The Strange Case of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

The recent public debate spawned by the arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has proven to be a fascinating litmus test for the current state of race relations in what, after Barack Obama's improbable election, has been celebrated as a "post-racial country." This fallacy of post-racialism has been encouraged by Obama himself who insisted that he would be a post-racial president who would represent all Americans. That Obama's own loyalties were even questioned was an indication that this country still has anxieties toward powerful people of color, a point further evidenced by the furor sorrounding Sonia Sotomayor's infamous "wise Lati....