Professor Gates is jimmying his own locked door because he left his keys somewhere. Someone calls the police regarding this "suspicious" behavior – probably understandable, white or black. But when the police arrive, Gates doesn't see a routine investigation by the police. He sees a white police officer assuming the worst in the behavior of a black man. The professor is a black man in America. A man who has seen the worst in racial bigotry – indeed a man who has studied all the aspects of racial relations in America. A man who has hair-trigger assumptions running around in his head based on real-life experiences. He gets angry – not just at this police officer, but at the injustices that relate to racial confrontations between black America and law enforcement. Sgt. James Crowley is called in to do a routine investigation of a possible burglary. He has unique qualifications in race relations – he taught a class on racial profiling. All he knows as he approaches the house is that somebody tried to enter the house without a key. The man he confronts is black – and as a police officer he understands the inherent suspicion of police in