I wanted to talk a little tonight about Justin Barrett, the Boston cop who referred to Henry Lewis Gates in an e-mail as a "banana-eating jungle monkey".
After making this odd and racially-charged statement, he then said "but i'm not a racist".
First off, let's say that the ONLY way that this statement is NOT racist, is if he would apply the same term to a white suspect, which i doubt. I mean, the term in and of itself is a combination of two racist terms - jungle bunny and porch monkey. Officer Barrett... YOU'RE A RACIST!
And now... get this... he's actually SUING over his PAID suspension from the police department over this. His attorney said that he didn't mean to characterize professor Gates as a banana-eating jungle money with this statement. Oh, really? Then why the hell did he say it?
Look, if i'm in an argument with someone of another race, the LAST thing that would occur to me would be to spout some racial epithet. I may question whether the person's parents were brother and sister. I may imply that he has sexual relations with his mother. I will DEFINITELY question his intelligence. But i will not call him a racist name.
After all, there are so many BETTER reasons not to like someone than their race.
Peace.
Rev. Randal
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I did not hear that the officer referenced Dr. Gates as such. Where did you hear that at??
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