Massachusetts – A Boston police officer was placed on administrative leave after he allegedly used a racial slur when referring to Henry Louis Gates Jr.
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In a mass e-mail, Officer Justin Barrett, 36, called Gates a “jungle monkey,” according to Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the Boston Police Department.
Gates, a black Harvard scholar, was arrested at his home earlier this month on a disorderly conduct charge after he tried to budge open the door of his Cambridge home.
Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis found out about the e-mail on Tuesday and immediately stripped Barrett of his gun and badge, Driscoll said. The e-mail was sent anonymously to his Barrett’s fellow guard members and the Boston Globe.
Boston Mayor Tom Menino called Barrett a “cancer in the department.”
“He should be fired. He should be gone,” Menino said.
Barrett, who is also a member of the National Guard, is assigned to District B-3. He was placed on administrative leave pending a termination hearing.
The July 16 arrest sparked a national debate about race relations in America and set the stage for a meeting between President Barack Obama, the arresting officer Sgt. James Crowley and Gates.
The trio is set to meet at the White House on Thursday and discuss the incident over a beer.
Earlier Wednesday, the woman who called 911 to report the possible break-in at Gates’ home said she was vilified and called a racist after the incident and hopes the release of the police tapes “will help heal the community” as they have helped restore her reputation.
Whalen told the 911 dispatcher that she saw the men trying to push open a front door.
“I don’t know if they live there and they had a hard time with their key, but I noticed they had to use their shoulder to barge in, and they got in. I didn’t notice if they had a key or not, because I couldn’t see from my angle,” Whalen said.
“Are they white, black or Hispanic?” the dispatcher said.
“There were two larger men. One looked kind of Hispanic, but I am not sure. The other one entered, and I did not see him at all,” she said.
Skip gates lost his cool and was … invited to the White House. A Boston cop, possibly frustrated by the treatment his fellow cop was receiving loses his cool and … gets placed on leave. Earlier incidents are convinient after the fact for justifying actions. I am not justifying the email, but the double standard seems odd.
BTW: always be careful when ou send emails. You never know when they can come back to haunt you.
The Christian officer treated the Christian teacher very nicely, especially when you compare that treatment to the way Muslims treated a professor in Pakistan. For example, only five days ago…
2009.07.24 (Quetta, Pakistan) – A university professor is shot to death in a sectarian attack.
Compare that to the “horrible” and “racist” and “inhumane” treatment of a U.S. Christian professor, Henry Louis Gates Jr., who was arrested by a Christian police officer. NO COMPARISON!!!
President Obama jumped in because he is inexperienced. and needs to learn tact and diplomacy (besides learning that the Jewish people aren’t controlled by him).
To #1 – The charge here is racism. What does the fact that they are both xian have to do with it? If they are both bowlers, or like the same music is not racism anymore? Gimmie a break.
To #2 – Skip Gates lost control? According to whom? The cop? There is several minutes of the cop talking to his dispatcher and nowhere in that tape do you hear anyone losing their cool. Why do you assume that it is true? As for the cop who was suspended… who cares? He used a disgusting racial slur in a job working for the public. The public have the right to fire him for it. There is no “freedom of speech” at work.
I agree racism is not good. But it is not a crime. This punishment is not correct at all.
It is not a crime to not be PC.
It is not a crime to feel animosity towards any group.
I have a legal right to be an anti-semite.
I have a legal right to be anti African Americans
Gates is clearly anti-white, and I am beginning to believe our president is also.
You can’t legislate feelings and thoughts, and Freedom of Speech certainly needs to cover emails, even Mass eMails.
I could have understood his supervisor’s asking him into his private office and telling him to not do this again. But punishment is wrong for this.
Hahaha the nerve of some of the people who post comments on these message boards is outrageous! Our nation has come a long ways but clearly has even further to go anytime one feels this cop shouldn’t be fired for expressing blatant racism in a mass email! The nerve of this guy to actually send this email to the Boston Globe, a nationally syndicated newspaper shows how pompous this idiot is and it’s laughable for him to try and follow that up by apologizing and saying he’s not a racist…..who’s he fooling?
#4 since you know freedom of speech is not a crime you should also have realized that Gates was also expressing his constitutional right as well, eventhough we still don’t know if crowley or the cambridge police was telling the truth or not! I hope you don’t think any reputable police department would condone letting one of it’s officers continue on the job after eshcewing a blatant act of racism and if so, you need to get real buddy!
I “wonder” what all of you would say if this if his racial slur would be against א יוד
Police officers are supposed to undergo training so that they can stay cool during emotionally hot situations. The officer should have responded to Prof. Gates’ frustration by apologizing and leaving the scene.
Once an officer loses control and becomes vindictive, which is exactly what happened when he arrested Prof Gates, it gets dangerous. Remember that our Police officers are armed and trained to shoot to kill. Racism and profiling have no place in police work.
If your civil rights were being violated, you would protest also.