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Cops & Scholars: A World Apart
• As far apart as black and white
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Wednesday,
July 29, 2009
The media would have us believe that the Gates-Crowley incident is about race. I’m not so sure.
Remove the Obama connection from the scenario. After all, how many of you wouldn’t immediately back a colleague or acquaintance in such an incident? It is a knee-jerk reaction. While Obama may be the commander and chief, he’s not beyond being a regular guy who says what’s on his mind.
Academics and scholars are a unique group of people. As professors, they hold the future of their students in their hands -- a very powerful dictate. The capricious whims of these men and women can leave a permanent mark on the record of the young minds they seek to mentor.
Although television shows depict surgeons as having the “God-complex,” professors trail not too far behind in hubris. And one not dare question their authority as Crowley did Gates'.
It matters not the scholar’s age, gender, ethnicity, religion or the way the University system has been nurtured through the centuries; academics place themselves on high pedestals. Add to the mix being affiliated with one of the most elite learning institutions in the world -- such as Harvard University -- and guys like Gates make surgeons look humble.
The recent clash between Gates and Crowley may be less about color and more about collar: a blue collar cop and a “blue-blooded” academic. They don’t run in the same circles. The two hold different world views and different world objectives. Crowley, a Cambridge Cop, puts his life on the line every day to protect and serve the public while Gates, the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, pursues more esoteric ideals and is less grounded in the daily toils of man.
I don't personally know Gates or Crowley, but I do know cops and scholars. I’ve been a college educator for two decades and have had the pleasure of seeing many a police officer and fire rescue worker through to their Masters and Doctorate Degrees in Public Administration at Nova Southeastern University.
Cops and scholars live worlds apart. In some cases, as far apart as black and white.
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Copyright Cassius Group 2009
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