Prof Henry Louis Gates is a prominent Harvard scholar
The US president has said police acted "stupidly" when they arrested a black Harvard scholar outside his own home.
President Obama said Wednesday night that racial issues still haunt America, even as he noted "the incredible progress that has been made."
Obama was asked at the end of his news conference about the arrest last week of Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. outside his home. The incident has sparked a national discussion about race relations.
Obama noted that "Skip Gates is a friend, so I may be a little biased here," and he referred to the professor's account of arriving home to find a jammed door, forcing it open and then being confronted by a white police officer looking for proof that Gates lived in the house. According to Gates's account, he showed the officer his ID and became angry when the officer would not identify himself.
The president said he understands the professor's outrage. If he were trying to "jigger into" his old house in Chicago, Obama said, he would assume that the police would be called on him as well. But once Gates showed his ID, he added, it seemed to him the officer should have considered the issue resolved.
"Now, I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that," Obama said. "But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home."
"What I think we know, separate and apart from this incident, is that there's a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact," Obama said Wednesday night. He said he had pushed for the passage of a bill in the Illinois legislature to address the problem.
Obama went on to say that he stood in the White House "as testimony to the progress that's been made."
"And yet the fact of the matter is . . . this still haunts us," he said. "And even when there are honest misunderstandings, the fact that blacks and Hispanics are picked up more frequently, and oftentime for no cause, casts suspicion, even when there is good cause."
During the confrontation between the two men, the 58-year-old professor reportedly said: "This is what happens to black men in America."
His lawyer said Prof Gates had just returned from a trip overseas and, upon arriving at the property with a driver, found his front door jammed and had to force it open.
By the time police arrived at the house, he and the driver had managed to get inside the property.
According to police, Prof Gates shouted at the officer and accused him of racial bias.
Prof Gates has said he was "outraged" by the arrest and called the officer, Sgt James Crowley, a "rogue policeman". Sgt Crowley has refused to apologise.Mr Obama said: "I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry.
"Number two... the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home."
President Obama: "The Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home"
An initial disorderly conduct charge was dropped and Cambridge police called the arrest "regrettable and unfortunate".
Mr Obama said federal officials should work with local police to "improve policing techniques so that we're eliminating potential bias".
He said that when he was in the Illinois state legislature, he had worked towards a racial profiling bill because there was indisputable evidence that African-Americans and Hispanics were being stopped disproportionately.
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