Lucia Whalen was the American woman who saw two men trying to enter a house without using keys and called the Cambridge police for assistance. It is now clear to all that her intent was to protect the homeowner and the neighborhood regardless of race. Some initially felt that she called the police because they were Blacks, and other felt that she may have done it to ridicule Professor Gates, who happens to be the Black man she knows actually lives in the house.
Further investigation shows that Whalen did not know the race or the identity of the two men trying to get into the house. She was solely concerned about protection. Despite the vast media coverage and the involvement of the President, she still summoned the courage to put her face in the television to state her position in the matter. Whalen emphasized that she never mentioned race (Black) on the 911 call, which has been proven, and also stated that she never mentioned race to Sergeant Crowley when he arrived at the scene. It was Sergeant Crowley that brought race into the issue, mentally and socially, in his report of the case. It was Sergeant Crowley who went to the scene with a mind set of “possible Black criminals” and it may have affected how he did his job when he finally met Professor Gates at the house.
I admire many White Americans like Lucia Whalen for serving America diligently in their very simple ways daily. She did not only try to protect her neighbor’s house, but refused to protect a White police officer, who most likely erred in his judgment while performing his duty. Some White Americans, who may put their race before the unity and progress of their country, may have kept quiet or taken the blame, just to make sure that bad policing still runs around our great nation to put Blacks in their place. But Lucia Whalen, as a true American should, came out in nobility to show her good citizenship.
Any descent police office with superior judgment would have walked away respectfully with a smile of gratitude on the face of the homeowner, as soon as he showed proof of residence or identity. Instead, we had a police officer, who daydreams of Black criminals, offending a homeowner who ends up demanding his badge number and identity. Unlike Sergeant Leon Lashley and Kelley King of the Cambridge police, I stand in salutation to Lucia Whalen for being a true American by showing us that America deserves to be a 21st century color blind society in truth and in fairness.
