[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/29/am.intv.boyce.watkins.art.jpg caption="Watkins says there's something deeper going on."]
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/29/am.intv.michael.fauntroy.art.jpg caption="Fauntroy says this is proxy for bigger issues."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) -A senior administration official said Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge, Massachusetts, Police Department will be visiting the White House Thursday.
The meeting among the three men will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Last week, Obama said he called Crowley and "there was a discussion about he and I and Professor Gates having a beer here in the White House."
Gibbs said: "I think it was Sgt. Crowley's suggestion about the beer, and I think the president thought it was a good idea."
Obama said he hoped the incident in Cambridge, which quickly spiraled into a national and racially charged controversy, "ends up being what's called a teachable moment" for the country.
As President Obama gets ready to hoist beers at the White House tomorrow with Harvard professor Dr.Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the man who arrested him police sergeant James Crowley will this indeed be a "teachable moment" as the president hopes? Or just another photo op?
Boyce Watkins, a professor at Syracuse University and a resident scholar for AOL black voices and Michael Fauntroy, a professor at George Mason University and author of ‘Republicans and the Black Vote’ spoke with CNN’s John Roberts Wednesday.
