Obama thanks Gates, Crowley for listening

ByABC News
July 30, 2009, 10:38 PM

WASHINGTON -- President Obama on Thursday praised the African-American professor and the white police officer who arrested the scholar for helping show that "what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart."

Shortly after sharing a beer with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates and Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley, Obama issued a statement thanking them for coming to the White House for "a friendly, thoughtful conversation" in the Rose Garden.

"Even before we sat down for the beer, I learned that the two gentlemen spent some time together listening to one another, which is a testament to them," the president said.

At a separate news conference, Crowley said he and Gates agreed to continue their discussions. He said they have another meeting, though he would not say when or where it would be. Crowley called Thursday's meeting "cordial and productive." He said the men did not apologize to each other and "agreed to disagree on a particular issue."

Gates, in a statement posted on the Web magazine The Root after the meeting, said, "Crowley and I, through an accident of time and place, have been cast together, inextricably, as characters ... in a thousand narratives about race over which he and I have absolutely no control." Gates is editor in chief of the site.

Gates' arrest this month after he had to force his way into his house because the door was jammed prompted a national discussion on cable TV networks, in the White House and elsewhere about racial profiling.

Crowley said the men are determined to look forward. Of Gates, he said, "Certainly he has the credentials to enlighten me a little bit" and he hopes he can do the same for Gates in return.

Gates said, "I thank God (we) live in a country in which police officers put their lives at risk to protect us every day."

Crowley said Obama didn't contribute much to the conversation. "He provided the beer," he said.

Earlier in the day, Obama expressed surprise at the hype around the event. "It's not a summit," he said. Media outlets had dubbed the tête-à-tête a "beer summit" because Obama said the men would gather for a chat over beers.