Wouldn't go as far as saying it's approaching racist but it does feel like a well intentioned misread. Happy to hear other opinions though.
I get it of course. Garnacho was misguided in not seeing this coming - despite clearly having no ill intent - but for people to see a gorilla emojii used very publicly, very deliberately to praise a teammate and instead of thinking 'yeah he thinks he's strong' they instantly go to 'oh yeah he's black' feels a little disheartening.
People bringing up the fact that monkey imagery is still used to dehumanise us or Vini Jr having half a stadium furiously abusing him with monkey chants just feels like a red herring. Like, it's very easy to differentiate situations like these - which have obviously hateful intent - from a young white dude going out of his way to publicly praise a black teammate. Intent has to matter, common sense has to matter.
On a general basis I think we should try to be better at ascribing good intentions to people until proved otherwise...it's something I've struggled with...but especially in a case like this, where it's just so patently obvious he was going out of his way to gas up a teammate, it just feels silly at best and maybe even a bit damaging at worst (creating division/mistrust/othering where there was none...the opposite infact)
I don't know that too many people think Garnacho is being racist here, though there will always be some. Let me give you an imperfect thought experiment and what I think could be a stronger framing of the FA's intent or policy here, with which people can still have their quibbles or question its efficacy.
Thought Expirement:
Suppose Yossi Benayoun or Omri Casspi scored a last-second game winner, in either of their respective sports. After the game, in their exuberance their teammates posted money bags or currency-related emojis in a celebratory fashion, intended to signify "money in the bank" or "that shot was money" or "you can take that to the bank". Now, such emojis can have many meanings but one such use is to connote
success and excellence and, with the context here, it should be fairly clear that this was celebratory praising of a teammate and no ill-intent was meant. Should Money Yossi be a thing?
FA Policy:
We are committed to denouncing racism in all forms or fashions and, as such, have a no tolerance policy toward racism. Certain symbols, invocations, tropes, imagery and associations are
prima facie insensitive and will be considered verboten
because of the long and negative history surrounding them and
especially when there are a myriad of alternative ways to express the same sentiments. Our policy is intended not only to govern interactions between two players but also to act as a message and deterrent against the proliferation of historically insensitive tropes and symbology, regardless of intent, and, as such, we have a strict liability standard in these instances in order to demonstrate the seriousness with which we take our "No Room For Racism" campaign.