need the Solar Eclipse to “unmask” racism. Of course racism is alive and well in this country. It is present in our lives on a consistent basis. I watched a clip from CNN yesterday which highlighted a meeting in which a white woman was claiming that our President, Barack Obama, is not an American citizen. “He is a Kenyan!” she exclaimed. “I want my country back!” Hearing her I wondered, who has taken her country away from her? This woman is obviously very angry at the fact that we have a President of African descent. This was a display of racism, no need to pretend it is anything else. There are endless examples of incidents like the one that occurred with Professor Gates. It is not “hidden from the conscious mind” at all.

Souls who have chosen to incarnate Black in America have a lot of courage. It takes an incredible amount of energy just to BE African American as opposed to white or Asian. I agree with Anonymous, although an eclipse certainly can’t hurt!

I see both your points. Racism certainly isn’t gone and I imagine it’ll be around as long as ignorance is, but sometimes it comes unexpected. My grown daughter recently returned to New Orleans for my mother’s funeral. She was taking a walk in my mother’s neighbor and was accosted by two young women who actually got in her face and asked who she thought she was. She came back to the house rather upset. She didn’t understand why they would treat her that way.
I still want to believe things are improving racially. AFter all our president’s parents were black and white. Who could ask for a better representative for OUR people?

I don’t doubt racism is alive and well in parts of this country, but I don’t see that this is an incidence of racism. They received report of a burglary and then they have a man who refuses to identify himself. If the police ask you to identify yourself, you have to do so right away if you want to be treated with anything resembling respect. For all they know, you could be armed and in flight from a crime in this situation. You cooperate even though at the time your emotions may be heated. You let THEM figure out what is going on. I’m a white male and have had several encounters with police that were quite unpleasant until I figured this out.

Ten or twenty years ago, the Chesterfield, MO police busted Professor Gerald Early of Washington University in St Louis, for hanging around the mall while his wife was in a Junior Chamber of Commerce meeting. I wouldn’t wish being busted on anyone but criminals–and not on all of them–but I was secretly tickled about the amount of egg on the faces of the Chesterfield police. Had he not been such a prominent writer and professor, they would have escaped the bad press that exposed their prejudice.

Mike, as a white male you would not likely have a passer by call the police to report you as someone who doesn’t belong in your own neighborhood. That can get a person riled up, especially when it happens over and over. I’m sure this wasn’t the first time something like this happened to Dr. Gates who is a very affluent black man in a ritzy part of Georgetown.

There is racism of all kinds towards all races quite alive and well not just in America but everywhere. But then…sometimes…a duck is just a duck.

OK This is local for me, so how about some balance to the fear-mongering and name-calling that’s happening here, along with very incomplete reporting in National news and opinion blogs such as this.
Here’s a link to the story in the Boston Herald: http://tinyurl.com/BostonNewspaper
Be sure to notice the black officer assisting in the arrest. That Gates IS yelling. That his hands are NOT behind his back.
Be sure to read what his neighbor witnessed, including this direct quote: “When police asked him for ID, Gates started yelling, ‘I’m a Harvard professor . . . You believe white women over black men. This is racial profiling.’ ”
Be sure to read the back story, that there’s been a rash of home break-ins in that million dollar neighborhood, that police — responding to a 911 call — simply asked him for ID that it actually was his home…so they could clear the call on their report.
Be sure to note in some of the 400 comments that his city is called “The People’s Republic of Cambridge” because it’s sooo socialist and Politically Correct. They INVENTED sensitivity training. (Lynn, you’ve proved my point by not even knowing where he lives.)
You get the idea.
Now, think about what unfortunate power you’ve added to this overblown media event by your headline statement. Really?
Guess you had to attach to SOME awesome news to illustrate the importance of what you do.

Sorry, but you blew it on this one. Mike hit the nail on the head.

Oh please, the police were threatened by a nearly sixty year old bespectacled professor with a blue blazer who cannot walk without the aid of a cane? In the middle of the day? Give me a break!
Quote fromBrandon M. Terry PhD student in Political Science and African American Studies at Yale University–To his minuscule credit, Officer Crowley’s report claims that he did realize it was Gates’ home early into the incident. But to what hopefully is his eternal regret, instead of leaving the situation immediately once the crime he was called in for was proven to be a mistake, Crowley continued to exchange harsh words with Gates and unnecessarily radio for backup. The officer then demanded that Professor Gates step out of his home, and in front of a gathering crowd of neighbors and onlookers, a man who was one of TIME’s 25 most influential Americans in 1997, was arrested for “disorderly conduct.”
This charge, always unfailingly ambiguous, is easily recognized by many blacks as an offense that is not in any legal code, but still manages to elicit punishment from authority daily: failure of a black to show proper deference to a white police officer. Gates’ refusal to be humiliated in his own home and insistence on calling the incident what it was — racial profiling — was more than anything, a direct challenge to the fragile hierarchy of superiority and propriety that Officer Crowley attempted to enforce. The war of words between Crowley and Gates was a contest about dignity, imbued with the intricacies of hundreds of years of domination and deference between white and black, felt most acutely in the rituals of policing and criminal justice.] End quote
Racism is a live and well, and the damage cause by such will plague us for generations to come.

Racism is alive and well in America, though it’s important to recognize that it works both ways.
Was the cop racist to respond to a call about a man hitting a door with his shoulder in what appeared to be a break-in? Was the cop racist to ask the man for identification? Or was the Professor racist for treating the cop with disrespect, yelling at him, refusing to show his identification, and then calling “racism” when he found himself at the center of a brouhaha he started with his lack of cooperation?
Whites can be racist against Blacks and Blacks can be racist against Whites. That’s the stinking, putrid kernel of racism no one is willing to talk about. To do so would strip from some African-Americans their sense of righteous victimhood and place on them the burden of their own sometimes racist behavior.
Any conversation worth its salt about racism needs to address this facet or it’s a waste of breath.
And misinformed, sensationalistic Blog entries like this, no matter how well-intended, do nothing to move this conversation forward.

All Dears,
MerciBouquets, Ms. Hayes, for an enlightening perspective!
An arrest must be horrible under any circumstance.
A wrongful arrest is excruciating under any circumstance.
Unfortunately-Yes, racism is worldwide-alive among ALL ethnicities.
Ideally, the officer who realized error but failed to self-correct will suffer some sort of penalty. It would be justful if penalty includes participating in one of Prof. Gates’ ventures amongst a local, non-white population.
However, all of us c-a-n do something simple: We can practice that Golden Rule of treating others as we enjoy being treated, despite there being no guarantee that rightness always will prevail.
The practical miracle is that we c-a-n guarantee that our acts are related to solutions, not to problems! At the end of any life, that guarantee can be a ceaselessly cheering companion! Soooo, Cheers!

For all of you non-Bostonians, I would like to let you know that the tabloid that “just the facts” cites as the source of his information on this matter is hardly a source of reliable news.
That said, I think that this incident is instructive. As unsettling as it is, we need to pay far more attention to the ugly rhetoric that is being spewed by the fringe groups on the right, who in these tumultuous times (as in 1930′s Germany) are using people’s prejudices in far more dangerous ways. Look at the Sotomayor hearings. Downright ugly. Then yesterday, there was that lady waving her birth certificate in Delaware and screaming nonsense. The Gates incident will hopefully make us realize that we cannot sit back and be complacent, not in any way.

from the article as witnessed by a neighbour:
“When police asked him for ID, Gates started yelling, ‘I’m a Harvard professor . . . You believe white women over black men. This is racial profiling.’ ”
This is a pretty pathetic performance. Next time the police pull me over how about if I refuse to identify myself, yell at them that I’m a yuppie professional, and immediately claim bias before I even know what is going on?
I guess I should expect that they would respond with perfect equanimity if I do that. After all, they now know who I am (I sure told them) and they know know what cretins they are in my eyes.

There is bigotry on all sides but racism is another matter.
Bigotry+POWER=Racism

Please be careful what you bring to fruition with your statements.
Do you REALLY want this to be your mantra???
“Racism is a live and well, and the damage cause by such will plague us for generations to come.”
Imagine the change we could bring to the world if the one-sided anger of ALL opinions would be focused instead on neutrality, balance and Peace Beyond Understanding. Like Gandhi demonstrated.
‘Ugly rhetoric’ spewing from the Right? Wait… that must mean you, who invoke ghosts of Nazis, must be the haters on the Right. Which is odd since the Nazi fascist movement is well-known as the opposite of conservative/right ideology. ie LEFT
And since when do past accomplishments have anything to do with present behavior?
Seriously people. Let’s just relax here.
Use your enlightened state to BE the PEACE that you DESIRE. Drop the hate speech, the inflamations of envisioned wrongs, and let’s all learn to get along.
And get your news from as many sources as possible before running off your mouth, especially with accusations.

Amen “Thoughts….”
Now everyone give themselves a big hug.
And stop watching anything on TV that is fear based.

Reading the exchanges among the 20 posts or so below Lynn’s article, am reminded of the numerous similar occasions of commentary I’ve run into over the years. What I do notice different these days is that while people’s minds are sharper in getting their points across (reflecting their expanding experience with blogging, posting, twittering, etc on the Internet, not to mention more awareness of the issue at hand as a result of increasing media exposure), there is not a whole lot of equanimity displayed (some…yes, and hopefully growing) amidst the emotional outpouring.
Here we have a distinguished professor who likely has much experience with ‘racism,’ undergoing frustration at the difficulty of getting into his own residence and then being confronted by a police officer who obviously can’t help but reveal a signal lack of ‘sensitivity,’ despite that he has just run into a highly stereotypical potentially volatile sociocultural situation.
The point I see is that Lynn is an astrologer who sees that a “Solar Eclipse unmasks.”
Of course, it can’t be ‘proven’ that in this case the eclipse unmasked ‘racism’…so then let’s just say the altercation between Gates and Crowley in the “People’s Republic of Cambridge” coincided more or less in time with the professor’s return from the People’s Republic of China and also with the occurrence of said celestial phenomenon through the very country from which he just returned and that we saw (subjectively in our minds) all kinds of things in the news of these events reported in the media.
What I also see besides Lynn saying a solar eclipse unmasks is that President Barack Hussein Obama is not necessarily a black American or an African American because if he is either or both then he is ‘also’ a white American and / or an Irish American. In other words…a black and white African Irish American.
No ??? Then at least he must be an American !!! (correction: ‘at most’)
What is interesting re. Obama is that he is sooooo much a middle-roader. This I can more or less understand. As such he has to be ‘the’ president for the times. Middle in this context doesn’t necessarily mean a mix of left and right, or half and half, or exactly between the differences. It’s maybe that and a whole lot something else, I feel. There was a news item I read that claimed that during his inauguration in January, Obama had in his pocket a ‘kata,’ or Tibetan offering scarf in his pocket given to him by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Further, very recently, I heard they’re now lining up a meeting between Obama and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the current premier messenger of the Middle Way.
So I think equanimity means somehow getting beyond the two rather immovable poles of duality (of black and white, right and wrong, good and evil, like and dislike, etc). In Americanese, HHDL might say if we can’t manage to ever get beyond the barrier, or ‘gate,’ of duality, then one day we will end up having to eat serious ‘crow.’
Unmask…indeed !!!

Overwhelmingly, it’s black and brown children children in this country suffer brain damage due to poor diet, substandard housing and environmental pollution concentrated in poor neighborhoods, the results of a cycle of poverty exacerbated by racism. No amount of sweeping under the rug with New Age speak is going to change that fact- get real and drop the BS.

It seems that the planets are also aligned for gays and lesbians too (in their fight for marriage rights), might as well say that—-we shouldn’t limit it to just racial groups, but all groups of *different* (Uranus) people—-Jupiter conjunct Neptune and together in mutual aspect to Uranus, together the planetary energies seem to indicate something extraordinary (semi-sextile=supportive) happening in our global culture. Let’s hope we truly see Justice and Equality for All this century in America and abroad.

Excuse the pun, but nothing is either black or white. Having lived in the ‘People’s Republic of Cambridge’ for many years I can attest that you can find racism anywhere. Interestingly though, perhaps the eclipse did not unveil racism per se in this incident but rather haughty, elitist and condescending privilege. Any mere ‘non tenured’ bricklayer finding themselves in a similar situation may have conjured up a tinge of gratefulness that the community response was there to protect one’s home, despite the fact that they themselves were visibly jimmying the premises in order to enter. Any right thinking individual would also maintain composure and dignity while explaining to authorities the awkward circumstances while pro-offering proper identification, while all the while refraining from hysterics. Yelling at a cop isn’t a crime, but it is incredibly stupid whether you are a brick layer or a black Harvard professor who has a well established reputation for acerbic language and haughty condescension. Most individuals with common sense, black or white, become absurdly obsequious, precisely because they know that the police have the power to arbitrarily arrest them if they tick them off, as many a white loudmouth have also discovered. Harvard professor or not, in a city with a black mayor, in a state with a black governor, in a country with a black president, the power dynamics in a confrontation with cops is not in your favor. It appears to me rather than racism much ado is being made about two stubborn individuals playing power poker to feed individual ego. So that needs a presidential proclamation?

Frankly Chiron, I don’t really think the eclipse had anything to do with this event. It’s what you might call a literary device. That said, I haven’t heard many stories in the news about a white man who was arrested for trying to break into his own house. If you can produce one, then I will believe that racism had nothing to do with this event.

Then let’s pardon the dual usage of literary license. But let’s not mire in a non-sequitor since I could produce quite a few examples of white, yellow, Latino, etc., men and women both who have been arrested for similarly mouthing off to the police in any number circumstances, in any number of municipalities with similar results. Especially true of us gay folk who are arrested quite often in their homes, place of business, and in public locales. In the unfortunate Gate’s scenario, he himself preferred to attribute cause to racism rather than behavior. But then maybe we should wait to see the testimony of the black Cambridge police officer who was one of the arresting officers.

Oh please, Lynn. Stick to interpreting the stars for us. I’ll interpret my own news, thank you.
PS thanks for revealing what’s under your own mask. Now I know when to not pay attention.

Lynn,
Thanks for having the courage to broach these difficult topics and subject yourself, through your blog to anyone with a web connection. That takes strength and fortitude. I always find your posts uplifting.

The three page police report furnished by The Smoking Gun website is very revealing. It seems Mr. Gates may have substantially over-reacted, appearing quite belligerent and uncooperative, hence the officer at the scene finally felt compelled to take action. Personally, it appears Mr. Gates had a predisposition on these matters; and reacted a bit out of proportion of what would be considered normal behaviour. Here’s the report. See what you make of it……
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html

Yes JW, quite enlightening. As is the fact that Sgt Crowley teaches racial profiling for the Lowell, Mass police Academy and has for five years, and was appointed to the position by the former police commissioner Ronald Watson, who is black.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20090723crowley_teaches_racial_profiling_class_at_academy/srvc=home&position=0

More details and considerations have been emerging…the following is not just for “get the facts before flaming with opinion,” an earlier poster.
For example…Professor Gates was already inside his home when Officer Crowley arrived. When asked to step out on to his porch, Gates did not comply. Gates in the end produced 2 pieces of identification (not 1 as earlier reported)…his driver’s license and his Harvard ID. Gates became angry when the police officer refused to identify himself by providing his name and badge number. The police officer put Gates under arrest, handcuffed him and charged him with disorderly conduct. Carol Sobel, a former Los Angeles American Civil Liberties Union civil rights lawyer said that according to the law “you cannot commit the crime of disorderly conduct in your own home.” And a well-known San Diego police chief Joseph McNamara said “The law is clear. You can’t be guilty of disorderly conduct simply because you are saying bad things to a police officer.” And it’s not illegal to swear or “flip the bird” at a police officer. The police report said that Gates “refused to be cooperative” and shouted “This is what happens to black men in America.”
Kim Murphy and Robin Abcarian, with help from Joel Rubin and Richard Fausset, today wrote up a very informative piece for the Los Angeles Times titled “Police debate Obama’s remark” with the keynote “One former chief says it could prompt some self-examination. Another calls it a big mistake.”
If what Gates claimed (in a later interview) is true…that the police officer refused to identify himself…when in fact the officer himself was uncertain as to whether Gates was the legal resident of the home he was found in…that Gates as a break-and-enter suspect was forced to reveal his identity while not having the right to determine whether the stranger at the door was indeed a bona fide law enforcement officer and not a impersonator in police uniform (and such impostors do appear from time to time in pretty well every place with a police force…of course, am not saying that Gates believed as such, rather he wanted equality re. the right to be informed of who was coming to investigate the person who eventually would have to hand over his ID)…it would seem to me that we have here some basis for saying that Crowley did not act appropriately as an officer representing the law with the common sense needed in a potentially volatile engagement…because Crowley after all was an instructor in the subject of racial profiling.
What this incident coincident with the recent powerful eclipse (and the number / quality of comments here) reveals is that America is still very wounded by its racial divide, this conditioned dualism over so-called ‘race’ — a bogus concept if there ever was one (as a Canadian I would include Canada here as well…not too long ago a survey of Canadians disclosed that 47% harboured negative feelings / thoughts toward those of different ‘racial’ / cultural backgrounds).
President Obama is supposed to represent the great hope of healing for America (and not just re. the economy). We can see yet he is human like the rest of us. But Obama knows through the scale of his election victory he is the symbol of unity for his nation, and perhaps also for the world…and we need to have the FAITH that he will try to put his best foot forward in being that symbol (even while making a few mistakes). We should realize first, though, that he is not a saint.

JW, I’m not arguing whether or not Mr. Gates overreacted. I’m certain the he did, plus although he has four planets in Virgo he also has a Mars/Moon conjunction and is particularly sensitive. I am only arguing the point that when you have had a lifetime of being treated with disrespect, as black folks in this country of his age have, and are questioned for trying to enter your own front door, you would get a bit upset. I know this from personal experience. I have quite a few black friends including one very close friend with whom I have done some traveling, and have witnessed this kind of thing up close in a way that most white people have not. If he had been a nicely dressed white man struggling with his key, would Lucia Whalen have called the cops? Or would she have just asked him, “Hey, are you having some trouble with the door?” And I suspect that the policeman would have cut Gates some slack since it WAS his house, apologized and left. Instead, the policeman refused to apologize and arrested Gates for basically backtalk: translate, “uppity.”

Please permit me a somewhat shorter post than my previous one today.
Going over the police report on the Internet for Professor Gates’ arrest, I saw it
amusing to see at the top of the report in black and white “Not For Public Release” (maybe all words didn’t start upper case…just going by memory here).
Seems this incident has a strong Uranus-Saturn connection. The person who reported the ‘breaking in’ of Gates’ home by Gates was a Lucia Whalen, a ‘white’ woman, age 40. Age 40 would represent a Uranus opposition passage in life.
Henry Gates was on the police form as being age 58. 58 would represent a Saturn return passage.
Looks to me as if Whalen was born under a Uranus-Chiron opposition…i.e., her Uranian awareness may be wounded, and this wound especially inflamed during a Uranus opposition.
As for Gates, I found his birthday as Sept 16, 1950. His Chiron is in the 17th degree of Sagittarius. His wound connected somehow with the law (Sagittarius / 9th House) ??? How would this be reacting at a time when his career (in the halls of higher learning…Sagittarius / 9th House) is being a little stressed at his Saturn return?
I wrote in a post for another article of Lynn’s that Melanie Reinhart who wrote “Chiron and the Healing Journey” said that in a horoscope the mid-point between Uranus and Saturn would be a Chironic position. I.e., a position where one could find strong healing energies. Is Obama, the ‘middle-roader,’ the Chironic hope for America, lancing its racial wound for eventual healing by weighing in on this controversial incident ???

Forgot to add in that longer post today, which I suppose is undergoing or might already have undergone ‘moderation’ and was found to be a bit too long (actually, it was probably less than half the length of the one the other day on the eclipse over Asia, for which Lynn kindly gave me permission…without realizing…and I didn’t at first either…re, its final length…but that’s how it ended — super-long after I kept adding to it…sincere apologies for that…though it’s not always clear re. issue of comment length)…
…anyways, what I forgot to add in the unallowed post today…but is still relevant to mention is that I found it HIGHLY synchronistic, when reading articles on the Henry Gates arrest incident…that the arresting officer’s name was JAMES Crowley. At first I caught only the ‘Crow’ley part.
So, I’d say this incident was meant to be…so we would be given another chance at this great issue which has been with us for so long. And as Lynn has been striving to point out re. those big planets conjunct tiny Chiron in the humanitarian sign of Aquarius, with Uranus in a minor inconjunct in a similar degree in the holistic spiritual sign of Pisces.

Hi Lynn,
I fully respect your opinion. I like your sensitivity to the underlying issues. I’m not suggesting there isn’t bias among some police officers, but based on the evidence, it appears Mr. Gates misinterpreted the police officers intentions. If a person wants to rise above racial profiling and discrimination, I think it is reasonable to assume that one has to be willing to look beyond ones predetermined inclinations and look at the prevailing circumstances as it occurs on an individual basis. The first, is based on ‘rational paranoia’, and the latter (in this particular case) would be to regard the officer in question as a human being with no ulterior motive other than trying to do his job to the best of his ability.
How fascinating that these two individuals somehow found themselves inextricably linked up with each other – almost as if it was an unconscious need for the both of them to have their grievances thrust out into the public in order for it to be resolved. Each is trying to sort out the racial issue in their own limited way (the arresting officer being an instructor in race relations). Since the President got involved in the fray with his own personal comments, one can only assume these two individuals were karmically destined to some kind of personal confrontation for it to be catapulted into the national spotlight. Apparently it still remains a vibrant and important issue in our national psyche that hasn’t fully come to term, otherwise, why all the attention? On the surface of it, it seems so trivial – just a simple misunderstanding.
Could this incident may be related to the Jupiter/Chiron conjunction? Several hundred years of racial injustice in our country that has only recently been addressed (starting in earnest with the civil rights movement of the ’60′s) could be viewed as synonymous with Chiron – the wound that never heals.

PS Lynn
The Chiron/Jupiter conj. (conj. the US moon) was a rhetorical question since you’ve already incorporated that issue into your well written article.
News just in…. President Obama expresses regret that his comment was seized by the media, possibly taking it out of context. There is growing concern that the President might have overstepped his boundaries in getting personally involved in the case, leaving the impression that he may have undermined the efforts of law enforcement.

Lynn,
Cambridge, Mass. police dept currently holding a live press confer. (12 pm) in expressing support of Seargent Crowley’s actions. They are requesting an official apology from the president in the accusatory, ‘misguided’ statement that the policeman dept had acted ‘stupidly’ and inappropiately.
The question is, since the President’s position on the matter has been directly brought into question, how much do you think this has to do with the Jupiter/Chiron conjunction (25 Aq) in opposition to Obama’s natal Uranus (25 Leo)?

Very interesting perspective JW. It would be fascinating to set up a synastric chart for Gates & Crowley to see how the transiting trio of Neptune/Chiron/Jupiter aspects. Professor Gates despite being a talented scholar is notoriously testy and has his admirers and detractors in the black community. For quite a long time he was an aggressive homophobe, who has only begun to temper his rather elitist anti-gay positions. His house is in a neighborhood that has suffered many recent break-ins, is located in the midst of large apt. buildings, and is close to the red line. Ms. Whalen, a Harvard fund raiser herself, obviously preferred discretion to valor. Professor Mark Neal’s blog, in a piece about this matter, although defensive of Professor Gates, reaches the common sense conclusion. http://newblackman.blogspot.com/2009/07/arrest-of-henry-louis-gates-jr.html
Alicia Banks is less kind to Gates. Alicia, a well known radio personality, lesbian and outspoken black radical thinker believes that Gates deserved what he got, but for obviously different reasons. http://www.geocities.com/ambwww/gates.htm Although I don’t quite agree with all of her points I find the piece entertaining. In the end, its’ rather sad to see a rather privileged academician, who has historically refused to recognize the rights of gay men and women, resort to a defense meant to intimidate others in recognizing his own self importance.

JW – yes, the fact that this has gotten so much national attention shows that it is indeed something that requires healing in this country. Perfect for Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune. I am certain that Obama was speaking from experience as a black man who has had these experiences. Unless you are either black, or have been with black people when this type of profiling occurs, you cannot begin to understand the way it eats away at you.
I had an email from someone who did not want to post publicly, but who is a short person. Not a “little person,” but a shorter than average person who has spent a lifetime being ignored due to size. This person wrote that she understood very well the rage that can simmer underneath as the result of these experiences of being profiled based on size. A tall person might not understand that at all. Until we have this type of occurrence we just can’t understand what it feels like to be denigrated day after day over a period of many years.

Hi Lynn,
I understand your sincere interest in trying to reach out and understand the situation through the eyes of the minority, those who have to suffer the occasional horrible indignities of racial profiling. But there’s an indefineable element to all this that simply fails to account for Gate’s exagerated over-reaction. He is a Harvard professor after all, well versed in the ways of social graces and intelligent, reasonable behaviour. Reasonable people simply don’t behave in that manner. Mr. Gates was outraged. Was he justified? A friend of mine brought to my attention an editorial article (written by an African American with credentials in higher education) that may help to explain what’s really at the bottom of it. It resonates well with my impressions……
“……. As a black Ivy Leaguer, something funny happens as you become ensconced in ivy. You’re smart enough to understand that race and racism are a reality you deal with on a daily basis, but you also know that your university ID sets you apart. Does this mean you are kept from hurtful incidents? No, but it is to say that much of the outrage felt at a racial slight is replaced by outrage at a class slight. Sure, we get pissed, knowing we’re getting hassled because we’re black, but the real indignation comes from being hassled as members of an elite group. How dare you hassle me? I go to school here. I go to work here. That second part of the thought is always present. I go to school here. I go to work here. When the Ivy League Effect is going full tilt, our black compass gets confused; the realities we know to exist become other people’s problems.”
An excerpt from:
Skip Gates, Please Sit Down
You are suffering from what I call the “Ivy League Effect”
Editor’s note: This column originally appeared on the Web site “This Week in Blackness,” which is maintained by Brooklyn, N.Y., comedian Elon James White. The person who submitted it to “This Week in Blackness” published it under the pseudonym “a Phantom Negro” because “Dr. Henry Louis Gates has reach and influence in the academy.”
By a Phantom Negro
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/07/24/gates/?source=newsletter

I don’t understand why the policeman didn’t give Mr Gates some slack?
Had this been the policeman’s grandfather would he have wanted his fellow officers to treat his grandfather this way?
Of course Mr. Gates was upset, he had just returned from a long flight, his front door was stuck – he has some sort of disability that requires the use of a cane. Can’t our youth obsessed culture have some patience with our older members?
A “passerby” reports him as a burglar, an elderly exhaused man with a cane, why didn’t she just ask a tired frustrated elderly gentleman if he needed some help? Where is our sense of community? Would she have inquired if he had been a white elderly gentleman with a cane?
In the end Mr. Gates did identify himself and I am not sure if the policeman eventually provided his badge number – aren’t they suppose to provide that information if asked?
The policeman could have diffused the situation by showing some patience to a tired frustrated elderly man, instead the policeman cuffed him and arrested him in front of his neighbors – nice photo-op.

As many people have said, not only here, but even in Canada were this is coming from…the issue of ‘race’ has been long with us.
Is it getting better ??? You wouldn’t think so by the kind of comments flying this way and that.
People are still on either side of the divide arguing against each other…and Obama realizes he stepped right in the middle of it. It would be interesting if he actually gets the two to sit down with him and talk it over…over beer. I hope he does it…seriously, I do.
It’s also interesting that, as I’ve said, the officer’s name is James ‘Crow’ley…the irony of it. And he instructs members of his police force in the subject of racial profiling (so as to improve their policing efforts within a mixed racial environment, I presume). Personally, I’ve observed that this is the way Fate does things. My hunch is it was probably (due to) Crowley’s karma that he got / chose / accepted the role of instructing police officers in how they should be more aware re. matters of race when encountering those they see as having a different ‘racial’ background from themselves and to not ‘profile’ them negatively.
The Obama-Gates-Crowley incident was tailor made for us at this time for a cosmic / evolutionary purpose and we’ve been trying to show the astrological tie-in.
Collectively the world does not appear to be One…with so-called races and levels of society continuing to contend with each other. But life is short. Too short to wait for the World to really get it together. It’s easier to accomplish that as an individual than as the collective. There are ways to do it if an individual really wants it. Sincerely ask and a way that is suited to you will appear eventually, when the time is right. I hope more and more people find that Way to Oneness within themselves. Only in this way will the world become One. You can join a group trying for the same ‘goal.’ But in the end you have to do it as an individual…by yourself.
When you ‘arrive,’ so to speak, life will be very different. You will live in a kind of paradise (though most people won’t recognize you being there…some will, though). You may be ‘profiled’ the wrong way (and wrong way profiling goes in both directions…to self and to other), but you won’t be a like a Professor Henry Gates. Nor like an Officer James Crowley. What will you be (like) ??? That’s for you to find out…and confirm your paradise.

Hi Tora,
I think if one were to fully read the police report, one comes away with the impression Mr. Gates was being deliberately provocative in a sustained verbally abusive manner, creating a climate of disturbance and public disorder. Very difficult to ascertain how the officer would have reacted if he knew Mr. Gates personal situation. I’m sure if Mr. Gates was more communicative, the officer would have cut him some slack.
Anyway, President Obama, purportedly a personal friend of Mr. Gates has since backpedaled on his previous comments, stating that he regrets taking a position (not being fully aware of the facts). As a way of bridging the hurt feelings and misunderstadings, President Obama has invited Skip Gates and Seargent Crowley over for a ‘beer’ at the White House. I would say that was an excellent gesture to begin the healing over this very odd ‘Chironic’ episode.
I think the moral of the story is *drum-roll please*…. if you want to be treated like a human being (pleasant and civilised-like) – act like a human being.

I do not have to see a police report, because i see the racism occurring on a daily basis toward people of color. If you are not a person of color, you would never understand how they feel.
I was working in an environment where the CEO would the corporate meeting by making Black jokes and when i approach him to let him know that i did not approve of his behavior, this individual attempted to black ball me with renewing my license. Racism is very live and well.
I certainly do believe that Mr Gates was unfairly treated in his own home. If Mr Gates was a different race, this would not have happened.
When policemen are killed in friendly fire It is always a person of color.
I think the moral of this story is that MR Gates and Officer Crowley was wrong and it proves that race play a part

Hi Glynda,
Reasonable behaviour eventually has its rewards. We are still trying to come to terms with the stigma of centuries of racial inequality. The shift in perceptions on race relations doesn’t occur overnight.
Peoples motivations and nuances have to be judged on its individual merits. Nothing is what it seems. It’s not as ‘black and white’ as you suggest.
There’s an interesting scene in the 2006 acadamy award winning film Crash (about race relations) – movie trailer can be seen in the following video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEQ_ftkpb18 , where we see two young black guys out for a night on the town. They’re in one of the white districts of Los angeles coming out of a restaurant and griping about the service they got. They’re blaming it on the fact that they’re black and everyone just assumes they’re gangbangers. The dialogue continues on for several minutes, essentially that they are the victims of a racially discriminatory ‘whitey’ world. And then suddenly, in the next moment, on cue, they pull out their guns and hijack a car. The banter (one assumes) is a justification for their criminal behaviour. It’s an interesting didactic on human rationale when carried to its extreme. Somewhere in between there is this thing called balance. I think as a nation we are striving for just that kind of balance. It will take a while, but we’re getting there.

It is interesting how this incident indeed has become Chironic in scope and more even Neptunian, whether exacerbated by Jupiter, the collision or the eclipse, it focuses with laser intensity not simply on race relations but human relations in toto. Like the famed Rodney King missive ‘Can’t we all just get along?’ it really depends on who ‘we’ is and why ‘we’ are involved at all. For me the most telling snippet of perspective into the entire drama was the statement issued by Sgt. Leon Lashley, the black officer who was at Gates’ home with Crowley at the time of the arrest, who said he supported his fellow officer’s action “100 percent’. Note: not 90%, or 99.5%, but 100%. For the most pertinent witness in this entire matter, who had the ability to make the best valid assessment of the circumstances, to be so absolute in his determination is rather climatic. He certainly wouldn’t face dismissal for disagreeing with his fellow Sergeant’s behavior. Of secondary interest to me here is the silent perspective of the ‘forgotten man’ of the evening, the driver. The driver, who also is black, was assisting the professor in trying to force open his front door. The image of an infirm and elderly black man fumbling with keys on his porch is mitigated by the specter of a physically capable second figure in the shadows, front and center, as the house alarm was blaring. A overlooked fact, admitted in Professor Gates’ own published statement. I never forgot a comment made years ago by Sammy Davis Jr. when he was accused of being gay, he remarked hey I am black and Jewish don’t tag me with that third strike. Having lived through many occasions of profiling with my partner of some years, some quite hostile, I can attest that no indeed you never get used to such blatant and blind stupidity. Yet my better half’s comment when hearing of this incident was that Gates had made a nice living indeed out of pointing fingers. Simply being black doesn’t excuse one of being homophobic, as the result of the passage of California Proposition 8 indicates. The very same community that carried Obama to a California electoral win in November, also handily defeated equal rights for fellow citizens equally and historically denigrated. It leaves quite a sour taste to witness a president quick off the mark to inappropriately comment on a local matter, continue to ignore the civil rights of an entire segment of his own party’s base. Certainly that should also be part of “his portfolio”.

Looking at America’s dilemma over ‘race’ from an astrological / synchronistic perspective…with input again from my usual astrofriend…
…there are several possibilities for the US chart. 2 that I know have Sagittarius Rising. In the one based on the moment when the vote for independence was completed in the afternoon of July 2nd 1776, we see the Ascendant in the 18th degree of Sagittarius, with the DSC in Gemini…the time-place nexus that it was immediately known independence was won.
An important moment of realization…because America was to become the symbol of freedom (from oppression) for the world…the dream later signed into its declarations as a new nation.
Yet now 233 yrs later, from the viewpoint of its inhabitants, has America attained this freedom ??? The answer obviously from the Obama-Gates-Crowely incident…is NO !!! Not quite…and we’re waiting for the next chapter in this long story.
America has not been free because it hasn’t resolved the fundamental problem regarding acceptance of difference between people…namely, as it relates to background / so-called ‘race.’ This shows up as an archetypal opposition between ‘black’ and ‘white.’
To its credit, many individual citizens have found resolution…not the nation collectively.
You could say the Gates-Crowley dust-up reveals the US of A still in the throes of this split between black and white (despite the Mason-Dixon line became totally porous long ago). [You could say even the attack on the Twin Towers (Gemini) by the arrow-like airliner (Sagittarius) was symbolic of the antagonism that grew between descendants of the sons of Abraham -- the light Isaac and the dark Ishmael.]
Sagittarius can be said to contain the need to heal the split between animal body / human mind…and for this the Centaur travels, far and wide, high and low (where the arrow flies) to broaden its knowledge and search for the solution. While Gemini, the astrological twins, must look within to bring light to its inner darkness (sang Gemini Bob Dylan: “I fought with my twin, that enemy within, ’til both of us fell by the way.”)…but twins in the real world we know are BEST OF FRIENDS…one light, the other dark, and here lies HOPE, and the audacity for it. [...cont'd in next post]

[...cont'd from previous post] So, Gates has his wound (and healing power), his Chiron (a Centaur), in the 17th degree of Sagittarius !!! And the ‘gate’ in (the name) Gates has 2 poles opposite each other which must be passed to get through, while ‘Jim Crow’ (in the name James Crowley) represents the practices / policies (“slings and arrows”) of discrimination / segregation that is the part of US’s history that’s close with it still. Obama, as a ‘racial blend’ of black and white, and as a figurehead of reconciliation stands between the 2 poles of the issue of race…a Leo, whose Sun stands for the ‘centre,’ the figure 1 (one, not two).
My astrofriend says there is a deeper hidden connection…a synchronicity. In Japan there is a city called Obama…no kidding (which was gung-ho for Obama during the election) !!! It means ‘a small harbour’…a sanctuary from dark Neptune’s storms. And here lives a very elderly Zen master called Harada Sekkei Roshi who has been guiding people (incl. Americans) for nigh on 40 years on the serious matter of returning to their original condition, free from the usual human entanglements between opposites…the dualities in life.
Last I heard, Professor Gates is open to the invitation to join President Obama and Officer Crowley at the White House. We wait for the next installment…as the world turns.
[C.G.Jung said the work for man during the cross-over from the Piscean to Aquarian Age was the resolution of the problem of opposites.]
[Lynn...hope 2 posts in a row here is OK.]

I am compelled to add to the discussion but since Transiting Mercury is squaring my natal Venus, I really need to refrain. : – )
Lynn, After reading all comments I reread your blog post. Interesting how right you are.

MarAli,
I gather from your previous remarks (July 22 10:52 am), you understandably would like to give people the benefit of the doubt.
Since a Mercury transit is very quick (square your venus), let me break the ice by saying that if we were to define the issue of racism, I think it would be fair to say that it is a conscious decision to judge people not by their character or accomplishments but by their cultural heritage and the color of their skin. Given that definition, I think this the whole Gates affair is equally a learning experience not only for the caucasion/white community, but also for the blacks who harbour resentments. To be color blind and see the goodness in all, to see the divinity in all, I think is what we are all striving for, whether we are conscious of it or not.

When the white majority in the US are able to admit that they benefit from white privilege, and acknowledge the part it plays, then we can move forward and past the racism. To say that none exists, proves the points in Lynn’s timely post.

Edna,
I don’t think anyone is saying racism doesn’t exist. What is being said is that there is a vast difference between a ‘sulking’ Skip Gates and that of the profound dignity of let’s say a Nelson Mandela or a Martin Luther King. One fosters division and the other seeks to unify. I have enormous sympathy for the ‘black’ cause, but anger and resentment is self-defeating and counter-productive. To use ones race as a justification for anger is to blur the lines of clear communication (especially in this case where Mr. Gates accusations appear disengenuous – a fabrication). I think we made a giant leap forward in crossing the racial divide by electing Barack Obama as President. And of course there is still a long way to go. As we were saying earlier, to eradicate hundreds of years of bigotry doesn’t happen overnight.

JW please reread some of the comments here. There was even one nasty post that said the Barak Obama had never experienced racism, but I think Lynn may have removed it.
Why do you take the police report at face value? Police have been known to make fraudulent reports. I don’t think this report was bias free either. The argument that partner of the arresting office was black and supported his partner? So what? Do you really believe he would risk his own life to say otherwise? Black officers get shot in the back by friendly fire with some regularity.
There are links here to black bloggers calling for Skip Gates to “sit down”. Does this lack of support for Gates by these members of the black community come from legitimate arguments or is it class resentment? I think it complicates the matter, definitely. The fact is that if Gates was white, we would not even be having this conversation, the neighbor would have never called the police in the first place. That is “White Privilege”.

Hi Edna,
You wrote: “….The fact is that if Gates was white, we would not even be having this conversation, the neighbor would have never called the police in the first place. That is “White Privilege”.”
The 911 call/ audio tape just released to the media reveal no such information was involved. Upon being asked by the 911 dispatcher what the two men looked like and what they were doing, in a very measured and reasonable response the caller said one was possibly hispancic although she said could not be absolutely sure. The description of ‘two black men’ was never mentioned. She said she wasn’t certain if they were the owners, but it appeared that they were using their shoulders to break through the screen door and the main door by force.
Anyway, I’m not sure if you fully listened to what I was saying. Undeniably racism exists in various subtle forms. I’m not disputing that. You may question the integrity of the police report (I don’t), but again that’s not the main emphasis of what is being expressed.
The point is, as long as anger and resentment exists, the racism issue will continue. First; recognize the grievances that one holds on to. It’s for each individual to find that place within oneself. The problem isn’t with others – it resides within each of us. The outer is simply a reflection of our inner emotional make-up. And then? Discovering that we unconsciously perpetuate the apparent division when we hold on to the anger, it then becomes easier to let go. You then have the ability to look at things impartially and not from a negative predisposed viewpoint.
I think, that in effect was the result of last weeks July 22nd solar eclipse conjunct the US progressed Pluto. A very powerful light was shone on our national consciousness. It afforded us the unique opportunity to have an intimate inside look of where we are, the progression representing how far we have come since our inception. Pluto describes how we deal with power, personal and non-personal, be it through suffering, the power of others, or the exercising of it ourselves. Pluto rules transformation, regeneration, rebirth, destruction, annihilation, power, and elimination. It also represents atomic power, intensity, crime, death, and the underworld. No doubt the issue of racism comes under those parameters.

Today the 911 tapes were released by the Cambridge police. Lucy Whalen never mentioned race. Evidently, Lucy Whalen is the real victim here, having been unfairly targeted as being racist, blithely targeted for not fitting into the composition that the ‘woundologists’ insist on painting for every incident of perceived racism.
That mindset in and of itself is equally racist and serves no purpose. Yes indeed racism is alive and well in visible nooks and cranny’s of every culture, every nation, every historically homogenous petri dish of human interaction. But Astrologers do not have the luxury of accepting blanket group think behavior as gospel since that would be astrologically schizophrenic. Rather we serve our communities best by assisting the individual to recognize the challenges and opportunities evidenced within each chart as venues for growth, learning and healing. As Caroline Myss states in Why People Don’t Heal and How They Can , “we are supposed to move through our tragedies and challenges and to help others move through theirs. By remaining stuck in the power of our wounds, we block our own transformation. We overlook the greater gifts inherent in our wounds—the strength to overcome them and the lessons we are meant to receive through them. Wounds teach us to become passionate and wise.” JW you touch on the veiled truth of this incident, the differences between division and unification. The immensely prolific Bill Cosby, is his co-authored, insightful analysis of black America, Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors, defends his unapologetic perspectives by saying “Many of those who accuse us are scholars and intellectuals, upset that we are not blaming everything on white people as they do. Well, only blaming the system keeps certain black people in the limelight but it also keeps the black poor wallowing in victimhood.” If Gates was a white man, no, no one would be having this discussion because it simply would be another arrest of another hothead foolish enough to challenge the authority of a policeman serving legally in the performance of his duties. Yet this incident has become unfortunately emblematic of how far we have come, but it also disturbingly demonstrates how far we have yet to go.

It doesn’t matter whether Lucy Whalen mentioned race or not, although the transcript I read said that she thought 1 of the persons might be Hispanic. The fact of White Privilege is that if a slight 60 year old man wearing glasses with a cane and a pile of luggage was struggling to get into his front door, Ms Whalen would have never called the police and would more likely have tried to help him, instead. For those of you who don’t have a clue and don’t have to deal with the fact that your skin color makes you a target of suspicion and aggressive law enforcement, of course you would become irritated at the people who keep harping on it. The rest of the arguments about Professor Gate are irrelevant. Why should Prop 8 be brought into the discussion or some perceived homophobia on the part of Gates or Obama as justification for the arrest? References to the movie Crash and some car jackers? Ridiculous!

Chiron,
Caroline Myss’s words are quite perceptive and well expressed. When I first read the words “……Wounds teach us to become passionate and wise.” I misread it, mistakenly thinking it read ‘compassionate’ rather than passionate. But both words are equally applicable. To have compassion and love releases the ‘blockages’ and allows one to see individuals without the glaring stigma of race attached.
Edna,
When I think of racism, several associated words and phrases come to mind…… 1) intolerance 2) being unforgiving 3) deeply suspicious 4) rigidity in ones views of another. Although, I’m certain you are not like that at all, the ‘reverse racism’ that Chiron refers to is a very insidious trap to fall into. Unwittingly, we contribute to racism when we indulge in these kind of mind-sets and attitudes. Again, we are not free of racism as long as we harbor resentments to our fellow man. If you want to be free of racism, you have to be willing to forgive and to forget. Love and kindness is an essential element to rising above the petty differences that separate us from another.

JW some people simply have blockages if reality doesn’t agree with their political perceptions. No one should speak for Ms. Whalen but Ms. Whalen. If two white men at night, one old and infirm or not, the other quite young & virile, were trying to force open the front door to a home in a neighborhood rife with break ins, it is a citizen’s duty to call the police. Case closed. Having a black partner, I have more than a clue. Profiling and racism comes to us from all sides. Surprisingly the most prejudice is experienced from the black community ( his family is mostly accepting). At this point we laugh rather than choose to be victims. Prejudice comes in all shapes and sizes. No one has a monopoly. Skin color and sexual preference isn’t bi-polar. Gates has no right to accuse anyone of prejudice if he harbors or encourages any form of hatred himself. If that isn’t a simple enough statement for anyone to digest, perhaps healing therapy is in order.

The incident happened at noon in broad daylight.
For the record, I am white.

Edna,
Am I to understand you haven’t heard the actual 911 call? Here’s the audio tape. It speaks for itself. The incident occurring at ‘noon in broad daylight’ is a moot point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtZ8bdpIuTg

I’m somewhat new to this site…but seeing the buildup of 55 comments, I bet this could easily be a record of sorts.
My astrofriend, whom I consult a lot, told me 2 interesting stories. Growing up in Canada long ago, he used to visit this middle-aged lady…a tiny women of Asian background who rented her upstairs to a couple (he was black and she, white), a couple he had seen at least once, and thought “how unusual.” Well, it was unusual. Consider that this was back in the 50s…and the situation was totally OK with the landlady. In fact she always spoke in very glowing terms about how nice they were. She was entirely pleased with them. They probably lived happily ever after.
Then my friend told me another story of the time in the early 60s he worked with a ‘black’ person in the sales department of a publications company. The co-worker had been an Olympic athlete and a pro football player (neither as a superstar)…an impressive towering specimen of the male gender with a strong energetic presence, humour, and power for the pitch, who always blew away the client and closed the sale. He had all this God-given capacity, yet whenever he had the opportunity he would go off on bitter tirades against the Jews. This always amazed my friend and he never found out the reason for it. Maybe the co-worker’s life achievements had not met his expectations and he felt the need to project his frustrations.
So there it is. We all know it takes all kinds to make up our world. Pretty soon we are going to be the media audience to the promised meeting over beer between Professor Gates and Officer Crowley. I wrote above somewhere…”…as the world turns.” Well, I know this isn’t soap opera, because it’s really serious stuff. We may soon be witnesses to a major episode of “history in the making”…as it looks like the issue we’ve been furiously commenting on is going to turn an epic corner. Could be a surprise, though, and be totally anti-climactic in some way. We can’t second-guess Fate.

Yoshinogawa,
I’m inclined to agree. We may be on the edge of monumental changes. Although race relations may have relative importance, these kind of incidents and/or misunderstandings are inconsequential when looked upon in the larger scheme of things.

The time this incident occurred is not moot.
This is a quote from Chiron’s last post-
JW some people simply have blockages if reality doesn’t agree with their political perceptions. No one should speak for Ms. Whalen but Ms. Whalen. If two white men at night, one old and infirm or not, the other quite young & virile, were trying to force open the front door to a home in a neighborhood rife with break ins, it is a citizen’s duty to call the police. Case closed.
It didn’t happen at midnight. It was broad daylight with lots of people milling about.

JW, the link you provided to the Youtube video show the derogatory term term ” Race Pimp” being used to describe Professor Gates, in the announcement. And yet you thought it was a good choice to illustrate that there was no racism involved. Ironic.
The video recording of the 911 call is almost exactly the same as the transcript I read, except for one thing. It shows that the dispatcher asks the caller if the men are black or hispanic and she answers that one might be hispanic. That detail was not mentioned in the transcript of the call. The written report on the 911 call does clearly state that the 2 men are black, even though the caller never says this. How did the dispatcher know this without seeing the men and without hearing it from the caller? That is the question to be answered.

One last thing- the dispatcher writes in the report that it is 2 black men with backpacks, when the caller clearly states that there is luggage with the men on the porch. She never says backpacks, either.

The police report was written by the police officer(s) involved in the incident so of course it agrees with their version/perception of what happened.
The “black” policeman backed up his fellow officer that is to be expected. They are policeman first, just like in the Army you are a soldier first. In addition, should the black officer have gone against his fellow officer’s version then he would have had to explain why he didn’t intercede and calm the situation down, why he let it get out of control.
I think that the “truth” of what happened can be found somewhere in between the policeman’s version and the professor’s version. May be that is the lesson for all of us.
The policeman supposedly was not racially biased because he taught some kind of race relations classes, well then shouldn’t he have been aware that members of other races may fear that a white policeman is biased?
Evidently Mr. Gates perceived the policeman as having a bias against him, did Officer Crowley do something to cause that perception or did he fail to take into account that entering a black man’s home and ordering him to produce identification might be very upsetting – I’m not saying that Officer Crowley was wrong to ask for identification but was he mindful in his choice of words, tone and the attitude he projected?
Mr. Gates was tired, cranky, frustrated, believed he was a victim of racial profiling, showed his ID and he was in his own home. Officer Crowley was on duty representing the city. Mr. Gates showed his ID and presented no physical threat to Officer Crowley. Officer Crowley apparently taught others how to deal with people of other races, so why couldn’t he diffuse the situation?
Mr. Gates was arrested for being upset and loud, who was he disturbing in his own home other than Officer Crowley? Officer Crowley could have just left when he realized that no crime had been committed.
Had Mr. Gates behaved this way at the airport, I could understand the arrest, but he was in his own home.
In my opinion Officer Crowley handled the situation poorly and a spokesperson for the police department said neither man handled the situation well and charges were dropped against the professor.
Officer Crowley as a result has got his 15 minutes of fame, a call from the President of the United States and will get to go to the White House and have a beer with the President and Mr. Gates.

I just want to express my appreciation for the level of discourse of my commenters. Except for one nasty comment that as Edna says I did have to delete, this conversation has been not only civil, but useful as well. In my own marriage, when we get angry and start yelling at each other all hope is lost to accomplish any solution. Fortunately that doesn’t happen often, and instead we try to remain calm and discuss the feelings behind the events so that we can get to the bottom of what’s really going on.
I like that old adage: “don’t judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes. By then you’re a mile away, and you have his shoes.”

Tora…
………….let’s face it, no one, including the antagonists, President Obama, the 911 dispatcher, the media, the comment posters, had their best day. Maybe on the run-up to Thursday’s get-together at the White House, we’ll be getting the story down better.
I think you did pretty good in your account (at 4:13 AM of the 28th), though.
[You know, we Canadians used to call American beer "near beer." Maybe the city of Obama in Japan should fly over a 6-pack (or keg?) of Sapporo brew, compliments of the watchful East. ]
JW…you wrote:
— The point is, as long as anger and resentment exists, the racism issue will continue. First; recognize the grievances that one holds on to. It’s for each individual to find that place within oneself. The problem isn’t with others – it resides within each of us. The outer is simply a reflection of our inner emotional make-up. And then? Discovering that we unconsciously perpetuate the apparent division when we hold on to the anger, it then becomes easier to let go. You then have the ability to look at things impartially and not from a negative predisposed viewpoint. —
I feel it’s very difficult for people, generally, to see that “The outer is simply a reflection of our inner emotional make-up.” Because the problem is (as my astrofriend says) we think the world we see with our eyes (or hear with our ears, or feel with our tactile sense, smell with our nose) is really out there and not in our minds / hearts.
In reality, the composition of the world is made up in our minds. The fact there might actually be an objective world is quite irrelevant, as we perceive everything through our perceptions as filtered through a whole mess of screens (ego, memories, character and temperament, upbringing, hopes & wishes, peer pressure, educational programming, etc). Even the 911 tape and transcript, the police report, and so on, are testimony to the great variations of the so-called truth of what went on during the incident.
It’s because we see the world is “out there,” we are that much separated from it…our screens separate us from it. Thus, we are not close enough to it to see what’s real. Therefore, for Officer Crowley actually Professor Gates is himself, i.e., Crowley is Gates…and vice versa (i.e., Gates is seeing himself in Crowley). I know this way of understanding is hard to take in because we’re too far away from the real moment to do so…our conditionings are always interfering. But the more it’s reflected on, the more the possibility of acknowledging the truth of this perspective. And then doing something about it…as there ‘are’ ways to go about working with this view. So, JW, I’m supposing that’s more or less the way you see it ???
In this way our separation from so-called Reality ceases and we become One with it. Let’s hope Crowley and Gates see themselves in each other (through the Neptunian haze of 5% alcohol…or is that less?) and shake hands, and do all the other good things that could come out of the meeting. Like bring their realization to their respective sectors of society and spread the news of a new day for ‘race’ relations.
This would also be the President’s #1 contribution to the health of the national psyche…beginning the healing of the split caused by perceiving ‘racial’ differences as something apart from oneself — and thus we’d eventually see the eclipsing of the onerous past of the race issue.

Hi Edna,
The impression I had was that you were correcting an imprecise fact, but really speaking, whether it was noon or midnight has no bearing on the situation. Your inference that if it was daylight the figures can be clearly discerned was simply not the case. The two men were too far away from the caller to make out what they looked like, let alone their race.
Your assertion that the phrase ‘race pimp’ was used in the conversation of that 911 call is a bit strange – I should say bizarre. I’ve listened to that audio tape several times – very carefully. No where in that audio tape are those words used. It would be kind of insane if the operator fielding the call would have uttered those words in any case. He would be open to a liable suit.
Forgive me for saying so, but the nature of this dialogue is beginning to lead me to believe that we are entering into a very odd and highly imaginative scenario you have constructed in your mind. You’re bent on seeing a racially provocative incident where none exists. Apparently you are not aware or are willing to see the full scope of your own bias, and how that kind of speculation can contribute to the over-all environment of racism. You are your own worst enemy, in that your views lends to a kind of hysteria that doesn’t bode well for harmonious racial relations. It’s self-defeating and not constructive. Anyway, I’m sorry to cut this short. I think we shall have to leave it there.

Hi Yogoshinawa
About the human dilemma of being conditioned, unable to move to beyond its self-created mental constructs and/or prison, one of my favorite authors comes to mind – Eckhart Tolle. I have no URL links to provide as a resource for you to read, but if Lynn allows this one exception, here is a brief explanation from his book Stillness Speaks……
The Miracle of Love Lies In The Uninterpreted Moment
Much suffering, much unhappiness arises when you take each thought that comes into your head for the truth. Situations don’t make you unhappy. They may cause you physical pain, but they don’t make you unhappy. Your interpretations, the stories you tell yourself make you unhappy.
“The thoughts I am thinking right now are making me unhappy”. This realization breaks your unconscious identification with these thoughts.
What a miserable day
He didn’t have the decency to return my call.
She let me down.
Little stories we tell ourselves and others, often in the form of complaints. They are unconsciously designed to enhance our always deficient sense of self through being “right” and making something or someone “wrong”. Being “right” places us in a position of imagined superiority and so strengthens our false sense of self, the ego. This also creates some kind of enemy; yes, the ego needs enemies to define its boundaries, and even the weather can serve that function.
Through habitual mental judgement and emotional contraction, you have personalized, reactive relationship to people and events in your life. These are all forms of self-created suffering, but they are not recognized as such because to the ego they are satisfying. The ego enhances itself through reactivity and conflict.
How simple life would be without those stories.
It is raining.
He did not call.
I was there. She was not.
When you are suffering, when you are unhappy, stay totally with what is. Now. Unhappiness or problems cannot survive in the Now.
Suffering begins when you mentally name or label a situation in some way as undesirable or bad. You resent a situation and that resentment personalizes it and brings in a reactive “me”.
Naming and labeling are habitual, but that habit can be broken. Start practicing “not naming” with small things. If you miss the plane, drop and break a cup, or slip and fall in the mud, can you refrain from naming the experience as bad or painful? Can you immediately accept the “isness” of that moment?
Naming something as bad causes an emotional contraction within you. When you let it be, without naming it, enormous power is suddenly available to you.
The contraction cuts you off from that power, the power of life itself.
They are the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Go beyond good and bad by refraining from mentally labeling anything as good or bad. When you go beyond the habitual naming, the power of the universe moves through you. When you are in a nonreactive relationship to experiences, what you would have called “bad” before often turns around quickly, if not immediately, through the power of life itself.
Watch what happens when you don’t name an experience as “bad” and instead bring an inner acceptance, an inner “yes” to it, and so let it be as it is.

CORRECTION: In my reply to Edna; an addendum should read: “……You’re bent on seeing a racially provocative incident where none exists (except in the eyes of a Mr. Skip Gates).”

Edna,
Ok. Didn’t see that little blurb on the upper right hand corner of the youtube entry. Wasn’t paying attention. Certainly inflammatory. The 911 call speaks for itself however.
What a climate of distrust! This whole subject arouses the worst in people. Needless to say, focusing on the goodness of others, giving people the benefit of the doubt (or as it is termed in the US court of law – innocent until proven guilty) goes a long way in facilitating better understandings. In the interest of harmony, if we are ever to resolve these contentious matters, I do think we need to go beyond the differences and emphasize the positive. The Eckhart Tolle quote encapsules that in a nutshell.

JW. The race pimp comment was indeed in the heading from the particular YouTube linkage you posted. As you know, anyone can upload a linkage onto YouTube. This specific link was uploaded by BucksRight, a rather innocuous conservative poster with his own website. The link is not official, has nothing to do with the veracity of the 911 audio transcript, has no bearing on the incident beyond the personal viewpoint of the uploader. You randomly chose a linkage that although biased has nothing to do with the conversation at hand. No use finding more ghosts under the scatter rugs. Just thought I’d point that out to assuage any white guilt you may be feeling. And you are correct, despite the noted errata, the time of day was rather inconsequential. By the way, to mitigate the stated opinion of a black witness to the incident, simply due to his official status, seems to be unproductive profiling in and of itself. He was not the only black fellow worker to speak up on behalf of Sgt. Crowley. But I revert to my original comment that here we have a situation of two individuals with oversized egos refusing to back down. Happens everywhere. Even here.

Chiron,
It’s official. The two ‘over-sized’ egos are having that beer session with the Pres. Thursday night at the White House (the suggestion originally came from Sgt. Crowley interestingly enough). It’s important to remember this incident originally appeared as a local news item on July 16th, that is until the President got involved, offering his personal views, which inadvertantly catapulted the story to national media attention. Chiron/Jupiter is currently in opposition to Pres. Obama’s natal Uranus. An embarrassed President has since stated that he regretted making those comments and as a peace offering invited the two to the WH. Let the healing begin.

LMAO. Every beer manufacturer under the sun is probably sending free cases to the White House in hopes of some really neat PR.

I lost patience and could not finish reading all of these comments.
Sue me.
I think we need to get over the nonsense that one race has it better than the other. Not anymore. So let’s stop making excuses. I’m part of a “minority” myself– both my parents were immigrants of South America and Mexico. But if I walked around believing that I am just another part of a “minority”, then that is who I will be and I cannot blame you or anyone else for that.
I grew up in a ghetto. And moved to New Jersey. Here’s what I can tell you is true: we are no longer in a war of the races. We are in a war of the haves and have-nots. I believe this to be so based on the Capricorn-Cancer dynamic as well as what I see in the North Eastern corruption scandals. Many haves refuse to curb their spending lest their resources runn out. And the have-nots who’ve taken advantage of our generous government hand-outs want to continue to be taken care of. No one seems to want to hop off the Gravy Train. But we all must do so. It is time to take responsibility for ourselves AND stop seeing others as seperate and inferior.
That’s the biggest problem we face. That’s what’s making the headlines. Money. The Powerful vs. the Powerless. It’s what we have– leave the past in the past and believe that you are more than what others have made you out to be. Everything will fall into place once you do.
As for the comment about black/brown children who go malnutritioned and neglected… That ALL boils down to the parents AND the economic status of the family– not the race. And the other winner, the one about the “incarnation” into the African-American race as an accomplishment, that’s a load of crap– what about hispanics in a White world? And don’t assume for a second that Asians, Whites, etc., don’t suffer in the midst of all this fire, too! In the end, no one has it worse than the other. And we all suffer, whether now or later.
Wake up!

I posted comment #73 and forgot to add that I agree with Colin Powell. I believe that if one is not guilty than one should cooperate peacefully. In this case, with the authorities… especially because the police department would have been made to look really dumb if things panned out the way they should have. This wasn’t a racial blow-up– it was an alpha male misunderstanding!
We don’t need to put up a fight when we’re right.

Your Name at 9:28 PM on the 29th…
………….am assuming you are ‘Warrior’ of the 74th comment, since I’m responding to the 73rd.
I think you made a very important point when you said:
“…I’m part of a “minority” myself– both my parents were immigrants of South America and Mexico. But if I walked around believing that I am just another part of a “minority”, then that is who I will be and I cannot blame you or anyone else for that. …”
This is very close to my standpoint, perhaps nuanced a little differently than yours as I manifest myself in daily life (a life far from perfect I must say, but still a life, and an abundant one in its own way…gratefully speaking).
A bit of where I ‘came’ from…I spent some time in a sort of ghetto myself. One created by the govt of Canada and called ‘Internment’ camps. From an early age I started to believe in the Brotherhood of Man. Now that I’m not separate from that, it’s no longer a belief but a part of me (some memories do die hard, though). Unfortunately, although I don’t think I ever really felt myself as ‘part of a “minority”,’ people generally, in Canada and everywhere else I’ve been, looked at / treated me as just that…someone who lives in a box labeled “ethnic minority–Japanese-Canadian,” despite my varied background…and that’s all because of an Asian appearance, and my name seems Japanese.”
Where we differ, you and I, is in regard to the phenomenon of ‘reincarnation.’ I sense / feel different past lives…that my soul has a history beyond this life. So I realized gradually that I’d been put in that camp for a reason. Karma, if you will. Depending on who one approaches with that concept, that person can be terribly offended. But I will say that experience of Karma, if one is open to it, will answer a whole slew of important life questions.
As I mentioned in a post for another article of Lynn’s, there is an asteroid called Karma.
And I use it. Some time ago on a hunch I found it…the only other person I discovered a few years later using it was Zipporah Dobyn’s daughter (Pottenger ???…can’t recall her full name). Anyways, its #3811 and it can be very telling…again if one is open to looking hard. I say hard because Karma usually can be difficult to ‘see’ in a chart. It’s Sabian Symbol will probably be needed (try Rudhyar). Actually, Karma’s effect is everywhere but where the asteroid Karma appears points out a special Karmic meaning for the chart native’s life. The foregoing is only my experience of this asteroid…mind you.
I should be using my limited time to post under Lynn’s article on the financial markiets, as I mentioned in the lone comment there now. But since you’re concerned re. ‘economics,’ ‘money,’ ‘power,’ having and not having…might as well say something on these loaded terms here.
It’s true, still, if you have any of the signs of being part of a minority, there will be limitations. But as you say…”hop off the Gravy Train.” Of course, because this is a merry-go-round…a Catch-22. Further, you say “believe that you are more than what others have made you out to be. Everything will fall into place once you do.”
Yes, not all at once, but gradually life will begin to match your inner changes, if they are true changes. And money, power, resources may all come with this change…often not in ways / modes expected…and not to be utilized in a conventional manner, etc, etc.
Canada and the US…both have their Sun in Cancer…so Pluto transiting Capricorn will certainly have a big impact, particularly on the ‘material’ life…and we are now in for the long haul re. exposure of decay in our societies overall and the need to regenerate all sorts of structures and systems…until 2024 and beyond. Not to be surprised if it’s a rough ride.
This comment will be my last on Lynn’s site. Something just happened here, which was the sign to leave. It’s been very interesting. Warrior…if you have a response to the foregoing, don’t hesitate to post it, because I will return just to read.
Best to all…and thanks to Lynn for her fine site !!!
Yoshinogawa

Yoshi, if you are reading, blessings ! Not because you agree with me but because you’re here… and you get “it”.