Bob Dylan is the Anti-Gates: What CNN Doesn't Want You to Know

On a rainy day last week in Long Branch, NJ, Bob Dylan, wearing a hood, was peering into a for-sale home when a neighbor called the police fearing he might be a burglar. Two young officers arrived on the scene and neither of them knew who Bob Dylan was. They asked for I.D. – he had none but explained he was a musician on tour with John Mellencamp and they were set to play at a nearby stadium in Lakewood. Without fuss or anger, Mr. Dylan was escorted back to his tour bus where he produced I.D.

That was that. End of incident.

The way CNN reported it made certain you’d never see the obvious correlation to the Professor Gates incident in Boston. How did they do this? With the headline, “Bob Dylan a Complete Unknown in NJ Town,” which is a pretty vague headline and gives no indication police were even present.

The story is not that the officers were too young to know who Dylan was — it’s the fact that Dylan didn’t mind proving who he was. If we’re ever going to rise above race-baiting, news outlets have a duty to shine an even brighter light on decent behavior.

But CNN made sure you’d never know Dylan was the anti-Gates.