A disorderly conduct charge against famed Harvard professor/author Henry Louis Gates Jr. will be dropped. He was arrested in his home yesterday, apparently for objecting to police actions in checking a report that a black man (Gates) had been seen trying to open a door in a Cambridge house (Gates’ own house).

Free is a relative term, of course. Gates is still a black man in America, not always an easy thing when up against an authoritarian white copper. Boston Globe’s full account.

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Do read a statement on the incident prepared by Gates’ lawyer, Charles Ogletree. Remember, though many cops believe otherwise, it is not a crime to ask a cop for a name and badge number. Or to express disapproval of their attitude or behavior.

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