Barrett, in his e-mail to Abraham, wrote (with the bracketed comments in the original): "Your defense [4th paragraph] of Gates while he is on the phone while being confronted [INDEED] with a police officer is assuming he has rights when considered a suspect.... His first priority of effort should be to get off the phone and comply with police, for if I was the officer he verbally assaulted like a banana-eating jungle monkey, I would have sprayed him in the face with OC deserving of his belligerent non-compliance." Barrett concluded his email by telling Abraham that her column should have run under the headline, "CONDUCT UNBECOMING A JUNGLE MONKEY - BACK TO ONE'S ROOTS. JB"

Barrett's lawsuit claims his civil rights have been violated. According to his lawyer his words were misinterpreted, said Weinberg Law Firm, Texas Labor Lawyer.