REVUE DE PRESSE

Nouveau psychodrame national américain après la (courte) arrestation de Henry L. Gates, l'un des plus célèbres intellectuels noirs américains, et professeur à Harvard. Barack Obama l'a soutenu en traitant le policier qui l'avait arrêté d'avoir agi d'une manière "stupide" ; mais ce soir, le président est revenu sur ses remarques en s'excusant d'avoir traité le policier de "stupide". Visiblement, Gates a suréagi à l'intervention de la police, pourtant venue protéger sa demeure près d'Harvard. Barack Obama a proposé avec humour que les trois hommes se retrouvent à la Maison Blanche pour en discuter...

Les principaux extraits (en anglais) de la polémique et des faits, tels que rapportés par le New York Times. Pour paraphraser Sartre, "être noir n'est pas un problème, mais avoir un problème et être noir c'est avoir deux problèmes".

REVUE DE PRESSE

"Obama Says He Regrets His Language on Gates Arrest"

WASHINGTON — President Obama said Friday that he “could have calibrated” his words more carefully in the controversy over the arrest of a black Harvard professor by a white police officer, but added that there had been an “overreaction” by both sides in a case that touched off an intense discussion about race in America.

“To the extent that my choice of words didn’t illuminate, but rather contributed to more media, I think, that was unfortunate,” Mr. Obama said, making an unusual unannounced visit to the White House briefing room in an effort to ease the controversy.

The president, who on Wednesday said that the police in Cambridge, Mass., “acted stupidly” in the arrest of Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr., a prominent Harvard scholar of African-American history, sought to clear up the matter. He said he hoped the case could become “a teachable moment” to be used to improve relations between minorities and police officers.

The president said that he conveyed his sentiment to Sgt. James Crowley in a telephone call on Friday afternoon. The call, which lasted about five minutes, came after police officials in Massachusetts and beyond accused Mr. Obama of maligning the character of Sergeant Crowley and the entire Cambridge police force.

“I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, I wanted to make clear that in my choice of words, I think, I unfortunately, I think, gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically,” Mr. Obama told reporters. “I could have calibrated those words differently, and I told this to Sergeant Crowley.”

Mr. Obama did not specifically use the word “apology,” but aides said that was the sentiment conveyed during his call with the police officer. Mr. Obama, the nation’s first black president, has walked a careful line in his writings and in his political career when addressing race. Since taking office six months ago, he has delivered only a handful of speeches devoted specifically to race.

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