Tangled Up in Blue

It started as an odd little news story, even what is known as a kicker in the news business. A Harvard professor arrested for disorderly conduct outside of his home. Words were exchanged, tempers flared and both men were not about to back down. When it comes to dealing with the police, there is usually one winner.


Unfortunately this story not only had legs, but it ran all the way to the White House.

Let me tell you something Mary Collins told her young son when he asked about a movie title. The film was "A Patch of Blue." It was highly acclaimed and starred Sidney Poitier. In many ways it was a classic reversal of roles when a poorly educated white girl who happens to be blind befriends and is tutored by a young man who happens to be black. She begins to fall in love with him and in 1965 that was enough drama for a movie-going public. The metaphor of the film's title was lost on me. I kind of understood the break in the clouds of blindness for the girl having her world opened up by this well-rounded young man. But what else did it mean? Mom said it referred to Mr. Poitier's skin color. "Sometimes black folks are so dark we're thought of as blue." She said cautiously.

That never left me. And it is one of those things that a young mother felt she had to tell her son. It was part of a hefty volume of defensive knowledge. Obviously the term blue means other things, too, like law enforcement. Here is where the culture seems to continually clash.

If there is a divide between the Blue Americas it is rooted in distrust. I do not subscribe in this notion, but I do understand it. Our Constitution designates the administration, Barack Obama, with enforcing the law. By extension, when any American comes in contact with law enforcement we are touched by the administration, by the President. Yet the president this week stepped into a minefield of perception.

This week I was stopped by a patrolman in Macedonia, Ohio. I was going 40 in a 25mph business district. When the officer came to my window I removed my sunglasses, gave him some important information regarding a certain license I hold and complied with his requests. He was courteous, even friendly and let me off with a suggestion to drive safely. That was it. I have never had a problem with the police. I have never felt the need to be confrontational with the police. Why would I? Why would anyone, especially a highly educated college professor? There was a moment here in Hudson when I accidentally tripped my alarm and the HPD came by (in seconds) and asked for my ID before they believed I was the rightful owner. Again, it was cordial and I actually felt safer knowing they responded so quickly.

There is a notion among many black folks, even those at the highest levels of American society, that when it comes to blue on blacks nothing but confrontation will ensue. I think that is not only counterproductive but the exception rather than the rule.

Georgetown Professor Michael Dyson said on Face the Nation this weekend that, "few black men in America would have the nerve to say what Professor Gates allegedly said. He'd be too afraid." Why not he'd find it inappropriate and, frankly, stupid.

I'm sorry, being belligerent and insulting to men and women who put their lives on the line everyday is not a patch of blue. It is still more of the same hostile clouds we have been waiting to move on for generations.