While I would agree that most often folks are indeed making racial slurs when referring to BLM rioters as monkeys, I wouldn't quite be so confident that was definitely someone's intention. I have often been known to refer to my own crews misconduct as acting like a bunch of monkeys, as monkeys do indeed act badly, especially in angry groups. No matter what the human situation, a parallel action can be found in chimpanzee society, as well as most other primates. It's just a matter of extremes.
We are the rudest and most violent, the most destructive, and we hold grudges longer than all other primates. For the most part, such comparisons are just insults to the monkeys.
Back to trees now...
What am I doing today? Fixing my stump grinder. A newbie rolled it. No discernible damage, but it was upside down and lost fluids. Fortunately, it was in a sloped landscape that is being renovated.