Henry Louis Gates, Troy Anthony Davis, and the 21st century color line

originally published: 22nd July 2009

W.E.B. Du Bois’ classic 1903 work “The Souls of Black Folk” opens with “The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line.” Du Bois helped form the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which just celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Henry Louis Gates Jr., who directs Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, knows much about the color line — not only from his life’s work, but from life experience, including last week, when he was arrested in his own home.

Gates’ lawyer, Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree, said in a statement that the arrest occurred as Gates returned from the airport.

“Professor Gates attempted to enter his front door, but the door was damaged. Professor Gates then entered his rear door with his key, turned off his alarm, and again attempted to open the front door.

With the help of his driver they were able to force the front door open, and then the driver carried Professor Gates’ luggage into his home.” Both Gates and his driver are African-American. According to the Cambridge [Mass.] Police report, a white woman saw the two black men attempting to enter the home and called police.

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Posted by Zinzi Eka-Naphtali on 22/07/2009. Filed under Human Rights,Policy & Reform. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry