BB and Bill, read the stories. Gates was within his rights all the way along. He isn't guilty of something just because he's indignant or angry about the way he is treated. And Henry Louis Gates is fully capable, in fact, uniquely positioned for understanding just how insulting this event was. That's part of the irony of it. But you may need to be familiar with Gates' broad and gifted scholarship to really get it.

NPR did a story this afternoon on All Things Considered. One of the professors who is a former cop summed it up as a "Contempt of Cop" case, where the cop escalated the event and arrested the person simply because the person found the cop contemptible. This is a way to get even.

SRS