Racist Boston Cop Weighs in on Henry Lewis Gates’ “Monkey Shines”
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/30/gates.police.apology/index.html

Officer Barrett claims he mis-spoke when he called Henry Lewis Gates a “banana-eating jungle monkey.”  Because the incident with Gates and Sargent Crowley happened just outside Gates’ front door, Barrett meant to call him a “banana-eating porch monkey.”  No word yet as to whether or not Officer Barrett will be invited to the White House for beer and bananas with the President . . .

Christ, where do you begin with a story like this?  Perhaps an explanation from Barrett’s attorney would help clear the air:

‘Barrett’s comments were taken out of context, said his attorney, Peter Marano.  “Officer Barrett did not call professor Gates a jungle monkey or malign him racially,” Marano said. “He said his behavior was like that of one. It was a characterization of the actions of that man.”‘

I see.  But Mr. Marano, what about the fact that in addition to calling Mr. Gates a “jungle monkey” three different times in his e-mail, Mr. Barrett also called the writings of a white, female Boston Globe columnist “jungle monkey gibberish” because he disagreed with it?  Quite honestly Mr. Marano, your client sounds like a rather hard-core racist who doesn’t think twice about spewing his vitriol at anyone who looks, acts, or thinks differently than he does, and you sound like a paid apologist who is on the verge of cashing in on this incident on the nation talk-show circuit, with a book deal in the offing . . .

It’s really too bad that the hearings to appoint Sonia Sotomayer to the Supreme Court are over and her confirmation is almost assured.  I’m pretty sure that Justice “Shuck n’ Jive” Marano could have been quite the addition to the High Court.  Sotomayer’s “wise Latina” comment is suddenly looking rather innocuous compared to Barrett’s and Marano’s racist snarlings . . .

My personal take on the initial incident in which Gates was arrested?  Yeah, I think Gates probably over-reacted.  However, even the most cursory look at the comments of Barrett and Marano quickly show who the monkeys are in this monkey-house . . .

-Rance Muhammitz

PS: Kudos to Boston’s Police Chief for stripping this cowboy of his gun and badge so quickly.  Welcome to the ranks of 11.5% unemployment, Officer Barrett . . .