"An Ape In Heals"

We are officially one week into what I call "The Ominous Age of Trump". The world is spinning on its axis in the opposite direction, the sky is falling, and we have now entered The Twilight Zone. As hard as it is to believe, the feelings of anger and disappointment will subside, and the protests that have been taken place across the country will soon die down, and we'll all have to live in a country "run" by President Tr.........I can't even bring myself to say it. But, the truth is, I think that many of us needed a Trump campaign to shine a light on the American consciousness. Especially those of us who were lulled asleep by the false sense of security we felt because we actually bought into the foolish notion that the election of President Obama meant that we now lived in a post racial America. Those people needed a wake up call, and they got one. The Trump campaign, and the election of Donald Trump brought out the worst in many American's who cast their votes based of racism and fear. People who didn't care about Trump's policies, or lack there of, his sense of decency, or lack there of, or the fact that he lacked the temperament necessary to run not just any country, but the greatest country in the world. Trump's liabilities became his assets and he was able to gain massive support because many American's felt as if they could identify with him. He said what they were afraid to say, and he thinks the way that they think. Donald Trump is the embodiment of racism, insecurity, misogyny, and white rage on a national platform, and now that he is president elect, those who support him feel now feel a boundless sense of freedom. Many of them believe that they can be who they really are because, after all, their brash "leader" has been victorious in doing so. But unlike Trump, these people are not president elect pseudo billionaires who can say and do whatever they please and get away with it. They will all be held accountable.

The director of a state and federal-funded nonprofit in West Virginia has been removed after writing a racist Facebook post referring to first lady Michelle Obama as an “ape in heels.” 

Clay County Development Corp. director Pamela Ramsey Taylor wrote the offensive post after Donald Trump was elected president in an exchange that also embroiled the mayor of Clay, a small town near Charleston.

“It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady in the White House. I’m tired of seeing a Ape in heels,” she wrote. I guess in her mind, a white foreign born stripper/nude model is classier, and more dignified than a Harvard educated, scandal free African-American woman. 

Clay Mayor Beverly Whaling replied to the comment, “Just made my day Pam.” 

Taylor later deleted the post, but screenshots of the exchange have been shared widely on social media and critics began calling for the removal of both officials on Sunday night.

A petition calling for them to be fired has garnered more than 80,000 signatures as of this morning.

Clay County has 8,910 residents, 98.2 percent of whom are white, according to 2015 census data estimates. Two-tenths of 1 percent of residents are black. “More than three-quarters of the presidential votes cast in the county went to Trump,” of course.

Both of the under-fire officials appear to have deleted their Facebook pages. Taylor had earlier posted an apology saying that her message “may be interpreted as racist but was in no way intended to be".

She told local media the backlash against her Facebook post “has been a hate crime against me.” Taylor added that she has has received death threats over her comment. Somebody cue the violins please!

The mayor has also apologized in a statement to The Washington Post: 

“My comment was not intended to be racist at all. I was referring to my day being made for change in the White House! I am truly sorry for any hard feeling this may have caused! Those who know me know that I’m not of any way racist!

“Again, I would like to apologize for this getting out of hand!”

Officials said that a town council meeting was already scheduled for today.

PR