Libertarians: What about a beer for the 911 caller?

Aug. 6, 2009 - PRLog -- As President Obama invited Henry Gates and James Crowley to the White House for a beer to help the conversation about race relations in the United States, he neglected to ask Lucia Whalen, the 911 caller in the incident that sparked a flurry of worldwide media attention. After making a less than flattering comment about police action in this matter, President Obama did the right thing by inviting the arrested Harvard professor Henry Gates and the arresting officer, James Crowley to the White House for a conciliatory beer.  It was a conversation that helped diffuse some of the hysteria swirling around the July 16 incident.

Eric Sundwall, immediate past Chair of the Libertarian party of New York, says "There was a critical third participant in this incident, Lucia Whalen. She made the call based on her observations of men breaking into a neighborhood house and she was subsequently vilified by some media and partisans for her actions."

Americans should be concerned about fellow citizens who report crimes and become victims of a bigger political game. Whalen, a Harvard employee, made no mention of the race of the supposed intruders on the 911 call, but later police reports said she did. Subsequent media portrayals of Ms. Whalen were often in racial context as a result.


Sundwall observed " If the average concerned American becomes the victim in these cases, then Obama should also take a principled stand in this instance too. As libertarians we strive to treat everyone as an individual not a member of a group. Lucia Whalen represents the average American trying to do what they think is right. By excluding her, the average American is being told that they don’t matter as much as the police or elite academics when it comes to race relations.”

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