“If he’s so famous, why have I heard of him only in news accounts about this incident?”
From Wikipedia:
Gates has been the recipient of nearly 50 honorary degrees and numerous academic and social action awards. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1981 and was listed in Time among its “25 Most Influential Americans” in 1997. On October 23, 2006, Gates was appointed the Alphonse Fletcher Jr. University Professor at Harvard University. In January 2008, he co-founded The Root, a website dedicated to African-American perspectives published by The Washington Post Company. Gates currently chairs the Fletcher Foundation, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is on the boards of many notable institutions including the New York Public Library, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Aspen Institute, the Brookings Institution, the Studio Museum of Harlem, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, HEAF (the Harlem Educational Activities Fund), and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, located in Stanford, California.[2]
In 2002 the National Endowment for the Humanities selected Gates for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government’s highest honor for achievement in the humanities.[13] Gates’ lecture was entitled “Mister Jefferson and the Trials of Phillis Wheatley”[14] and was the basis for his book The Trials of Phillis Wheatley.[15]
In 2006, Gates was inducted into the Sons of the American Revolution after he traced his lineage back to John Redman, a Free Negro who fought in the Revolutionary War.[16]”
I guess you guys don’t travel in the same circles. But, hey, YOU’VE never heard of him. ‘Nuff said.
I supppose you have a point there. Sorry... I don't get out too much, but just because you can find him on Wiki does not mean I've "heard of him". My sphere of acquaintances is apparently a bit smaller than yours; I'll just have to live with that.
Have a good day.