Justin Barrett, a Boston police officer, sent what he doesn't believe to be a racist e-mail in which he refers to Henry Louis Gates as a "banana-eating jungle monkey" (he uses the phrase jungle monkey more than once) and wrote that the female reporter he sent it to "need to be slapped".

www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/073009_barrett_email_text/

He was put on administrative leave and termination hearing has been scheduled.  He is now suing the mayor and police commissioner.  Barrett alleges that "the worldwide media spotlight that shone on him after the dissemination of the e-mail, along with remarks by Menino and Davis, made him ill and caused “injury (to his) reputation.”

They injured his reputation  ::)  On top of all that, this guy has to be an idiot, he says he was an English teacher.  After reading his screed, I would like follow up on that.  That email is a one long "what's wrong with this sentence?".

i love it. i want this to get draaaaaagggggged out. please run this trial on court t.v. this barrett character will come off looking like such a jackass.

I'm much less dismayed over his racial slurs than I am over this gem of a statement:

"being confronted with a police officer is assuming he has rights when considered a suspect".

What? Suspects don't have rights?

I hope this officer gets his due rights by IA, and enjoys his new career at Dunkin Donuts. I'll have a large coffee and an eclair.

Ant

I'm much less dismayed over his racial slurs than I am over this gem of a statement:

"being confronted with a police officer is assuming he has rights when considered a suspect".

What? Suspects don't have rights?

I hope this officer gets his due rights by IA, and enjoys his new career at Dunkin Donuts. I'll have a large coffee and an eclair.

Ant
after reading that unhinged email of his im not sure i'm comfortable with him working at dunkin donuts. i think the best place for him might be one of those FEMA camps obama's supposedly's setting up.

It is really depressing to think punk-ass thugs such as Barrett ever qualify for the police force in the first place.  It sounds like he has some kind of narcissistic personality disorder.

Dddaaayyyymmmmnnnnn

Someone should have warned me to not eat in a testing situation while reading it due to choking hazard.  Is this guy for real?  I saw an interview with him on AC360, but it was at a fast food place and there was no sound or closed caption so I missed it.  Now I really wish I'd been able to listen to it.

Has anyone checked his home for Grand Wizard or other KKK stuff?


It is really depressing to think punk-ass thugs such as Barrett ever qualify for the police force in the first place.



It's flat out scary to think idiots like him have a badge and gun.  It's also scary to think of what he taught in his English classes--maybe I should "ax" him if I get the chance...  ::)  ;)

While this guy appears to be a complete scum bag, and assuming that he did not use the police email system to send his racist rant, I cannot see why he would be suspended from the police force because of the letter he sent the journalist.  He does have the freedom of speech etc, regardless of how stupid he sounds.

(I will concede that the part where he says, that as a serving officer, he woulda maced Gates, possibly could serve as grounds for suspension as indicating an officer who admits to extralegal behaviour)

I suspect that what got him suspended was a DIFFERENT email that I read about a few days ago.  That one he mass-emailed to the entire Boston police force.  In which case there are clearly grounds for his suspension and ultimate dismissal, since his activity was being done with public funds.

While this guy appears to be a complete scum bag, and assuming that he did not use the police email system to send his racist rant, I cannot see why he would be suspended from the police force because of the letter he sent the journalist.  He does have the freedom of speech etc, regardless of how stupid he sounds.

(I will concede that the part where he says, that as a serving officer, he woulda maced Gates, possibly could serve as grounds for suspension as indicating an officer who admits to extralegal behaviour)

I suspect that what got him suspended was a DIFFERENT email that I read about a few days ago.  That one he mass-emailed to the entire Boston police force.  In which case there are clearly grounds for his suspension and ultimate dismissal, since his activity was being done with public funds.



Different e-mail.  Which one is that?  I have only heard about one, the same one sent to the reporter is the one he emailed to his friends, fellow officers, and fellow guardsmen.  It was reported that he sent it through the police stations computer.

Different e-mail.  Which one is that?  I have only heard about one, the same one sent to the reporter is the one he emailed to his friends, fellow officers, and fellow guardsmen.  It was reported that he sent it through the police stations computer.


Might have been the same email.  If this email is indeed what he sent on the police force email system to fellow officers, etc, then he should not be suspended... he should be FIRED !

I'm much less dismayed over his racial slurs than I am over this gem of a statement:

"being confronted with a police officer is assuming he has rights when considered a suspect".

What? Suspects don't have rights?

I hope this officer gets his due rights by IA, and enjoys his new career at Dunkin Donuts. I'll have a large coffee and an eclair.

Ant


Agreed.

That being said, I can sympathize with the anger that might have inspired this email though.  I've encountered a number of people in life who really do act like monkeys, whether they're black, white, Latino, Asian, or whatever.  Granted, Barrett would seem to be one of them himself.

I guess he'll have to go to the racial sensitivity course -- taught by Officer Crowley!

:-\\

Justin Barrett, a Boston police officer, sent what he doesn't believe to be a racist e-mail in which he refers to Henry Louis Gates as a "banana-eating jungle monkey"


It's sorta like Homer Simpson and the French, right? :)

A suggestion for a reply:

Dear kindly Justin Barrett
You're sounding quite annoyed
You didn't have to share it
The fact you're paranoid
A former English teacher
Whose grammar truly sucks
Now you're suing - out to make big bucks?

Gee, officer Barrett, we're really upset
'Cause you're a racist bigot and you ain't been fired yet
Gee, officer Barrett, what are we to do?
Gee, officer Barrett, **** you.

He's a racist until confronted.  Then it's but I have black friends, I'm not even the slightest bit racist.  If he wasn't racist he wouldn't have sent the damn e-mail.  If it was sent on a work computer than it should be taken care of by the commissioner and others who have a stake in the police department.

He's a racist until confronted.  Then it's but I have black friends, I'm not even the slightest bit racist.  If he wasn't racist he wouldn't have sent the damn e-mail.  If it was sent on a work computer than it should be taken care of by the commissioner and others who have a stake in the police department.


Yeah the "jungle monkey" language is pretty much the giveaway that he is a racist.  What a maroon...

Yeah the "jungle monkey" language is pretty much the giveaway that he is a racist.  What a maroon...


Barrett didn't say Gates was one, he just said Gates behaved like one!
And that's the best Barrett's lawyer could summon...

::)

Barrett didn't say Gates was one, he just said Gates behaved like one!
And that's the best Barrett's lawyer could summon...

::)

Funnily enough, I've not heard any jungle monkeys making a lot of noise about racial harassment... in what way was he behaving like one?  As similes go, it's pretty much proof of a racist attitude, IMO.


...can I point out a similar, but slightly different, instance: in a council meeting, a councillor (who is known as "a bit of a character") was getting annoyed with the mayor not being able to answer questions, that he asked to speak to "the organ grinder, not the monkey".. unfortunately, the mayor was black, and the power behind the throne wasn't.  So, of course the chamber erupted with lots of shouts of "racist" and the like.  That one seems to me to be a lot less clear-cut.

Funnily enough, I've not heard any jungle monkeys making a lot of noise about racial harassment... in what way was he behaving like one?  As similes go, it's pretty much proof of a racist attitude, IMO.


...can I point out a similar, but slightly different, instance: in a council meeting, a councillor (who is known as "a bit of a character") was getting annoyed with the mayor not being able to answer questions, that he asked to speak to "the organ grinder, not the monkey".. unfortunately, the mayor was black, and the power behind the throne wasn't.  So, of course the chamber erupted with lots of shouts of "racist" and the like.  That one seems to me to be a lot less clear-cut.


Oops!
:-[

Back in 1983, famed sportscaster Howard Cosell exclaimed "That little monkey gets loose, doesn't he?" in reference to Washington Redskins wide receiver Alvin Garrett after Garrett had a good run in the game.  Cosell meant it affectionately, not racially, and African American luminaries Bill Cosby and Will Mays defended him, but Cosell couldn't get the public to forgive him.  He quit telecasting for "Monday Night Football" after 13 years on the job.

While this guy appears to be a complete scum bag, and assuming that he did not use the police email system to send his racist rant, I cannot see why he would be suspended from the police force because of the letter he sent the journalist.  He does have the freedom of speech etc, regardless of how stupid he sounds.

(I will concede that the part where he says, that as a serving officer, he woulda maced Gates, possibly could serve as grounds for suspension as indicating an officer who admits to extralegal behaviour)

I suspect that what got him suspended was a DIFFERENT email that I read about a few days ago.  That one he mass-emailed to the entire Boston police force.  In which case there are clearly grounds for his suspension and ultimate dismissal, since his activity was being done with public funds.



I have to agree to be honest.  Even though he is a scumbag, this is going to be a political and legal hot potatoe if they do fire him for it.  This has "1st Ammendment" written all over it.

And as a former network administrator, unless they have a very specifically written email policy, that basically forbids all forms of personal (not work related) emails, there is not much they can do to him.  And if they try, then he would probably have a "selective enforcement" case, since personal emails probably go out all the time and nobody cares.

Yes, his letter is inflamatory.  Yes it is vulgar.  Yes it steps over the bounds of being "racist", but it does not actually state that "all blacks are guilty", or that "all blacks should be maced". 

And to me, what should matter more is what others think of him as an officer.  Most people are able to seperate their own personal feelings from their professional lives.  This officer has no history of race issues professionally, only this one letter written as a private citizen.

After all, if it is to be believed that Sen. Byrd can seperate his personal beliefs and his job as Senator, why not this officer?

I have to agree to be honest.  Even though he is a scumbag, this is going to be a political and legal hot potatoe if they do fire him for it.  This has "1st Ammendment" written all over it.

And as a former network administrator, unless they have a very specifically written email policy, that basically forbids all forms of personal (not work related) emails, there is not much they can do to him.  And if they try, then he would probably have a "selective enforcement" case, since personal emails probably go out all the time and nobody cares.

Yes, his letter is inflamatory.  Yes it is vulgar.  Yes it steps over the bounds of being "racist", but it does not actually state that "all blacks are guilty", or that "all blacks should be maced". 

And to me, what should matter more is what others think of him as an officer.  Most people are able to seperate their own personal feelings from their professional lives.  This officer has no history of race issues professionally, only this one letter written as a private citizen.



"Banana-eating jungle monkey" is simply unacceptable language from a police officer, especially one who patrols predominantly African-American areas, such as the Dorchester and Mattapan sections of Boston.  He might as well have just used the n-word.  There is a centuries-long history of the words "jungle" and "monkey" being used in pejoratives for Black people.  The idea that Barrett's choice of insults was not disparaging of Blacks in general is not credible.  It is not the same as calling Gates a something like a "loudmouth idiot," nor would calling a White person a "banana-eating jungle monkey" have the same implications.  Barrett also sent his remarks in a mass email, not an email to a single recipient.  It's the difference between whispering in your friend's ear and shouting at a crowd with a bullhorn. 

Barrett himself said he didn't mean it in a racist way and he didn't mean to hurt anyone.  Ridiculous.  That fellow ain't right in the head. 

I think this guy's career as a cop is shot. Even if Barrett has no documented history of racist behavior, this mass email and subsequent publicity establishes such a history.  No police department can afford to risk deploying Barrett because any time Barrett's treatment of a minority suspect is questioned, this incident will come up as a blazing red flag.  Barrett might have had a 30-year career as a cop, but he blew it.  In the long run, it does almost seem in unfair, but is it too much to ask police officers never to utter the phrase "banana-eating jungle monkey"?
::)

I have to agree to be honest.  Even though he is a scumbag, this is going to be a political and legal hot potatoe if they do fire him for it.  This has "1st Ammendment" written all over it.

And as a former network administrator, unless they have a very specifically written email policy, that basically forbids all forms of personal (not work related) emails, there is not much they can do to him.  And if they try, then he would probably have a "selective enforcement" case, since personal emails probably go out all the time and nobody cares.

Yes, his letter is inflamatory.  Yes it is vulgar.  Yes it steps over the bounds of being "racist", but it does not actually state that "all blacks are guilty", or that "all blacks should be maced". 

And to me, what should matter more is what others think of him as an officer.  Most people are able to seperate their own personal feelings from their professional lives.  This officer has no history of race issues professionally, only this one letter written as a private citizen.

After all, if it is to be believed that Sen. Byrd can seperate his personal beliefs and his job as Senator, why not this officer?


You are right in that he has a 1st amendment right to his opinion, but if you were a black man, and  you read something like that by a police officer, you wouldn't be a bit concerned about racial profiling or other injustices by him?  Sen Byrd was elected to his seat, unfortunately. . .a police officer is not elected and has a duty to protect the rights of all citizens, in making a statement like that he shows a biased opinion--which can make it impossible to separate his personal opinions from his job.  He even brags about being a police officer, which brings scrutiny to the office.  If he had been even remotely intelligent (which judging from the grammatical lack of structure in his letter--he isn't) he would have sent it ANONYMOUSLY . . .but he didn't, and as a police officer he has a responsibility to the people to show a sense of dignity both on and off the clock, he didn't when he wrote that letter--and it reflects on the entire police force, not just him, if the police allow him to continue working for them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxODBppps18&feature=related

:-X 8)

I have to agree to be honest.  Even though he is a scumbag, this is going to be a political and legal hot potatoe if they do fire him for it.  This has "1st Ammendment" written all over it.

And as a former network administrator, unless they have a very specifically written email policy, that basically forbids all forms of personal (not work related) emails, there is not much they can do to him.  And if they try, then he would probably have a "selective enforcement" case, since personal emails probably go out all the time and nobody cares.

Yes, his letter is inflamatory.  Yes it is vulgar.  Yes it steps over the bounds of being "racist", but it does not actually state that "all blacks are guilty", or that "all blacks should be maced". 

And to me, what should matter more is what others think of him as an officer.  Most people are able to seperate their own personal feelings from their professional lives.  This officer has no history of race issues professionally, only this one letter written as a private citizen.

After all, if it is to be believed that Sen. Byrd can seperate his personal beliefs and his job as Senator, why not this officer?


Barrett sent the email over the police computer/server, and it was a mass mailing, so that takes it out of the range of personal.  He has only been on the force for 2 years so he really hasn't had a lot of time to build up a history of race issues, this is his history.  There are also a lot of questions that could be asked about how he became a member of the force at age 34, something unusual and not done without the right connections.  Usually there is a shark attack to find information on someone like this, but it is strangely quiet in Boston about this guys background.  Personally, I would like to see his test scores  ::)

I saw this and my mouth did this.... http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/04/eek2.gif

I know I can be that way (which I don't want to get into) but Henry Louis Gates just couldn't get into his damn house. Hell, I do that too when I don't have my keys!

Barrett sent the email over the police computer/server, and it was a mass mailing, so that takes it out of the range of personal.  He has only been on the force for 2 years so he really hasn't had a lot of time to build up a history of race issues, this is his history.  There are also a lot of questions that could be asked about how he became a member of the force at age 34, something unusual and not done without the right connections.  Usually there is a shark attack to find information on someone like this, but it is strangely quiet in Boston about this guys background.  Personally, I would like to see his test scores  ::)


Maybe his faddah or his muddah or his bruddah's a state hack of some kind.  There's always been a basketcase factor in state patronage.  Hey, they had to find this guy something to do after they laid off all the token sellers on the MBTA. 

The token guys used to do the same thing to me as the Chahlie Cahd machines:  Shove the bill back at me and say, "Gimme one, that one's wrinkled!"

http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/13/icon_scratch.gif

They haven't come back with this story.  It looks like it will be buried, as I thought it might be.

They haven't come back with this story.  It looks like it will be buried, as I thought it might be.


Well, he has fired his lawsuit.  And as the usual in cases like this, both sides will be shutting up until it gets to court.  Unless it is settled before then, we will probably not hear much about it until then.

Well, he has fired his lawsuit.  And as the usual in cases like this, both sides will be shutting up until it gets to court.  Unless it is settled before then, we will probably not hear much about it until then.


He was supposed to have his hearing within 10 days.  Those 10 days have come and gone without a whisper.

He was supposed to have his hearing within 10 days.  Those 10 days have come and gone without a whisper.


I hope we've heard the last of Officer Numbnuts.

::)

An update on this incident.  Barrett, who has been on "paid leave" since august has finally gotten his walking papers.

An update on this incident.  Barrett, who has been on "paid leave" since august has finally gotten his walking papers.


Awww, such a shame.  Bye-bye Barrett!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/11/crybaby2.gif

I hope to god that no school hires him as an English teacher after reading that email because I think it's safe to say his career as a police officer is shot....

I hope to god that no school hires him as an English teacher after reading that email because I think it's safe to say his career as a police officer is shot....


Maybe he can get a talk radio show on WTKK in Boston!  They like white supremacists over there!
::)

Maybe he can get a talk radio show on WTKK in Boston!  They like white supremacists over there!
::)



With James Severino....aka Jay Severin...the could be the Opie and Anthony to the teabagger set.

Justice has been served rather quickly. These cases sometimes take years to be resolved.

With James Severino....aka Jay Severin...the could be the Opie and Anthony to the teabagger set.


Did they put that maggot back on the air?
???

Did they put that maggot back on the air?
???


You bet, and he hasn't changed.

You bet, and he hasn't changed.


http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/11/cwm10.gif

Someday somebody's gonna DO SOMETHING about that man, and on that day, I think I'll celebrate with a few martinis!