A Boston, Massachusetts, police officer who sent a mass e-mail in which he referred to Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. as “banana-eating” and a “bumbling jungle monkey” has been placed on administrative leave and faces losing his job.
Officer Justin Barrett, 36, who is also an active member of the National Guard, sent an e-mail to some fellow Guard members, as well as the Boston Globe, in which he vented his displeasure with a July 22 Globe column about Gates’ controversial arrest.
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Officer Barrett may sound like a racist but that is the furthest thing from the truth. He was commenting on the INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR of a professional who publicly said he got in a cops face and he would do it again! If Gates was white and Officer Barrett said he acted like a monkey would anyone care??? As far as I know Yvonne Abraham is a white woman and Officer Barrett also refrenced her writing as monkey jibberish…Officer Barrett expressed himself in an inappropriate way but has never acted in a racist way. This has more to do with politics and elitism than race or freedom of speach. Everyone makes mistakes and says things they don’t mean…give Officer Barrett a break..if you knew him you’d be ashamed of yourself for judging him!!
Comment by dan — August 2, 2009