No, really.That was an opinion expressed by a (suspended, and soon to be ex-) Boston cop and alleged former English teacher named Justin Barrett. Barrett exercised his right to free speech by publishing a wide-distribution e-mail in which Barrett declared that if he had "been the officer he verbally assaulted like a banana-eating jungle monkey, I would have sprayed him in the face with OC [oleoresin capsicum, or pepper spray] deserving of his belligerent noncompliance."
USer cops suffer from institutional AIV Syndrome: Arrogance, Ignorance, and Violence. When in doubt, fuck the perp, so he remembers to be polite to cops in future.
Officer Justin Barrett, 36, who is assigned to heavily minority District B-3 in Mattapan, was placed on paid administrative leave pending a termination hearing. When a police supervisor confronted Barrett about the e-mail - in which Gates is called a “banana-eating jungle monkey” - he admitted to being the author, officials said.Soooooey-PIG!
Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis moved to fire Barrett after the two-year veteran, who is also a National Guardsman, allegedly dispatched the hateful e-mail to The Boston Globe and forwarded it to colleagues at the Guard.
“If I was the officer (Gates) verbally assaulted like a banana-eating jungle monkey, I would have sprayed him in the face with OC (pepper spray) deserving of his belligerent noncompliance,” the e-mail reads.
The embarrassing episode comes as a national race furor was supposed to be quelled by Obama’s peacemaking White House suds summit tonight, when Gates, 58, meets over beers with Sgt. James Crowley, 42, the Cambridge cop who arrested him July 16.
Barrett could not be reached for comment. His lawyer, Peter Marano, said on WTKK-FM that his client has a First Amendment right to express himself but regrets his “poor choice of words.”
The 703-word rant raises questions about how Barrett went undetected by a rigorous psychological screening required of Boston police recruits. Davis was trying furiously to reach Gates last night, an official said, and plans to hold a press conference today.
Gates declined to comment through his lawyer, fellow Harvard professor Charles Ogletree, who said his own reaction was one of shock. “I hope that it does not reflect on all police officers in Boston and in Cambridge, because it should not,” Ogletree said.
A Boston police official said the Guard placed Barrett on leave Saturday and then made the BPD aware of the e-mail, officials said.
2 comments:
Try to imagine then, if the cop in question were not white and had made a just as outrageous statement about any white person. The MSM would have been all over every non-white celebrity, politician, businessman, and even the POTUS asking for an explanation and apology on behalf of the wronged party involved.
But since the cop is white, he speaks for himself alone, and he will be dismissed as a bad apple who doesn't reflect upon the race let alone the police department, etc, etc, etc.
I think this shows just how close to the surface racsim is in this country, and how it is simmering there due to the election of our present President. It's sickening and unfortunately more and more of this stuff will rear its ugly head because people feel emboldened by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity et al.
dpjbro makes a great and correct point, since this officer is white he speaks for himself, but if he had been black he'd be considered the voice for everyone of his ethnicity. Racism at its finest and most subtle.
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