...white people?
An officer in the Boston Police Department has been suspended after allegedly writing a racially charged e-mail about Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. to colleagues at the National Guard, a law enforcement official said.
The law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Officer Justin Barrett referred to the black scholar as a “jungle monkey’’ in the letter, written in reaction to news coverage of Gates’s arrest July 16. Barrett was suspended Tuesday, pending a termination hearing.
In an interview that WCVB-TV aired last night, Barrett said he used “a poor choice of words.’’
“I did not mean to offend anyone,’’ he said. “The words were being used to characterize behavior, not describe anyone . . . I didn’t mean it in a racist way. I treat everyone with dignity and respect.’’
Barrett and his lawyer said they will fight the charges. “People are making it about race. It is not about race,’’ Barrett said.
Well, Officer Barrett, that's a helluva display of "dignity and respect." And if it's "not about race," just what the hell was it about? The Boston Police Benevolent Association's mascot?
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