Henry Louis Gates

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama played bartender-in-chief on Thursday at a "beer summit" of the main players in a racially charged case that he hoped would be a "positive lesson" in a national dialogue on race. Obama, the first black U.S. president, said it was a "friendly, thoughtful" conversation over beer at the White House with prominent Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, who is black, and police Sergeant James Crowley, who is white. Crowley arrested Gates, a well-known documentary filmmaker, for disorderly conduct on July 16 after a confrontation at the professor's home, sparking a media frenzy as Gates, 58, accused the ... Read Full Story

"If you ever reach total enlightenment while drinking beer, I bet it makes beer shoot out your nose," the comedic philosopher Jack Handey once theorized. A messy eureka moment like that was not on tap for the White House beer drinkers Thursday evening. President Barack Obama's get-together with black Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and white police Sgt. James Crowley was less about reaching for racial enlightenment than about helping Obama change the topic. His approval ratings are sagging and his proposed health care overhaul is a momentous struggle. His snap judgment that Cambridge, Mass., police "acted stupidly" in the Gates-Crowley confrontation proved ... Read Full Story

Just as Congress makes progress on health care legislation, President Barack Obama will have to set aside his top legislative priority to revisit the racially charged issue that stole the spotlight from his health care push last week — the arrest of his Harvard professor friend. Obama, Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley and Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., will meet at the White House on Thursday, each one chugging his favorite beer, in a public attempt to move past the emotional event. Obama convened the "beer summit" after calling both men last week in an attempt to defuse the political fallout from ... Read Full Story

Twelve people have been named to an independent review panel created after the arrest of a black Harvard scholar by a white Massachusetts police officer investigating a possible break-in at his home. The arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. led to a national debate over racial profiling that culminated in a White House meeting among Gates, Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley and President Barack Obama. The disorderly conduct charge against Gates was later dropped. Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Police Executive Research Forum, will chair the committee that includes members from around the country. Cambridge City Manager Robert Healy said Thursday ... Read Full Story

Late-night comics found a few things to laugh about in the racially charged arrest of a Harvard professor — once beer was added to the equation. President Barack Obama's invitation to the two men involved to hoist a few at the White House on Thursday opened the comedy floodgates. Before that, the late-night TV world dominated by white comics largely stayed away from the subject of Harvard University scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s confrontation at his home with white police officer Joseph Crowley. "Alcohol usually cools things off — have you noticed that?" CBS' David Letterman said on Tuesday night. Letterman joked that Vice ... Read Full Story