Richard Fausset and P.J. Huffstutter, Los Angeles Times
- Like Henry Louis Gates Jr., they are professionals, men of status and achievement who have excelled in a nation that once shunned black men.
And for many of them, their only shock — upon learning of the celebrated scholar’s recent run-in with police — was the moment of recognition.
They know too well the pivotal moment Gates faced at his Massachusetts home. It was that moment of suspicion when confronted by police, the moment one wonders, in a flash of panic, anger or confusion: Maybe I am being treated this way because I’m black.
Next comes the pivotal question: Do I protest or just take it?
Kwame Dunston says he has made the calculated choice to take it — repeatedly. The public school administrator says he has been pulled over more than 20 times in the last decade, but has rarely been issued a ticket. What factor other than race, he wondered, would account for all of those stops?
