'I am a racist': Daniel Perry's social media posts reveal racist comments, anti-protester views
A Travis County state district judge has unsealed court records that reveal more anti-protester social media posts and racist messages that the jury did not see or hear while deciding whether to convict Daniel Perry on a murder charge in the death of protester Garrett Foster.
The posts unsealed Thursday included messages such as "Black Lives Matter is racist to white people...It is official I am racist because I do not agree with people acting like monkeys," Perry wrote.
Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, both of whom have called for Perry to be pardoned of his murder conviction in Foster's death, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday about Perry's comments on social media calling himself a racist.
Perry also posted on June 1, 2020, "It is official I am a racist because I do not agree with people acting like animals at the zoo."
On another Facebook post on June 1, 2020, Perry wrote that “now it is my turn to get banned (from Facebook) by comparing the black lives matter movement to a zoo full of monkeys that are freaking out flinging their s--t.”
He also said, "My parents own a 4 bedroom house and the BLM movement believes that my parents should give their house to a poor black family and pretty much live in a one bedroom house that they should buy with money they don't have."
On June 6, 2020, Perry said in another conversation on social media that "BLM (Black Lives Matter) is the result of victim mentality." "Also yes what happened to George Floyd is messed up but he is no martyr. His autopsy showed he had meth and fentanyl in his system," Perry wrote.
Perry, who is Jewish, said in another Facebook post that a Black Lives Matter leader had compared a Jew to a termite.
"If I were being attacked because I am a Jew and the police are not there immediately I got a gun to defend myself," he said. He also made another comment on social media about what would happen if he was attacked.
"If I were in danger I don't care who is in my way I am pushing them out of my way to escape I will also repeatedly say I am in fear of my life I will defend myself."
Perry also posted on Facebook about an accident that he said he had when he hit a pedestrian who was Black on Interstate 35. "They charged a cop for killing a black man," said Perry. "What is stopping them from prosecuting me for hitting a Black man on 35 South?" Perry said he stopped when he hit the man and reported the incident to police, who let him go.
In another conversation on social media, he posted that "it matters not what the law is but what matters is how much money you can spend on a lawyer and a jury."
Perry shared countless memes on Facebook, including one that said, "If this symbol represents racism in America ... (shows Confederate flag) SO DO THESE (shows NAACP logo, Hispanic scholarship fund, American Association for Affirmative Action, BET, UNCP, the democratic party logo, etc.)"
One day after the shooting of Foster, Perry sent a post on July 26, 2020, to a friend that said, "I was attacked yesterday and I had to defend myself and I need to talk."
The 76-page motion was filed before the trial started earlier this month that ended with jurors convicting Perry and touching off a political firestorm.
Abbott called for for the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to pardon Perry, who has not been sentenced yet.
In a statement, Austin attorney Angelica Cogliano, who represents Whitney Mitchell, Foster's wife, said: "This evidence only shows what we've already known: That Daniel Perry went to the scene because he wanted to harm someone who believed in the rights of Black communities. The unsealed evidence is despicable and only makes us more proud that Garrett fought for a more just, less racist world. We hope the governor considers this evidence before pushing for a painful and unjust pardon."
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Daniel Perry's anti-protester social media posts reveal racist comments
