enough about black in america,first african american president. We keep putting that out there it will never go away. It is time we look forward not backwords.

Even being a minority in the US, I support the officer 100%. I do not think it is appropriate for a well respected professor, Dr. Gates, to use profanity during the event. No matter how angry he was at the time. If I were the officer in this case, I would also act by the book. Regardless of black or white.

Hi CNN I will like to comment on the incident with the professer it is so sad but I had a similar incident in Baltimore recently where I was hit by a moped going up a one way ramp while I was driving a rental car I taught the right thing to do was to call the police so I did the police treated me like I commited a crime I felt the only reason for being treated so poorly was my race how sad to think that people need to treat other s poorly so they can feel better .

I recently was racially profile in the cajun county of Louisiana. I was commenting on a white couple allowing their child to play with the Sam's equipment laser gun at the cash register(cs). When it was my turn to exchange my item the cashier said oh u used food stamps. On my receipt it showed debit purchase. The professor at Cambridge is not the only one who deals with this ignorant small percentage of Americans

A few points:

1) Given all the talk of police distrust among minorities, Obama does law enforcement a major diservice by siding against the police without knowing the facts.

2) If anyone read the police report, they would realize that GATES WANTED TO CREATE A RACIAL CONTROVERSY. He called the officer a racist from the beginning.

3) THIS IS NOT RANDOM, RACIAL PROFILING. The police were responding to a 911 call about a break in! Gates did BREAK IN to his house. They would have approached any person in the house with suspicion. They didn't randomly approach him because of his race, they responded because of a break in.

4) What if there was a break in and a burglar was still in the house when police arrived? Read the police report! Gates refused to cooperate with police and could have put him in danger.

Obama should spend more time learning about the details of his healthcare plan, not weighing in on issues to stir up racial tensions.

Obama should apologize to the Cambridge PD.

And on the other hot topic right now - the Harvard professor - if you are a police officer and you don't know for a fact that the person breaking into my house is me ... arrest them! Because if I have to break in my house and get pissed that the officer who does not personally know me asks for i.d., then I have a problem.I understand that there are 2 sides to every story and right now both sides seem to have acted ignorantly - because someone is black does not make them a criminal, officer, they could be the victim - and because you were asked to show i.d. while admittedly breaking into a house does not mean you are being profiled by a racist officer , Mr.Gates.Now grow up the both of you.

Hi Anderson,
I generally think you are right on and fair, but your conversation last night with Soledad O'Brien about the Gates case was completely one sided! No one even presented the officer's point of view! It was all about, "poor Professor Gates and the black man in America." Give me a break!!! Soledad is demeaning herself as a professional journalist. Her apparent favoritism and unequivocal siding with Professor Gates was overwhelmingly sickening! She did not even present ALL the facts, neither did you! Professor Gates (arrogant and combative) is the one who interjected RACE into the event, not the officer. And I would like to ask Ms O'Brien why she keeps referring to "Racial Profiling" in this case when this officer was not acting arbitrarily...he was answering a legitmate call about a possible breaking and entering. He had no idea who was in that house. How is that Racial Profiling??? Ms O'Brein needs to go. She has proven she is biased toward one group of people and her judgement is not balanced nor impartial. Additionally, Obama was completely out of line defending Gates, as was the govenor of MA. UNBELIEVABLE!!!

"Black in America 2" or not, since this is an ongoing case and no one knows all of the facts at this point, it was irresponsible for CNN and O'Brien to give Gates a platform without being challenged.

This is why I do not watch these types of programs on CNN.

Yo should be ashamed of yourselves!

Let's try this scenario–the homeowner/intruder is white; the arresting officer is black. Dare I venture a guess as to the resolution and the outrage in this case?

As far as "acting by the book" as stated; the probabilities of that occurring with a white homeowner/intruder are remote at best. There would have been apologizes all around and the situation would have ended there.

It amazes me how a Professor of Gates stature will stoop so low as to use the race card to get himself out of an embarrassing situation. Sgt. Crowley was doing his job in serving and protecting the citizens of this town. Professor Gates should be grateful that Sgt. Crowley was being thorough in his duties. Instead he paints Sgt. Crowley as cop whose only reason to be on the force is to single out black minorities like himself.
What disgusts me the most is how the Mayor of Cambridge is wanting a meeting to prevent an episode like this from happening again. Does she mean that if an officer responds to a break in call and there happens to be a black individual there playing the race card, the officer returns to their patrol call and leave without properly verifying the residence?
I'm sorry Professor Gates and the Mayor of Cambridge, you both need to apologize to Sgt. Crowley for your actions.

I'm surprised that Soledad has not sought counsel from her favorite religious icon, Paster Wright.

Thank you Soledad for being a person of reason. Clearly, at some point during this situation with the professor the police officer realized that the home belonged to him. Police officer need to learn how to put themselves in the other person's position in a situation. I am sure the professor was angry and outraged to be confronted in his own home. However, to be arrested for being outraged in your own home for doing nothing but being upset and angry is taking this situation to the outrageous point. Basically, the professor was arrested for being angry and loud for being confronted in his own home for doing nothing to violate the law. I guess we could all be arrested for being upset if we were in the same situation in Cambridge, Mass. We live in a very sad time when people are arrested for standing their ground with a police officer.

Where is the other side? Where is the interview with the officers (yes, more than one witnessed Gates' tirade)? Where is the interview with the crowd that formed on the street who saw it all.? Where is the tape of Crowley's radio transmission that caught this? Police who have heard it say Gates was out of control. Where is journalistic integrity!!!

I think it is refreshing to have a president that speaks his mind. He said we don't know all of the facts but said had he felt. What is wrong with that? After having a president that is secretive and withholds information.People can agree with him or disagree but he was asked a question and he gave his real thoughts for better or worse.Move on..Americans have wanted health care reform and asked him to do it..Now that it is within reach where is the support????It must be done.Get behind the president.We blew it once don't blow it again.

Ha! Too funny! The prof is a race baiter! Has he stopped beating his wife? Ha! The prof is a pure bred nutt-job, just out to stir the race pot. Nothing but a lame Jesse Jackson wanna-be. Cry him a river, cause no one is coming to his defense, but our good ol home boy Obama. And we thought Joe Biden was the one with the loose lips. Ha!

They dropped the charges. Why??? Maybe because they realized that the policeman screwed this one up. There was no reason to arrest a law abiding citizen like professor Gates.
Henry

Louie, I totally agree. Ha! The Cambridge Police Department should sue the pants off of Mr. Obama for making the STUPIDITY comment and thereby attempting to ridicule these men in uniform. Obama himself said had he been the own trying to force the3 white house front door...he would have been shot. Mr. Obama should have stayed above this situation after all he is the Chief Commander. Ha!