Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Arrested

“It’s no disgrace to be coloured. But it is awfully inconvenient.”
—Bert Williams

“Driving while Black”? Yes, we’ve heard of it and, regrettably, many of us have witnessed it while others have even experienced it first hand. But, “Being home while Black”? African American Studies scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested in his home after a neighbor saw “two suspicious Black men” enter a house. It just so happened that it was Gates’ house. Gates’ driver was helping the scholar with his luggage after a trip to China. When the police arrived Gates was inside his house and was subsequently arrested for, well, resisting arrest for being in his house.

James Byrd Jr. Ten Years After His Lynching

While some residents want to move on and erase the scar left by the heinous, racial attack, his family works to keep the black man’s memory alive. Three white men used a chain to tie James Byrd Jr.’s ankles to a truck’s rear bumper, zigzagging him for 3.08 miles.

10 years later, Byrd tragedy still haunts Jasper