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See, it might not have started as a race things but possibly became one. I don't have a problem with a cop inquiring when it looks like someone is breaking into a house - race shouldn't have anything to do with that. But once Gates showed it was his house, the cop should have tipped his hat, said "good day, sir," and been on his way. But that cop clearly has some ego issues, as lots of cops do. These are people who are given some power and some of them like to use it every now and again just to make themselves feel better, so if someone disses them, they get to use their power. That happens no matter what the race of the citizen is. But it's certainly possible - heck, more than just possible - that this cop has race issues, too - that he'd take much less guff from a black guy than from a white guy, and especially an uppity black guy with a fancy Harvard ID. That strikes me as a plausible explanation of why the cop acted the way he did once Gates showed it was his home.
But of course, this is speculation. We don't know what was in the cop's head or in Gates's head.
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