Hard on the heels of Donald Trump’s ascent to be President-elect of the USA, comes a striking example of racial tensions in that country with an incident involving public comments from Pamela Taylor, Executive Director of a government-funded non-profit group in Clay County, West Virginia. In a Facebook post about the coming shift from Michelle Obama to Melania Trump, Taylor said: “It will be so refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady in the White House. I’m tired of seeing an ape in heels.”
After images of the post went viral last month, a Clay County Development Corporation representative told The Washington Post that the nonprofit organization’s board had removed Taylor from her position. The uproar also prompted Clay County Mayor Beverly Whaling, who had commented approvingly on Taylor’s post, to resign. In the following days, however, the issue was