I was trying to put this into words and get all intellectual with it but.....hell see for your self.
The question here is do you forgive some one for saying something like this?
That of course is if you really believe he is sorry for what he says.
And if you do forgive do you forget?
Just cause you forgive a bigot who asked for it doesn't mean that his views have changed.
It means he now knows to keep his mouth shut.
Bottom line is that he wouldn't be saying sorry if he didn't get caught.
Why should this man keep his job knowing he has to interact with the same community he has so colorfully described?
Does forgiving him mean that we start fresh and let it go like water under the bridge, cause that would mean forgetting too.
I think if I believed he was sorry I could accept an apology, but I sure wouldn't be forgetting, let alone letting him keep his job.
6 comments:
My answer to whether or not to forgive and forget Officer Barrett is "no" on both counts. The only thing that he is sorry and regretful for is getting caught. He needs to be fired too because anyone with his beliefs has no business working in law enforcement.
If he's not sorry he said those things and he is a racist, then he shouldn't be working in law enforcement.
If he is sorry that he said those things and just fired off that letter in a heat of anger or whatever, then he has REALLY poor impulse control.
Either way, I think he should be fired for that.
I think a lot of people were very heated about this situation, on both sides. Some people write horrible things without thinking and without thought of who their audience is or the consequences. I'm not saying what he said was right but I'm not sure if I agree he should be fired. There should be some sort of punishment and a lot of additional training (probably for most on the force and not just in Boston). There should be some sort of punishment especially considering the position he is in. I do not think he should be fired though.
A grown man should have more sense than that.
There are a lot of things people do in the heat of the moment. In the grand scheme, a racist email is way down on the list. Even still, law enforcement should have no room for a person lacking control and even common sense.
I wouldn't want this person teaching children, so I in no way would want him protecting them.
Sometimes in life, "sorry" just doesn't cut it. As far as the man being an officer of the law, this is one of those times. Maybe he can find the foregiveness in his personal life. But professionally, cya.
Malcolm,
I agree, I could understand if he looked into himself and realized the errors in his way but he was obviously trying to cover his butt.
Jessica,
Yeah either way he needs to go.
GBaily,
He is in a position of power and is expect to enforce the law equally. How can he be trusted to do that if this is how he acts out of anger when he had time to think about it and review his writing?
What are we supposed to expect from him in the heat action? The training should have taken place before he got on the force and at this point it is trying to teach an old dog a new trick.
Josh,
I agree.
This is unbelievable. How can this person possibly protect and serve citizens equally with this type of attitude? Many deem Black folks to be paranoid, seeing racism at turn. As a Black person, living in America, I know that there is always someone in the world with this type of Neo-Nazi attitude who means us and other minorities harm. We don't always know who it is. I am glad this idiot was stupid enough to reveal himself as the racist he is.
What this officer needs to do is not back peddle and try to retract what he said (your family will forgive you, they have put up with your racist ass all of this time). He also need to tuck his tail between his legs and leave the force quietly because he is an embarrassment to the badge.
What the hell did this dude have to be angry about? He wasn't even at the scene of the Gates incident. He just felt the need to put his racist barrage out into the universe and now he is going to have to deal with the consequences. Josh says that "in the grand scheme a racist email is low on the list". That may be true in theory, but it has to be known that this type of behavior will not be tolerated, especially not from those who are suppose to be there to help us, not F*** us up! (Al Pacino, Glengarry Glenross):-) Not only would I fire him, but I would check his arrest record for abuses of authority.
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