Professor's arrest riles African-Americans

BOSTON: Police responding to a call about "two black males" breaking into a home near Harvard University ended up arresting the man who lives there - Henry Louis Gates Jr, the pre-eminent African-American studies scholar.

Gates had forced his way through the front door because it was jammed, his lawyer said. Colleagues call the arrest last Thursday afternoon a clear case of racial profiling.

Cambridge police say they responded to the well-maintained two-story home after a woman reported seeing "two black males with backpacks on the porch," with one "wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry".