In his commentary in last Friday’s Gazette, Prof . Lawrence Harrison made several observations and presumptions about the episode between Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley that cannot go unchallenged.

First, that Mr. Gates’s behavior was such that under Massachusetts law he deserved to be arrested, and second that Sergeant Crowley, armed with a gun, was unfairly a victim of the verbal wrath of a slight five-foot, eight-inch nearly elderly unarmed black man who walks with a cane. Mr. Harrison seems to presume that Mr. Gates’s behavior constituted an offense for which he should have been arrested with a reasonable likelihood of being convicted. Mr. Harrison seems to make that presumption based upon his observation that Mr. Gates “views himself a victim of American racism . . .” No other evidence is provided by Mr. Harrison.

Mr. Harrison is probably correct that Mr. Gates could have handled the situation differently. That said, Mr. Harrison seems to be suggesting Mr. Gates was wrong to ask for Sergeant Crowley’s badge number and ID, information every citizen should be entitled to receive. Requesting such information certainly seems reasonable. What Mr. Harrison fails to understand is the confrontation was exacerbated by race and probably perceived issues of class. Mr. Gates sees himself as deservedly privileged and very smart. It is fair to assume [and it is an assumption] that Mr. Gates would see Sergeant Crowley as neither having earned an equally privileged position nor possibly as smart. All of the admonitions we as black males received from our parents about how to act when confronted by the police at a time we believe we are not being treated with respect have to do with survival — the cop has a gun and the last say as to what happened, absent witnesses. Mr. Gates was not in a position of grave personal danger, since there were a number of police present, including Harvard officers [I believe]. Given this scenario, I can see how Mr. Gates, tired from a very long trip and feeling unfairly hassled, could have spoken very directly at Sergeant Crowley. I can also see how Sergeant Crowley could have resented a black man “talking down,” etc. to him and “demeaning” his authority in front of his subordinate officers. This resentment could easily surface irrespective of whether the police officer was acting correctly or not. But does Sergeant Crowley getting his feelings hurt or feeling disrespected in and/or on Mr. Gates’s property constitute an offense for which Mr. Gates should have been arrested?

Mr. Harrison provided an example of what would have been “appropriate behavior” by Mr. Gates. That example suggested that Mr. Gates could have opened the incident with Sergeant Crowley with, “I’m aware that more than half of all robberies in the United States are perpetrated by African Americans . . .”

What Mr. Harrison fails to understand is that there is a difference between respect and obsequiousness. His idealized behavior for Mr. Gates would have required the latter. Would Mr. Harrison suggest a parallel response by a white person stopped for a crime committed almost solely by white folks [say killing doctors performing abortions]? I think not. At best, Mr. Harrison’s criticisms of Mr. Gates in the recent incident reside somewhere between shaky and bankrupt.

Mr. Harrison remarked that he “became an instant pariah” at a conference last summer on the Vineyard because of the positions he took. I was at the conference and was appalled at the weakness of Mr. Harrison’s presentation. I believe that his position, as stated in his article last week, is that “black subculture, not racism, was the principle cause of black underachievement.” Most folks in the audience last summer accept subculture issues as a contributing factor to problems plaguing the black community. Mr. Harrison did not capitalize on the wonderful opportunity to present his ideas in a compelling manner. Unfortunately, perhaps he had a bad day, but he did not seem well prepared to discuss his central premise. That is what made him a pariah, not his belief that subculture issues are central. It was an ironic form of “victimology,” the derisive term Mr. Harrison hangs on Mr. Gates and others, to fail to recognize that the pariahdom he feels is largely of his own making.

Ed Swan lives in Oak Bluffs and Boston and is retired from over 35 years in investment management.