IMO this was very racist. By the time they got outside, the cops knew Gates was a professor at Harvard. They arrested him to humiliate him for acting pompous and haranguing them like as ass. Now a of of Harvard professors would act like pompous, belittling asses, but they don't get arrested for it!

The black professor was trying to throw his weight around like a shrill condescending liberal academic, and the cops decided to treat him like a black man off the street and humiliate him.

In my opinion they would NOT arrest a white Harvard professor for being a loud condescending asshole, and they also wouldn't go around arresting upset white people who yell on their patios.

They wanted to humiliate and demean him.