Mayor Beverly Whaling of Clay, West Virginia has resigned following the fallout from her response to a very racist and horrible Facebook post referring to First Lady Michelle Obama as an “ape in heels.”
The Associated Press reports that Whaling’s resignation is effective immediately. The Facebook post in question was made by Clay County Development Corp. director Pamela Ramsey Taylor after the unfortunate election of moldy, racist pineapple upside-down cake Donald Trump to the office of President.
“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,” wrote Taylor, to which Whaling responded “Just made my day Pam,” like a catchphrase from a bad sitcom, but racist. Now, Pam is most likely out of a job and Whaling definitely is. Serves them right, for being terrible people slinging the worst kind of mud at Michelle Obama, a woman who has handled so much vitriol and abuse from the public during her eight years as FLOTUS that I hope she takes a year off to just relax.
In the wake of the Facebook post and Taylor’s piddling apology Monday, Clay County Sheriff Garrett Samples said that threats had been made against both women and multiple other county officials. Owens Brown, the director of the NAACP’s West Virgina chapter, expressed his disappointment with the women’s actions. “I feel so it’s unfortunate that people still have these racist undertones,” he said. “Unfortunately, this is a reality that we are dealing with in America today. There’s no place for these types of attitudes in our state.”