White Cop v. Black Man
Posted by Carolan Gladden at 7/25/2009 10:52 AM 
Categories: Books, Protesting, Current Events, Black and White, Ideas
Categories: Books, Protesting, Current Events, Black and White, Ideas
"Skip" Gates -- I learned to call him that from a Jamaican couple on my Ghana tour -- is first of all an honorable human being who happens to be a brilliant educator and an African-American male dedicated to exposing the world to ideas they never thought about before.
I came to know and respect Henry Louis Gates, Jr. first from his amazing public television series and later book "Wonders of the African World" -- which put the lie to Africa, the euw ... DARK continent with nothing but primitives and no buildings or places of learning. For instance, Timbuktu in Mali was the birthplace of one of the first-ever universities and libraries in the entire world!
I later acquired the "Africana" encyclopedia that W.E.B. DuBois began before his death, that was finally completed in 1998 by Gates and Kwame Anthony Appiah. This 2000+ page book is the definitive story of the African and African-American experience and in my opinion should stand open on a pedestal in every police department in the U.S.
Lack of this reference manual -- not to mention a book I edited years ago and still in print, "Preventing Crime in Japan and America" by Robert Y. Thornton, Oregon's Attorney General in the '60s -- plus the lack of Community Policing lead inevitably to White Cop v. Black Man. Over and over again in every area of the country.
What is Community Policing? At its simplest it has a kiosk as part of every neighborhood that is staffed by officials who can tell the neighbors from the criminals!!
Years ago my hometown Portland even sent police to Japan to learn how to do it. After all, Japan birthed the idea. And to some extent it is still operating in Portland and is still a valuable crime prevention tool.
So, Cambridge, get on the ball and don't let another stupidity occur!
Positively,
Carolan
I came to know and respect Henry Louis Gates, Jr. first from his amazing public television series and later book "Wonders of the African World" -- which put the lie to Africa, the euw ... DARK continent with nothing but primitives and no buildings or places of learning. For instance, Timbuktu in Mali was the birthplace of one of the first-ever universities and libraries in the entire world!
I later acquired the "Africana" encyclopedia that W.E.B. DuBois began before his death, that was finally completed in 1998 by Gates and Kwame Anthony Appiah. This 2000+ page book is the definitive story of the African and African-American experience and in my opinion should stand open on a pedestal in every police department in the U.S.
Lack of this reference manual -- not to mention a book I edited years ago and still in print, "Preventing Crime in Japan and America" by Robert Y. Thornton, Oregon's Attorney General in the '60s -- plus the lack of Community Policing lead inevitably to White Cop v. Black Man. Over and over again in every area of the country.
What is Community Policing? At its simplest it has a kiosk as part of every neighborhood that is staffed by officials who can tell the neighbors from the criminals!!
Years ago my hometown Portland even sent police to Japan to learn how to do it. After all, Japan birthed the idea. And to some extent it is still operating in Portland and is still a valuable crime prevention tool.
So, Cambridge, get on the ball and don't let another stupidity occur!
Positively,
Carolan
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