Henry Louis Gates

Henry Louis Gates Jr. Roundtable Georgetown University's Michael Eric Dyson and columnist Kathleen Parker discuss with Bob Schieffer the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. From: CBSNewsOnline Views: 3905 17 ratings Time: 07:01 More in News & Politics Read Full Story

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... 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... 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... 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... Read Full Story

Americans are more likely to disapprove than approve of how President Barack Obama dealt with the racially tinged dispute between a white Cambridge, Mass., police officer and a well-known black Harvard scholar — with disapproval especially strong among white voters, according to a poll released Thursday. The July 16 arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. for disorderly conduct in his own home sparked a national debate over racial profiling and police conduct. The controversy intensified after Obama... Read Full Story

President Barack Obama sat down for beers and snacks with a white police officer and an eminent black scholar at the White House Thursday in a bid to quell a national furor over racial profiling. Obama welcomed distinguished Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates and police sergeant James Crowley for 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) beers around a white patio table under a tree in the White House Rose Garden, hoping to turn the page on a race row that erupted during a July 16 incident at the... Read Full Story

You can't solve a problem if you don't discuss it. That's why some say that despite all the accusations and emotions hindering the resolution of the Henry Louis Gates Jr. imbroglio, there is opportunity for racial progress in President Barack Obama's "teachable moment" sitdown with Gates and Sgt. James Crowley. "If nothing else, it's an important national symbol of a discussion that needs to be held," said Clarence B. Jones, once a confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. and author of "What... Read Full Story

The need for President Barack Obama to conduct "beer diplomacy" between a respected black scholar and the white policeman who arrested him demonstrates that race relations have yet to fade into the background of U.S. society. The American struggle with race flashed back into the national debate when Obama — the country's first black president — inserted himself into the angry give-and-take between the policeman and the professor. That was in stark contrast to Obama's history-making run for... Read Full Story

(L-R) U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates, Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley and President Barack Obama drink beer and talk in the Rose Garden at the White House July 30, 2009 in Washington, DC. Crowley arrested Gates, a preeminent scholar of African-American history, in his own home July 16 for disorderly conduct. The issue reached national attention last week when, during a televised news conference Obama said the officer acted stupidly. (Getty... Read Full Story