BOSTON -- Gov. Deval Patrick weighed in Thursday on the controversy surrounding the arrest of Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.

"It's very troubling and upsetting. I have read excerpts of Sgt. Crowley's statements, and I've read excerpts of Gates' statements and I am very aware of the fact that I was not there," Patrick said.

But the governor made it clear that he felt racial profiling may have been a factor.

"This is every black man's nightmare and a reality for many black men," Patrick said.

Patrick said at the least it seems a person should be able to raise his voice in his own house without risking arrest. But Patrick did not feel he needed to intervene personally to help quiet the controversy.

"As a friend of professor Gates, as a black man, as governor, I'm delighted the issues, the charges, were resolved so quickly. And I hope that the Cambridge police and professor Gates can reconcile, and we can all use this and have a real discourse instead of us having everyone's positions hardened," Patrick said.

Meanwhile, Cambridge Sen. Anthony Galluccio, who knows both Gates and Crowley, is trying to negotiate a private meeting between the two men.

"I believe both are very good people. I'm not convinced that their interaction for better or for worse was rooted in race," he said.

Patrick said he felt he was the victim of racial profiling when he first came to Massachusetts in high school.