Humans are subject to self-deception and our experiences may very well be shaped by forces beyond our control that give us a distorted sense of reality. The wisdom of that conclusion became abundantly clear recently when I read Harvard Professor Arrested reports referring to the arrest of the eminent Harvard professor, Dr. Henry Louis Gates.

My first impulse was to say that it has never happened to me and I have traveled the world. Let me explain. When I was practicing law, I made the mistake of buying a blue Chevy Camaro convertible that refused to go over the speed limit. One day I went through a “speed check” and was stopped by a policeman on a motorcycle. I introduced myself as a lawyer, and the officer explained that since so many other officers had witnessed my speeding, he had to give me a ticket. The officer then asked me if he had insurance and I showed him proof that he did. To my surprise, the officer gave me a ticket for not having insurance which was later dismissed.

But even before I became a lawyer, while I was in law school, I was pulled over one night for allegedly drunk driving. Since I underwent the usual field sobriety tests, I did not pass at all. So the officer told me to take the walk the line test. By then my adrenaline kicked in and I told the officer that I would take the test on the condition that if I passed he would let me go. The officer agreed. I passed the test and the officer let me go with a warning to slow down and get home safely.

Then, when I was leaving the practice of law, I had a trial in West Texas that has a reputation for being anything but nice to black people. On my way back from a victorious trial I stopped and had a beer since there was nothing stronger in the area. Those of you who know me well know that beer and I are not very good friends. Well, I was stopped by a policeman who could smell the alcohol on my breath. I explained to the officer that he was tired because he had me up before dawn to drive to West Texas. The officer invited me to sit in the back seat of his car and then asked me to recite my alphabet. I have five college degrees. But on that hot day in West Texas and under the influence of a beer, I couldn’t recite my ABCs.

The officer had every right to take me to jail. But he he he didn’t. He asked if anyone in the car could drive and luckily my client was able to drive and we made it home safely. Each time, the officer involved was white. These experiences would lead me to conclude that there is no racial discrimination. But that would be a mistake. Although it has not been my experience, I know that racial profiling is real and an ongoing unfair but vital part of police work. And the really sad part of the story is that most black police officers look the other way because they want to fit in, to be one of the people.

Another colleague of Dr. Gates, Dr. Cornel West, has written that being black means that, at any given time, anywhere in the world, we are subject to judgment based solely on the color of our skin. Dr. West writes about how, even in a suit, he had a hard time getting a cab in New York City. I have never had a problem calling a cab in New York City. However, I do not discount Dr. West’s experience. So how are we going to make sense of what happened to Dr. Gates?

Although I wasn’t there, I’m pretty sure what happened. Here are the facts. Dr. Gates had a long flight from China. I have taken that flight numerous times and know how tiring and even stressful it can be. He is frustrated and angry that he can’t get into his house. But there is a deeper anger deep within Dr. Gates’ psyche that is in all of us black people. There is a black rage that persists after centuries of abuse and injustice. That anger is compounded by frustration that Dr. West’s definition of black is all too real for those of us who would like to think we can transcend that trap. Surely it must have been devastating to that reality to hit an already tired and stressed Black Professor.

And to expand on Dr. West’s definition of being black, being black means that, at any moment, you can and will explode in anger that might be out of all proportion to current circumstances. So it was for Dr. Gates. His anger, released by stress and frustration, flared at the most inopportune moment.

The police officer, a sergeant, meaning just beginning to enjoy some semblance of authority, tired of being talked down to by his superiors, reacted inappropriately when his authority was questioned. Anger puts authority and that is always a volatile situation. You would think that police officers are trained to be sensitive to black anger and take steps to de-escalate such situations.

I think it’s instructive that this incident happened in one of the most liberal cities in America and with a professor from perhaps the most liberal university in America and that it happened while we have a black president. The election of an African-American president does not mean we are in a post-racial America, whatever that phrase means. There are still deep-seated biases and anger that need to be addressed.