by Ben Cohen
This has to be seen to be believed. The email (pasted below) was sent by Boston Police Officer Justin Barret to a reporter in the Boston Globe lamenting his coverage of the Henry Louis Gates arrest.
In a stunningly paranoid, racist rant, Barret, a former English teacher and military veteran, referred to Gates as 'banana eating jungle monkey', and informed the journalist that he would have sprayed Gates 'in the face with OC deserving of his belligerent non-compliance'. After somehow including a diatribe about income tax, incredibly, the officer went on to say that he was 'not a racist', and only 'prejudice towards people who are stupid'.
I often receive emails from people enraged by something I have written, and they always provide an interesting glimpse into the psyches of various sectors of the population. The Rush Limbaugh Right are particularly interesting, as their world view appears to be an amalgamation of deep seated insecurity, extraordinary ignorance, fear of black people, and a kind of nerdy intelligence born from obsessing over things like military equipment and war history. The result can provide for some hilarious reading, but in Barret's case, it is just scary. As a Policeman, his job is to protect the public, but it looks like it is the public who needs protecting from him. Thankfully, he has been suspended, and the Mayor of Boston is calling for his dismissal.
Read the email below (via myfoxboston):
