Boston police officer’s “jungle monkey” e-mail on Gates speaks volumes

in Politics by griffn — July 30, 2009 at 9:15 am | 0 comments

justin_barrett_300 Yesterday, the Boston Police Department suspended Officer Justin Barrett for a racist e-mail he sent to colleagues regarding the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Gates– an arrest Officer Barrett was not involved in. In the e-mail, which appears to be a response to this editorial in The Boston Globe, Barrett writes that Gates should not assume “he has rights when considered a suspect. He is a suspect and will always be a suspect.” Barrett then says, “If I was the officer [Gates] verbally assaulted like a banana-eating jungle monkey, I would have sprayed him in the face with OC deserving of his belligerent non-compliance.”

Amazingly, Barrett qualifies his e-mail with this: “I am not a racist, but I am prejudice towards people who are stupid and pretend to stand up and preach for something they claim is freedom…” I’d venture to guess there are more than a few “not racists” serving in police departments across America.

Though it’s true that Barrett’s views do not represent the Boston Police Department or law enforcement in general, it has to be acknowledged that there are indeed people like him walking our streets, carrying weapons, determining and arresting suspects. There are indeed people like Officer Justin Barrett who are, as we speak, writing the very police reports and testimonies that will be used to put people in jail or to death. The very police reports that will overwhelmingly be given the benefit of the doubt in a court of law.

Police officers are not superheroes. They are human beings who, in the line of duty, are occasionally heroic. But they can also in the line of duty be occasionally wrong, or occasionally prejudiced, or occasionally corrupt, or occasionally all those things or none of them on any given day. The only thing separating Justin Barrett and many officers around the nation is that he decided, foolishly, to type his views and send them out into cyberspace. Others are no doubt smart enough to keep their views to themselves.

I don’t know if Sergeant James Crowley, the officer who arrested Professor Gates, holds any of these types of views, or a milder version of them, privately. No one knows. But the possibility does exist, which is why we shouldn’t take his word, or the word of any police officer, as unadulterated truth for no reason other than a badge. Especially in light of the strange discrepancies between his police report, witness Lucia Whalen’s account, and the inarguable facts recorded on the 911 call.

Which brings us back to Officer Barrett, who believed that Professor Gates, in his own home, had no rights “when considered a suspect.” Had Officer Barrett been the responding officer, he would not only have arrested Gates but “would have sprayed him in the face with OC deserving of his belligerent non-compliance.” I hope that most police officers see themselves as public servants, but it’s clear that far too many see themselves as our masters.

Earlier this week, at a popular right-leaning blog called The Corner, a police officer in the Los Angeles Police Department who blogs there anonymously under the pseudonym Jack Dunphy had this advice for every law-abiding citizen in dealing with the police:

You may be as pure as the driven snow itself, but you have no idea what horrible crime that police officer might suspect you of committing. You may be tooling along on a Sunday drive in your 1932 Hupmobile when, quite unknown to you, someone else in a 1932 Hupmobile knocks off the nearby Piggly Wiggly. A passing police officer sees you and, asking himself how many 1932 Hupmobiles can there be around here, pulls you over. At that moment I can assure you the officer is not all that concerned with trying not to offend you. He is instead concerned with protecting his mortal hide from having holes placed in it where God did not intend. And you, if in asserting your constitutional right to be free from unlawful search and seizure fail to do as the officer asks, run the risk of having such holes placed in your own.

That last sentence bears repeating. If you assert your constitutional rights to a police officer and fail to do as instructed, you run the risk of being shot. If there’s still anyone who thinks that Professor Gates overreacted, if there’s still anyone who can’t understand the dysfunctional relationship between black men and the police, consider this fact: Yesterday, Officer Justin Barrett had a badge and a gun. Today, “Jack Dunphy” still does.

Here, courtesy of My Fox Boston , is the full verbatim text of Barrett’s e-mail– spelling errors, lack of paragraph breaks and all. Read it and think about the fact that if it was ever your word versus Officer Barrett’s in a court of law, this is who would get the benefit of the doubt:

Article writer, That was, by far, the worst article I’ve ever read. I am a former English teacher, writer, current police officer, father, husband and military veteran. You need to be corrected and I certainly hope others have attempted, for your written messages and material is so 4th grade level, I am embarrassed I paid the 1.50 for the paper [rest assured, it is my aim to tell as many readers The Boston Globe and your biased reporting is both sub standard and strictly one sided]. For you are not professional and basically, your writing is ridiculous. A reader may assume, per your article, that criminals are never well-dressed with a tucked in polo [2nd paragraph]. Your defense [4th paragraph] of Gates while he is on the phone while being confronted [INDEED] with a police officer is assuming he has rights when considered a suspect. He is a suspect and will always be a suspect. His first priority of effort should be to get off the phone and comply with police, for if I was the officer he verbally assaulted like a banana-eating jungle monkey, I would have sprayed him in the face with OC deserving of his belligerent non-compliance. Further [5th paragraph], a reader may assume that crimes only happen in back alleys at 0300?! You’re kidding me, right? Are you still in the 5th grade, Catholic School? That paragraph was as pathetic as jungle monkey gibberish – I might as well ax you the question, “Is this your first test at reporting?” You do not understand roles, tactics and dangers police officers face, as apparently you think no one wearing a polo might possess a firearm or knife on his/her person. Might you fathom a woman could be a criminal? Or are criminals all hairy, dirty, stinky, mean looking ugly men? You are a hot little bird with minimal experiences in a harsh field. You are a fool. An infidel. You have no business writing for a US newspaper nevermind detailing and analyzing half truths. You should serve me coffee and donuts on Sunday morning. My last point counters your final 2 paragraphs, in which you state Gates is “this immensely famous expert on race” – you really have to be kidding me? Famous for what? Expert why and says who? What has he done for me and my family? What has he done for the law enforcement community or military veterans or to secure freedoms and our borders in this country? What has he done to help limit and reduce my income tax? He has proven to work to get himself attention and become a wealthy lecturer. He lectures students on the subject of racial ethics and profiling. Jee whiz. I must attend that lecture lest I lose my identity and right to free speech and the right to celebrate God and beliefs as I see fit. I am not a racist, but I am prejudice towards people who are stupid and pretend to stand up and preach for something they claim is freedom when it is merely attention because you do not receive enough of it in your little fear-dwelling circle of on-the-bandwagon followers. You mention Gates’ charges were dropped but that it was too late to stop the damage? Damage? Still kidding? You need to serve a day with the infantry and get swarmed by black gnats while manning your sector. Or you just need to get slapped, look in the mirror and admit, “Wow, I am a failure. I am a follower. Who am I kidding?” Again, I like a warm cruller and hot Panamanian, black. No sugar. Your final statement reads, “Gates, whose great success has allowed him to transcend the racial divide-“ to which I ask, when did he transcend? He indeed has transcended back to a bumbling jungle monkey, thus he forever tremains amid this nation’s great social/racial divide that makes it a free and great nation mixed with crazy and awkward differences. Go ahead, ax me what I think? Gates is a goddamned fool and you the article writer simply a poor follower and maybe worse, a poor writer. Your article title should read CONDUCT UNBECOMING A JUNGLE MONKEY-BACK TO ONE’S ROOTS. JB

Tags: Boston James Crowley Justin Barrett Lucia Whalen police Professor Gates racism