Obama - "The Cambridge police acted stupidly when there was already proof" Gates was in his own home," the president said. "What we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latino being stopped by policy disproportionately." [MORE]

By Marisol Bello, USA TODAY

Police dropped disorderly conduct charges against prominent Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates on Tuesday, officially ending a case that unofficially is fueling debate over racial profiling.

Gates, the director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, was arrested July 16 when police went to his home after a report of a break-in.

In a joint statement Tuesday, Gates, the Cambridge city government and the police department called the incident "regrettable and unfortunate."

"This incident should not be viewed as one that demeans the character and reputation of Professor Gates or the character of the Cambridge Police Department," it said.

Gates and his attorney, Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree, did not return phone calls Tuesday.

"There are one million black men in jail in this country, and last Thursday I was one of them," Gates told The Washington Post on Tuesday. "This is outrageous. ... This is how poor black men across the country are treated every day in the criminal justice system. It's one thing to write about it, but altogether another to experience it."

Professor Gates is founder of the Root.com, a website about issues affecting African Americans that is owned by The Washington Post Co.

The incident began when a neighbor phoned 911 to report two black men trying to break open the front door of the house Gates rents from Harvard, according to a police report. The woman reported seeing "two black males with backpacks on the porch," one of whom was "wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry," the report said. A statement issued by Ogletree said Gates was returning from a trip to China and couldn't get into his house because the door was jammed. He forced the door open with his driver's help and was on the phone when police arrived. An officer asked for his identification, which Gates provided, according to Ogletree's statement. The officer ignored requests by Gates for his name and badge number, the statement said.

The police report said Gates was arrested after he yelled at an officer, accused him of racial bias and refused to calm down after the officer asked that Gates show him identification to prove he lived in the home.

The incident is renewing accusations that police single out minorities based only on skin color.

Ronald Walters, professor emeritus of politics and African American studies at the University of Maryland, said the incident shows that if someone as well-regarded as Gates can be targeted, it can happen to anyone.

"There was a feeling that this is a classic case of racial profiling," he said.

He said the arrest occurred against the backdrop of talk that race should not matter since President Obama's election.

"The issue of racism is taken lightly ... but look at 400 years of American history. It's going to take more than a black man in the White House to eliminate it," Walters said. "This case shows it's there, it's virulent and it persists despite the gains we've made."