The Globe and Mail

Growing up Jewish in post-Second World War Canada was to be conscious of the soft reality of bigotry and discrimination. We all knew that anti-Semitism was rife, even if it had become rather more genteel after the war against Hitler. It was widely said that signs abounded saying “No dogs or Jews allowed,” though to be perfectly honest I don't think I ever saw one. One kid called me a dirty Jew a couple of times. Many others only thought it. Blacks were barely a public factor at that time.

When I was in my early 20s and looking for an apartment, I joined a small civil liberties project to check whether accommodation in Toronto was free of discrimination. I would go look at a place for rent and manage to mention that I was Jewish. Often enough the place had just been rented. But when the next interested party – clearly a non-Jew – applied a day later, the apartment was suddenly vacant again and he got it.

All my life I have been a passionate foe of any kind of bigotry or discrimination based on religion, race, ethnicity, nationality, or sexual preference. And mostly it's clear when that happens. The issue of apartment rentals Toronto was pretty clear-cut.

Similarly, I know personally of blatant racial profiling over the years by Toronto police, who pull over young black men if they're driving cars deemed too classy, or for whatever excuse the officers concoct. The crime of DWB –driving while black – is usually pretty straightforward too.

But what happened to Professor Henry Louis Gates of Harvard University this week is not just another flagrant case of racial profiling as Gates, his many supporters and even U.S. President Barack Obama have tried to make it. Gates came home from a trip to find the door of his home somehow jammed, forcing him to break in. Someone reported to the cops that a black man was breaking into the house, a white cop appeared, Gates became furious, and was eventually handcuffed and taken into custody. It's become a high-profile scandal in the United States, evidence that despite Obama, racism is alive and well. I have no doubt that's true about American racism. But it's not so clear this case proves it. The question is how this incident got so completely out of hand.

It's also not clear that we'll ever get the story right, since only two people know the truth and they tell conflicting stories.

Here's what I'm sure of. If anyone was seen breaking into my house –including me, if the witness didn't know me – I'd want the cops there ASAP. I'd be very concerned if the police failed to demand proof that I lived in that house. Since forcing your way into your own home is rare indeed, I'd expect the police to be pretty firm until that proof was produced. But once it was, I'd hope everyone would shake hands and go on their way.

It's not clear from either Gates's or the arresting officer's account that Gates ever accepted the cop's intervention as legitimate in any way. Most reports indicate he produced a Harvard faculty card, without an address. I assume it had Gates's photo, which would've told the officer that he was no interloper in the neighbourhood. That should've helped cool things off while Gates found the proof he lived there, which should hardly be difficult. But it didn't, either because Gates was unreasonable and furious, accusing the officer of old-fashioned racism, or because the officer was unduly aggressive and provocative, which he denies. Clearly we'll never know for sure.

The case is already going toxic, with foolish arguments being adduced by all sides. Much is being made of Gates's towering reputation as perhaps the leading American historian and documentary maker of both Africa and African-Americans. I've known and admired his prolific work for decades. But his stature is entirely irrelevant to this incident. It's a kind of special pleading. What are the implications of raising it? Does it mean that a black junior lecturer at Harvard, or a black plumber, could be treated with less respect than the prestigious Professor Gates?

On the other side, the officer's backers stress that he had been chosen by a senior officer – a black man – to teach the perils of racial profiling to other cops coming up. Ironic, no doubt, but irrelevant. It's true the officer was simply doing his duty in demanding proof that Gates lived in the house. But no one knows how gratuitously belligerent or disrespectful he might have been or if he pushed Gates way beyond cause. Blacks have earned the right to angrily reject such treatment. But we'll never know what happened. As always, each “side” will believe the story its guy is telling.

President Obama, who knows Gates, said he didn't know the whole story but went on to say the cop had acted “stupidly.” It was nice that the President allowed his true feelings about racism in the United States to come to the fore for once. But he had no idea whether the cop acted stupidly, unless he meant the cop shouldn't have investigated the break-in at all, which would put his law degree in jeopardy.

It's important to be reminded that Obama's victory has by no means meant the end of racism in the United States. But it's not at all certain that this confusing and unhappy incident teaches that lesson.

Gerald Caplan is a former national campaign director for the NDP and author of The Betrayal of Africa.