There are a couple of ways of looking at it, and they've been touched on by various posters. One is strictly legalistic: if the cop did not do everything by the book, and if Gates stayed entirely within his legal rights, then only the cop can be criticized. There is, however, a more "human" way of looking at it: if you can see past the uniform and the skin colours, what you get is an all-too-common type of human failure - that of two grown men unable to deal with a minor misunderstanding in a civil manner.

At this point, an exchange of apologies, as per Bill D, would do far more for race relations than continued posturing. (Maybe Obama, now that he has blundered into it, should invite them to the Oval Office for tea, then come out for a photo op with them all grinning and group-hugging.)