Harvard Professor and Arresting Officer to Continue Dialogue

With media kept at a safe distance, the four men sat down to work out some differences and discuss the future and how they might create some good out of an unfortunate situation. After the brief get-together was through, all sides seemed to feel that there was an opportunity present for Crowley and Gates to continue to come together to educate and inform the public about the issues that drove the incident in Cambridge.

The media has been quick to point out that no one apologized for the incident, which is probably a good thing from the standpoint of the public. People on all sides of the debate feel very strongly and this is one of those instances where all sides have valid points that are in direct conflict with other valid points.

And although race and racial profiling seem to be the issues at the heart of the matter, some others include police procedure and the public and media's fascination with all things race.

During his campaign for president, Barack Obama noted that he believed people in this country were afraid to have meaningful discussions about race. And, of course, he's right. If you're black and you're talking about race, you're likely going to be deemed to be "playing the race card" and if you're white talking about race, you're likely going to be deemed a "racist." In that sense, our culture, in its attempt to achieve racial equality, has made meaningful racial dialogue very taboo and difficult.

The incident in Cambridge may present a unique opportunity to create a meaningful racial discussion that is above the petty labels of our current culture.