While Obama Welcomes Crowley & Gates To WH for Beers, Another Cop Makes Racial Slur

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Beer Summit, Crowley, Gates, Gates arrest, Obama, White House

As the White House prepares a picnic-style atmosphere on the South Lawn, complete with beers, to ease anger over the arrest of an African-American Harvard professor last week, a Boston, Massachusetts, police officer is stirring the pot of racial tensions.

CNN is reporting that Officer Justin Barrett used a racial slur “in a mass e-mail” referring to Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who was arrested after he broke into his own home.

Barrett sent out multiple e-mails calling Gates “a banana-eating jungle monkey,” according to CNN.

Barrett says he’s sorry he “used such words,” according to CNN, and says he’s “not a racist.”

Really?  Then what is a racist?

Barrett has been “placed on administrative leave…and he might lose his job as a result,” CNN reports.

Obama, prof, cop to sit down over brews – CNN.com.

Breaking News: No Apology From Obama Who Says That Racism “Still Troubling” U. S.

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breaking news, Cambridge Police controversy, Crowley, Gates arrest, Harvard Professor arrest, Obama, racial profiling, racism in America

President Obama made a surprise appearance at the daily press briefing to address the growing controversy regarding the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. by the Cambridge Police after he broke into his own home.

Without making an apology, which some in the media as well as the Cambridge Police were demanding, the President admitted that he “contributed to more media frenzy” because of his comments made at the end of his news conference on Wednesday night.

Saying that  Gates and Sergeant James Crowley, the arresting officer, are both “decent people” and calling Crowley “an outstanding officer,” Obama said that the arrest was over-reactive.

“The fact that it has garnered so much attention,” Obama said, “I think is a testimony to the fact that these are issues that still very sensitive here in America.”

He asked that everyone “steps back” from the anger on both sides.  Obama said he hoped the outcome would be a “teachable moment where all of us…spend a little more time listening to each other,” Obama said, “Race is still a troubling aspect of our society.”