The saga goes on…as it will. This time, in the Gates/Obama/Crowley story, police officer Barrett is accused of calling the professor a “jungle monkey” in an email, and has been placed on adminitrative leave. Barrett is 36 years old and has held a badge with the police department for two years, apparently, in that time, undergoeing extensive training in racial profiling prevention. Well. Barrett writes this in his email, which was anonymously forwarded to the media;
“(Gates’) first priority should be to get off the phone and comply with police, for if I was the officer he verbally assaulted like a … jungle monkey, I would have sprayed him in the face with OC deserving of his belligerent non-compliance.”
For those not in the know, “OC” is better known as pepper spray, a severe irritant that cause immediate and extreme pain, loss of vision and incapacitates the person exposed to it quite effectively.
Officer Justin Barrett
Now, from his sentence there. we could all split hairs and say it looks like he was calling sergeant Crowley a jungle monkey…but we know what he meant. Though not being among the arresting officers, it’s not really strange that the Garrett has strong feelings on the subject, especially since president Obama saw fit to get involved. That, of course, doesn’t excuse racial slurs like that, but it seems that Gates’ own racial plays are ignored, even if he’s ever so much more influential on general society than one police officer.
Further, from the woman who sparked the whole thing, by calling the cops on Gates;
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.
Firestarter Whalen
“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.
“TheBostonChannel.com” feels the need to apologize for using officer Barrett’s exact quote in their article – here at SnallaBolaget, we’ll not apologize for that. It’s necessary. The fact that we use it, doesn’t necessarily mean we think professor Gates is a monkey of any kind. We do, however, feel that he acted irresponsibly, stupidly (to use a well known wording by now, childishly and belligerently and tumultously when not just obeying police when they came to his door. Gates is still the villain here, people. Let’s not forget that.
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On that point, Crowley, Gates, Obama and Biden met for the Beer Summit, and according to Gates, the sergeant Crowley is a “real likable guy”;
“Nobody knew what to do,” Professor Gates said. “So I walked over, stuck out my hand and said, ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you.’ That broke the awkwardness.”
Sergeant Crowley added that the families “had continued the tour as a group while the beer talk commenced.” He described the interaction between families as very cordial.
Professor Gates concurred, saying: “We hit it off right from the beginning. When he’s not arresting you, Sergeant Crowley is a really likable guy.”
The four of them had beer and snacks, and the press is eating it up, so to speak, commenting on everything from what kind of beer they were having (apparently, president Obama had a Bud Lite, Sergeant Crowley had Blue Moon, Professor Gates drank Sam Adams Light and Mr. Biden, who does not drink, had a Buckler nonalcoholic beer. Mr. Biden put a lime slice in his beer. Sergeant Crowley, for his part, kept with Blue Moon tradition and had a slice of orange in his drink), to what kind of impact a “cold one at the White House” would have on the issue of race in America.
Beer Summit
On a serious note, the involvement of the president in “the little things” might be a big push in the right direction for issues that have been locked in stalemates and controversies for too long.
More here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here… and a million other places.
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