Colorful Profiles

I’m willing to bet green money that President Barack Obama has probably been “profiled” at least once in his life. Before he became famous as a senator, which put him on the fast track to the White House, he was just another well-educated and successful “black” man, who’s very likely been pulled over, or otherwise stopped and questioned by police, on the basis of his skin color. It would not surprise me in the least to learn that my suspicions about this are correct — though looking like a “white” person, I cannot imagine how would feel to be treated that way.

President Obama has said that he doesn’t regret saying that Cambridge Massachusetts police officers “acted stupidly” when they arrested “black” Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Good for him!

Even though the cops are goin’ off about how could make it harder for police to work with “people of color,” and how that could even set back the progress in “race relations” that helped Mr. Obama get elected as the first African-American, “black” president of color — yeah right, as if that’s why anyone voted for him in the first place.

(See, I don’t think a “black” man was elected president because of “progress in race relations,” or any of that anachronistic nonsense that is supposed to be part of our shameful history. The Democrats didn’t get a “black” man elected president because Mr. Obama is smart man, who got elected president by looking like a “black” man. If Mr. Obama had blond hair, blue eyes, and a peaches and creme complexion, he would never have gotten away with talkin’ like an Ivy Leaguer. Rather, he would have been almost immediately dismissed as an “elitist,” out of touch with the “common” people.)

David Holway, president of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers said, “the president’s alienated public safety officers across the country with his comments.”

What? Does he mean that “racial profiling” — a nice term for bigotry in law enforcement — is a useful crime fighting tool? If so, then “white” criminals probably hope it continues to be implemented, and “white” men who are trying to break into houses can do so as cops drive by, without even fear of becoming a suspect.

Cambridge police Commissioner Robert Haas said Obama’s comments hurt — I wonder if they hurt as much as living with the fact that people who are not “white” are stopped by law enforcement disproportionately.