CAMBRIDGE RACIAL ROW: Obama admits mistake

July 25, 2009

CAMBRIDGE RACIAL ROW

Obama admits mistake

Mr Obama made a rare foray into the political minefield of race relations, saying police acted 'stupidly.' -- PHOTO: AP

WASHINGTON - BARACK Obama sought on Friday to extricate himself from the first race row of his presidency, saying he regretted having said a white policeman acted 'stupidly' in arresting a black Harvard professor.

STORM OVER: OBAMA MR OBAMA, who is battling to get his radical healthcare reforms passed by a wary Congress with sceptics on both side of the house, cannot afford such distractions and indicated he believed the storm was over. In lighthearted tones, he revealed he had discussed having both Sgt Crowley and Prof Gates for a 'beer here in the White House. We don't know if that's scheduled yet, but we may put that together.' ... more

Mr Obama, the nation's first African American president, spoke at a surprise appearance before reporters in the White House barely two hours after angry police in Cambridge, Massachusetts, demanded he say sorry for linking the professor's arrest to racial tensions.

Mr Obama said he had phoned the arresting officer, Sergeant James Crowley, and expressed regret for 'an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge police department or Sergeant Crowley specifically'.

'I could have calibrated those words differently and I told this to Sergeant Crowley.' The row, which has the potential to torpedo Mr Obama's carefully crafted image as the country's first post-racial president, started last week when police briefly detained Harvard professor, Henry Louis Gates.

Mr Gates was arrested after a neighbour saw him breaking into his house and mistakenly reported a burglary. An altercation followed in which Prof Gates accused police of racist treatment and was charged with disorderly conduct.

Mr Obama, who is a friend of Prof Gates, made a rare foray into the political minefield of race relations, saying police acted 'stupidly.' He also raised the painful issue of police discrimination against non-whites.

The White House refused to characterise Friday's statement as an apology and Mr Obama stuck by the substance of his original comments made at a press conference on Wednesday.

'The fact that this has become such a big issue I think is indicative of the fact that race is still a troubling aspect of our society,' Mr Obama said.

'Be mindful of the fact that because of our history, because of the difficulties of the past, you know, African Americans are sensitive to these issues,' he urged.

'And even when you've got a police officer who has a fine track record on racial sensitivity, interactions between police officers and the African American community can sometimes be fraught with misunderstanding.'

He also said both the police and Prof Gates had 'overreacted.' -- AFP

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