911 caller speaks publicly

The woman who reported a possible break-in at the home of black Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. says she tried to be careful and honest with her words, never thinking they would be analyzed by an entire nation.

With a trembling voice, Lucia Whalen broke her silence Thursday at a news conference where she said she'd been hurt by the racial controversy that followed the professor's arrest.

She says she respects Gates and police and is glad the truth about her call is out.

Whalen was vilified as a racist on blogs after a police report said she described the possible burglars as black. Tapes of the call revealed that Whalen did not mention race. When pressed by police, she said one of them might have been Hispanic.

Gates has said he was the victim of racial profiling.