The XX Factor: What women really think.

The Difference Between Skip Gates and Serena Williams

Serena Williams' outburst over a foot fault call in her U.S. Open semifinal is making me think again about the summer's big confrontation between a star and an official—Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates' run-in with Cambridge cop James Crowley. The crucial difference is that this time, we have the videotape. I'm not suggesting that if we had the tape of Gates and Crowley, we'd see Gates acting like Serena did. My point is that because we know the facts this time, we're not getting stuck in a feedback loop of assumptions about race and class ... (Read more in DoubleX.)

Living While Black: Skip Gates Is Just The Latest Victim

Thanks, Samantha, for pointing out a tendency by some white people to show, as you say, a “reflexive defense mechanism” whenever another white person, usually one in a position of power, is accused of showing racism. Coming from me, a black person, similiar sentiments are often dismissed as biased. But aren't the white people defending Officer Crowley and criticizing Skip Gates also showing bias?

The difference in perception is predicated on a simple fact: Most white people have never experienced, and could never imagine, such a thing happening to them or their loved ones. But if you’re black, you’ve probably experienced an unpleasant, potentially dangerous, encounter with white police, or know some other black person who has. In my case there have been several such encounters ... (Read more in Double X.)

Skip Gates Comes Up With His Own Silver Lining

There's much to rue in the story of how Henry Louis Gates Jr. (editor-in-chief of our sister site, The Root) was arrested at his house last week. Was it supposedly disorderly conduct when Gates asked to see a Cambridge cop's badge and ID? Or when he said the cop was making a mistake based on racial profiling? The charge was dropped this afternoon, lucky for the cop ... (Read the rest of this post, or the whole conversation, in Double X.)