[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/30/art.lucia.whalen.gi.jpg caption="Lucia Whalen, who called 911 to report a possible break-in, speaks to reporters Wednesday."]
(CNN) - In her first public appearance, the woman who made the 911 call that led to the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. said Wednesday she would make the call again if placed in the same situation.
The arrest and its aftermath have sparked accusations of racial profiling, and even President Obama has become involved. He plans to meet Thursday with Gates and the arresting officer, Sgt. James Crowley, at the White House.
Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct July 16 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after he had shown Crowley that the home he was suspected of breaking into was his. The charge was later dropped.
"If you're a concerned citizen, you should do the right thing if you're seeing something that seems suspicious. I would do the same thing," Lucia Whalen said.
Whalen said she contacted police after an older woman with no cell phone told her she was worried that someone was trying to break into the house.
She said she was en route to lunch when the woman approached her.
"I thought: 'I'm the one with the cell phone. I should probably call'" police, she explained.
Although Whalen never referred to black suspects when she called authorities about the suspected break-in, the incident prompted a heated discussion across the nation on race relations in the United States.
Police released tapes Monday of her 911 call.