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Aug. 02, 2009
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JOHN L. SMITH: Last call came before Beer Summit got to the bottom of racial profiling

JOHN L. SMITH
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Rainier Spencer is a man you'd like to have a beer with. Make that a Mexican beer.

Tecate, Corona. One of those icy and exotic brands that conjure images of sandy beaches on the tip of Baja a million miles from the noise of daily life.

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    • These days, that distant beach is the only place you'll be able to escape the odd, overblown Thursday "Beer Summit" at the White House hosted by Bartender in Chief Barack Obama.

    Cameras and reporters were kept 50 feet away from the seemingly solemn patio party, perhaps to prevent them from overhearing a less-than-presidential Bud Light belch. Clearly, the moment was meant to provide a uniting symbol while simultaneously placing a coda on a controversy that has diminished the president's popularity while he tries to focus on health care reform.

    America has no shortage of examples of racism and racial profiling, but the recent dust-up between Harvard University scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley just isn't one of them.

    That's the biggest problem with the story, says Spencer, a professor at UNLV's Department of Anthropology & Ethnic Studies and the 2006 author of "Challenging Multiracial Identity."

    The other problem, of course, is that President Obama misspoke when he accused the Cambridge police of "acting stupidly" in arresting Gates for disorderly conduct. The charges were later dropped, and Obama has since apologized for shooting from the lip. He said he hoped the sipping of the suds would provide a "teachable moment."

    Fast-forward to Thursday's corny photo-op featuring Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in shirt sleeves and Gates and Crowley in suits, looking as comfortable as a couple of guys waiting to be called before a grand jury. They had mugs of beer in front of them like the gang at a really uptight version of "Cheers." Perhaps Biden was present to remind the world he's not the only one who occasionally speaks "stupidly."

    For scholars who give serious thought to the role of race in America, the Beer Summit didn't provide much of a teachable moment. It provided a reason to cringe.

    "I do think it's a farce," Spencer says. "I wouldn't say it's negative, but I would say it has no impact on anything. ... It's neutral. It's meaningless. I think that what really happened was captured by Obama's second foray into this that people lost their heads on both sides who shouldn't have."

    After all the media hype, the meeting was more C.Y.A. than Kumbaya, something Spencer says had more the feel of damage control than meaningful dialogue.

    "This isn't an issue of racial profiling," he says. "It's not a teachable moment unless you want to talk about people losing their cool. You don't need to have a national conversation about that."

    Symbols are important. Americans are often moved to action by the symbolic gestures of their president. And there was undeniable symbolism in Obama being open enough to admit a mistake about a racial issue and to bring the disparate parties together.

    The problem is, the gesture is a squishy one. It's a hollow anecdote. Gates, the black scholar, and Crowley, the progressive white peace officer, provided a Candy Land example of the real problem with racial profiling, especially since it's been established no profiling actually took place.

    That takes the bubbles out of the beer.

    "You have the wrong person there," Spencer says. "It shouldn't be Henry Louis Gates there. It should be a guy who actually gets profiled."

    Such flawed symbolism is too easy and sends the message that racism is a fast-fading phenomenon. (Look no further than the Web posts for the Review-Journal story on the fatal shooting of 38-year-old Kevin Franchow for an example of racism in this community.)

    "The danger is that racists don't change on their side, but those of us who need to be vigilant about it let our guard down," Spencer says. "Things are not better. Things are completely unchanged. That's the danger where you get this kind of face-saving, damage control at the White House that maybe has a negative effect with people on the street who are really not serviced by the beer summit. Regular people are not helped."

    So, if you'll excuse him, Spencer will raise his glass when the silly symbolism ceases and the serious discussion begins.

    John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.

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    GEORGE wrote on August 03, 2009 03:06 AM: Gates case sure was a case of racial profiling. The cop was white and Gates was black. That is all Obama needed to know to declare the cops were stupid. His racial profiling assumes all cops are guilty and all blacks are innocent.


    Chicano wrote on August 02, 2009 03:57 PM: There is not a black person under 35 years old that knows anything about racism. They only repeat the stories they've heard. Just because someone uses a racial slur against you doesn't mean they hate. Hell, they're probably just trying to pick a fight. Racism against Hispanics is certainly more real. Whites quiver and wimper even when they are falsely accused by blacks. Whites and Blacks certainly do not have a problem uniting when it comes to speaking out against Hispanics. Racism against blacks is a fraudulent statement.


    SteveF wrote on August 02, 2009 03:07 PM: "President Obama misspoke.."



    He did NOT misspeak. He showed he is a racist. People had questions before, but now he's proven his is 100% racist.



    "and Obama has since apologized for shooting from the lip."



    You, John L. Smith, are a LIAR. You, just like most liberals, put forth a 100% lie and hope people believe it. The Racist in Charge did NOT utter one single word of apology. Have you ever told the truth about anything in your life?


    SteveF wrote on August 02, 2009 03:01 PM: "President Obama misspoke.."

    He did NOT misspeak. He showed he is a racist. People had questions before, but now he's proven his is 100% racist.

    "and Obama has since apologized for shooting from the lip."

    You, John L. Smith, are a LIAR. You, just like most liberals, put forth a 100% lie and hope people believe it. The Racist in Charge did NOT utter one single word of apology. Have you ever told the truth about anything in your life?


    SteveF wrote on August 02, 2009 03:00 PM: "President Obama misspoke.."

    He did NOT misspeak. He showed he is a racist. People had questions before, but now he's proven his is 100% racist.

    "and Obama has since apologized for shooting from the lip."

    You, John L. Smith, are a LIAR. You, just like most liberals, put forth a 100% lie and hope people believe it. The Racist in Charge did NOT utter one single word of apology. Have you ever told the truth about anything in your life?


    moral of the story wrote on August 02, 2009 12:30 PM: If you see someone you do not recognise forcing the door open on your black neighbors house. Don't get involved. Go take a nap or go watch a movie.

    You would think Gates would have thanked the officer for watching out for his property, Instead, this buffoon turns a legitimate police call into racism.

    If Gates would have turned out to be a burglar and the officer said "the guy said he lived there". That too would have been turned into racism. Because the officer did not protect his property because he was black.

    Gates admitted that he was having problems entering the home in a normal manner. To the average person it would have looked like breaking and entering.

    It is all BS.

    I lost a lot of respect for Obama running his mouth without the facts.


    VegasSucks wrote on August 02, 2009 12:29 PM: The most interesting aspect of this lame beer summit was what brand of beer each man chose. Sgt. Crowley chose Blue Moon(which comes with an orange slice)--it's a refreshing beer, good flavor: President Obama choice was Bud Light--with it's patriotic red, white, and blue label: Vice-president Biden, a late invitee, (supposedly to even out the table, racially speaking) chose Buckler--a 0.5% alcohol content wanna-be beer. I suppose Biden was the designated driver that "historic" day. Harvard man Louis Gates, Jr.'s original choice was Red Stripe beer from Jamaica. I knew this was going to be a problem as soon as I heard his choice. I thought that there's no way a Jamaican beer was going to be on the table at this beer party. It would have sent the wrong message at this coming-together, let's-all-hold-hands "happy hour". And sure enough, his Jamaican beer was eventually changed to a Samuel Adams Light. Another very patriotic choice.
    How much time and thought was dedicated to having this freakish Happy Hour?? I voted for Obama, I like Biden...but this was just way over-the-top. And uncomfortable for everyone, not just the attendees. What a fake photo op..
    My heart goes out to the woman who dialed 911 to report two men possibly breaking into a residence. SHE should have been the first person invited to this round table 'summit'.


    Dosen't matter if your Black or White wrote on August 02, 2009 11:42 AM: There is an alternative to this meeting. They could have stayed apart and not developed some insight about the other party. The thing to remember is....It's not about the beer.


    Fly-over country wrote on August 02, 2009 11:36 AM: I see it more as a class difference than racial.


    Green Dragon Regular wrote on August 02, 2009 10:42 AM: "...President Obama misspoke..."

    "Misspoke"? I love how this little word has crept into the liberal since Hillary Clinton explained she'd "misspoken" about landing in Bosnia under fire. It's as if the verbage or phraseology used was somehow to blame for the way the public perceived the message and was not at all what the speaker had in mind. These are people for whom words and phrases are their bread and butter. They ought to display better proficiency with their tools.

    As for the empty symbolism of it all, isn't it an excellent example of the microcosm reflecting the macro? Obama is substantive like mercury. Neither liquid nor solid and extremely dangerous when left in then open. He is a masterful reader with some questionable speaking skills better suited to recording audio books than to real self-expression.


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