By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Correspondent
President Barack Obama acted as the bartender on Thursday at a "beer summit" meet-up of the main figures in a highly charged case of racial politics. Obama hoped to turn the broil into a "positive lesson" in the national debate on race relations.
President Obama described the meet as a "friendly, thoughtful" conversation over beers at the White House with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, who is black, and a cop, Sergeant James Crowley, who is white. Vice-President "Crazy" Joe Biden also showed up to throw back a few.
Earlier this month, Crowley arrested Gates for disorderly conduct after a confrontation over Gates not identifying himself (someone called the police, believing Gates was an intruder). Words "were exchanged," and both parties seem to have lost their cool. This, naturally, sparked a media feeding frenzy as the 58 year old Gates, accused the policeman of racial profiling. Crowley denied this and accused Gates of overreacting.
Obama poured gasoline on the troubled waters by saying he thought police "acted stupidly" in arresting his acquaintance, Professor Gates.
According to sources in the White House, even after several beers, the atmosphere was tense. The President rolled a couple of joints and passed them around. When our source returned to the meeting, everyone at the table was laughing uproariously and demanding more beer.
---o0o---
No comments:
Post a Comment