From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

The cop, the professor, and the president of the United States.

Hello again, I'm Orman Alney, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

The White House says tonight's Beer Summit

is an effort to start a dialogue on race relations in the United States.

It follows President Obama's comment that a white policeman acted stupidly

by arresting the president's friend, a black professor, outside his own home.

Was it a case of racial profiling by the policeman?

Was the professor first to raise the issue of race?

Did the president make a political blunder?

Is it a teachable moment or a distraction from health care reform

and the rest of the White House agenda?

On reporter's notebook later on, the latest efforts to close Guantanamo Bay.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation.

Hello again, Mormon Alleney, back with To the Point.

The President says the arrest of a black Harvard professor by a white Cambridge policeman

provided a teachable moment on race relations.

We'll hear contrasting views on the Beer Summit at the Obama White House.

On reporter's notebook, Ireland will accept two prisoners from Guantanamo Bay.

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