A new meaning for the word professorial

The Henry Louis Gates story has me steamed. But not for the reason you might think.

I wasn't there, so I can't weight in on whether Gates was rude or uncooperative or the police were abusive or what might have happened. And I'm not a black man, so I can't pretend to have had that experience.

I am a young, female professor, so it irritates me to hear the word "professorial" thrown around to describe Gates. This term seems to connote older, male, and "distinguished" looking. I confess that, particularly in my summer wardrobe, I couldn't look less distinguished. But I have a PhD. and hold the title of assistant professor, and spend many of my waking hours working on research. I teach several classes each semester, all of them specialized. I think that's pretty professorial.

But on a less personal note, the stereotype displacement has gone even further. CNN's Soledad O'Brien (whose depth has never impressed me very much) kept saying "this man in a polo shirt and slacks!" The tone of the debate is not about how to properly incorporate social and contextual cues that we, as people, all use to assess a situation with the responsibility of police officers and other state actors to coolly apply the law to all citizens equally. There's a real question there to be asked, but instead, the commentary on this decision has essentially shifted race to age and class. Pundits are basically saying "we know what kind of person gets arrested, and this wasn't it."

So much for equal protection. What might a wise Latina have done?