school official calls evacuees "yard apes". (S.C.)

[Dems4HowardDean]

Tech official uses slur to describe evacuees, school president says
Greenville Tech's Barton says school will decide action today

Posted Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - 6:00 am


By Ben Szobody
STAFF WRITER
[e-mail]



The associate vice president of student services at Greenville Technical College referred to New Orleans evacuees in Greenville as "yard apes" in a staff meeting last week, said school President Tom Barton on Tuesday.

The college will decide by noon today what action it can take, Barton said. At least one local minority leader said she should be fired.

Repeated attempts by The Greenville News to contact the vice president, whom Barton identified as Renee Holcombe, were unsuccessful Tuesday. Barton said she apologized in a separate meeting. He said the comments were reported to him by staff members who attended the meeting.

"We're going to rectify the situation and make it very much known that we won't ever tolerate that kind of situation -- ever," Barton said, describing his reaction as "shocked" that someone with years at the school could make such an "asinine" statement.
more....


http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050914/NEWS01/509140336

[skooooo]

1. i heard that term...

....when I was a kid. It never had a racial connotation then - just meant kids outside playing.

[wtmusic]

5. Context

is everything.

[ladylibertee]

51. Context ??????

I'm sorry dear but there is NEVER EVER any time that phrase can be used to call ANY ONE ...yard monkeys.That is an outright blatant racist remark !OOOHHHH I wish I was here earlier.Pisses me off dude.:grr:

[Debs]

117. I lived in the South when I was a kid

At the time I remember black people being referred to as Porch Monkeys. I have never heard the term yard monkeys before though

[Lindacooks]

94. Why don't you just try to put that phrase IN context so it is acceptable??

Can't do it. BECAUSE IT'S A RACIST PHRASE IN AND OF ITSELF.

[Dems4HowardDean]

6. that's very racial when used in the South. Don't know about any where else

[Lilli]

10. Yup. Very.

And i'm still surprised everytime I hear something like that...and I've lived in the south a good 15 years now...

[Clark2008]

72. I'm in the South and, while my parents told me that it was

a racist remark when they were kids, by the time *I* was a kid, it was used simply to mean kids playing in the yard - all kids, no matter their color. Kind of like "rugrats" or "crumb-munchers." Just means, "kids."

Now, in this context, I'm sure the guy was being racist because the evacuees certainly aren't kids playing in a yard.

Not only is the school president racist, he's dumb as a fence post for spouting such an antiquated phrase at a staff meeting.

[musette_sf]

80. From my experience, it's not racial

I met Husband #2 when we both lived in Metairie (kinda funny, I just realized that I don't have to explain where it is any more!), and he was from North LA, in deepest redneck Webster Parish.

The (redneck) kids big enough to run around the yard and jump on the trampoline were Yard Apes, and the (redneck) kids who were still too little were Rug Rats.

So if it's not racial in deeply racist Webster Parish, I got to agree that it's isn't a racial insult.

[Tomee450]

102. It is a racial slur and

I find it incredible that anyone would say it is not. Why would any white person, knowing that blacks in this country have often been referred to as gorillas,monkeys, coons and other disgusting names, use the word ape when referring to a group of black children. If it is used when referring to whites by other whites, perhaps its not racial but used when referring to hlacks it is a racial slur.

[goclark]

112. It is racist to me and I'm not even a person

who has lost everything I own and perhaps family members.

There is NO excuse for those words.

[sui generis]

9. I've always heard it used as a racial slur

but I could also understand the accidental misuse of the term.

Rationally, if you really were a racist you wouldn't use a term like that in a meeting where there were clearly minorities present.

I dunno - I wasn't there. It would be sad if it turned out to be something really stupid and innocent and she loses her job over it, but if it was intentional then good riddance.

[Stinky The Clown]

13. I heard it as a kid, too, and it *was* racial

And this was in Connecticut.

Yard apes, porch monkeys, etc. were terms that, in certain mouths, were decidedly racial in tone and intent. In other mouths, not so much.

Yes, context and tone are important. I get the feeling this instance was intended to be racial .... but maybe not.

[XanaDUer]

61. Yes, "porch mokeys" is another form of this slur

Maybe it was not meant to be racial, but it is insensitive and rather stupid to say such a thing.

[Julius Civitatus]

21. But the context makes the difference

and the racial make up of the people she was referring to certainly made the whole thing racial. No question about it.

[skooooo]

22. That's fine, not arguing...

Just an observation. I've never heard it used in a racial way. DOesn't mean it wasn't or can't be.

[ladylibertee]

52. Nope...NEVER. in this day and age 2005...Never!

[Zodiak]

86. I know you're being sarcastic

So this is not to counter your post...but I want more DUers to see what is still in this "day and age" so they know that racism is alive, well, and a proud product of the environment G.W. Bush, Limbaugh, and Gingrich have fostered for the last 20 years.

A lawsuit filed today alleges that Tyson Foods, Inc. is responsible for maintaining a segregated bathroom and break room, reminiscent of the Jim Crow era, in its Ashland, Alabama chicken processing plant. Twelve African-American employees filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, alleging that a “Whites Only” sign and a padlock denied them access to a bathroom in the Ashland plant. The complaint states that numerous white employees had keys to the bathroom that were not provided to African-American workers.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/themix/25422/

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/012318.html

http://steveaudio.blogspot.com/2005/09/sweet-home-alabama.html

No newspaper I know of has picked up this story....do you think it might be because we do not like to confront the racism that pervade our culture. Americans hate ugly truths.

[barb162]

33. I never heard this term

[barb162]

37. wonder what was wrong with calling them the evacuees

[tsuki]

47. Neither have I.

[TankLV]

44. Are you caucasian by chance?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[skooooo]

49. yeah..why?

[Iris]

83. My guess is Tank's question is not really a question at all.

It's pretty obvious.

[skooooo]

84. what's obvious...

is that some people pick and choose what they want to out of what you post and decide to be offended. I've said absolutely nothing offensive, and refuse to be put on the defensive for expressing my own experiences. I wouldn't expect that from anyone else either.

[Iris]

89. defend yourself or don't

I don't care one way or another, but I think it's reasonable to point out when someone is being thoughtless.

[skooooo]

90. whatever

have a nice day

[TankLV]

115. Because it's obvious that you can't see the racism BECAUSE you're white.

You are clueless.

And it figures.

And I had you pegged right from the get-go, unfortunately.

[skooooo]

118. ok, my friend

You didn't read all of my posts, and are blinded by your own emotions and prejudice, not me. See post 22.

[TankLV]

125. I have.

My statements and thoughts of exactly who and what you are remain in tact, unfortunately.

Boy you protest too much!

But thanks for tryin!

And please don't consider me your "friend" - you aren't and I wouldn't even want to be in the same room with you.

[LittleClarkie]

48. I call kids yard monkeys quite a bit, but I think the problem here

is these aren't children playing in a yard. They are adults trying to survive for the most part. Depends on who you're aiming it at, I reckon, and the context.

[ladylibertee]

53. I suggest you stop ! Or never go to California b-cuz you could get

hurt saying things like that.

[Justice]

65. I am speechless

that the term would be used by anyone at anytime about any group.

[bluedawg12]

68. These were college students not kids

so it would be hard to even stretch this to mean children playing outside.

Where is this NC or SC?

[CheshireCat]

77. SC

[Missy Vixen]

87. Born and raised in Seattle, WA

I'm in my mid-40's. That term has ALWAYS had a negative and racist connotation.

Julie

[Robeson]

91. Of course its racist.

[raccoon]

120. I've lived in the South my whole life, and I never heard

that term until I was an adult. When I heard it, it was used to refer to kids outside playing, as you said.

Maybe the term just never made it to the hamlet where I grew up.

[ret5hd]

2. it's NOT 'asinine'...it's RACIST...words have meaning.

[quaoar]

15. It's both, actually.

[babylonsister]

3. That is just totally disgusting and unacceptable.

I hope he finds himself in similar straits as the evacuees, and soon. :grr:

[SmokingJacket]

4. And so many Americans still refuse to believe there's such

thing as racism.

If those people weren't evacuees, just regular black people, he would have gotten away with his statement...

[TankLV]

45. I refer to post # 1 as exhibit A.

Shame.

[skooooo]

50. huh?

[ladylibertee]

55. That means ....forget it just forget it dude.

[skooooo]

70. No...not going to "forget it"

Just because I make an observation, based on my experiences, does not mean I don't understand and agree with the point being made. If that's so hard to deal with, then people dont' know how to check their own judgementalness at the door.

[TankLV]

116. A causasian refusing to see the racism and bigotry.

Figures.

I am soooo shocked!

[skooooo]

119. post 22

You see what you want to see.

[ladylibertee]

54. I SECOND that . Ooh I wish i was here earlier.

[liberal N proud]

7. What kind of people say those things

Never mind, I already know.

[bowens43]

8. Anyone care to make a guess as to

her political affiliation?

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Let me see

Communist? IN fact trotskyte in teh mold of ... any neo con you know

;-)

[barb162]

34. does it begin with an "R"

[ladylibertee]

56. Shes a Retardican Concervative Bitch

[Missy M]

11. It is amazing that an associate vice president would make such a.....

statement, at a staff meeting no less. How do people with absolutely no brains make it to top positions.

[klook]

12. No excuse - fire this woman!

This is a STATE-RUN institution, which likes to brag about its minority enrollment. It doesn't matter whether these people are hurricane evacueess or not. The VP of Student Services is supposed to serve the students.

Greenville Tech is run by the South Carolina State Board For Technical And Comprehensive Education. Here's how to contact them:

The State Board For Technical And Comprehensive Education
111 Executive Center Drive
Columbia SC, 29210
Phone: [phone]
Administration Fax: [phone]

FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT:
Lawrence Ray
Director of Communications
[phone]
[e-mail]

[LizMoonstar]

14. whatever else it is, it's from 'Ramona Quimby, Age 8' by Beverly Cleary.

[skooooo]

23. right -- it's not always a racial term

could have been in this case

[ladylibertee]

57. Someone needs to take a serious class on BLACK SOCIOLOGY

[skooooo]

71. Here's the thing

Probably it was a racist way of refering to he evacuees. If you say in the South that it is used racially, fine, I believe you. By the same token, if I tell you that I've heard white people use the term referring to white kids on a playground, why is that so hard for you to understand?

[trogdor]

79. I heard a Navy term that's similar.

They call 'em "deck apes". It describes a seaman whose job it is to do such dirty jobs that somebody has to do, like scrape rust and barnacles off the sides of ships.

[Flavin]

16. Yard ape

My dad used to call us (self and two sisters) yard apes as we threw our lily white selves around in the.... yard.

I do not think the phrase itself is racist, except maybe the 'ape' part.

Flavin

[Dems4HowardDean]

19. I have lived in the South my whole life and the only time I have

heard it used is in a racist way. If you used the term to a black person YOU would be in a fight.

[RaulGroom]

24. My guess is...

This was probably along the lines of Howard Cosell's "look at that monkey run" statement. Somewhere between just insensitive and outright racist. I doubt this person meant to insult people with the term, but it displays an insensitivity to historical racial tensions that borders on racism.

Howard was definitely not racist in the sense of hating black people, but at the same time a white guy who calls a black man a "monkey" has some definite racist attitudes underneath the surface. I'd say the same thing is probably going on here.

BTW my immediate association is with Ramona's friend Yard Ape as well, the kid who showed her the ropes at her new school, I believe.

[Tomee450]

25. That term is racist.

I can imagine just how bad the black students feel knowing that a person holding a high postion at their school consider blacks to be apes.

[BronxBoy]

26. I gotta shake my head....

It's just mind boggling how so many people now feel free to spew the vilest racial bullshit now. There used to be a least some veneer of keeping it under wraps, but when you have Barbara Bush, a former First Lady uttering the words that victims of Katrina were "underprivileged so this is really working out for them" you know Pandora's box has been opened.

[Tomee450]

36. During the Reagan administration

bigotry became fashionable again. It has worsened under the administrations of Bush 1 and 11.

[Pepperbelly]

32. I agree ... nt

[ladylibertee]

58. I was gonna say something, but I won't talk about your father like that

[lateo]

18. Sorry but I grew up in the south and...

that sort of talk is common. I think she was more shocked that someone had the poor judgement to say it at an inapproptiate time and place.

[ebal]

27. common is relative

I was born/raised/still live in the south, and that phrase has never been common with anyone I've known.

[lateo]

38. So is "southern"

I grew up in southern Mississippi. So far south in Mississippi that when Hurricane Katrina came through it was still CAT 3. The town immediately south of us, about 9 miles, is semi-famous for the lynching of a black man. This happened when I was a young boy so I don't remember too much of it but...in the "relative" scheme of things that wasn't long ago because it was within my life time.

I'm young enough though that I remember when the schools got segregated. Again, this was within my life time...it effected me personally. I went to an all-white school on the north-side of our town. I didn't understand why suddenly I was being told I had to be bussed all the way to the south side of town to go to a different school.

I didn't care though because I was young enough that I didn't understand racism.

The adults around me knew about racism, and they wore it on their sleeves.

As I got older I began to learn about it. You couldn't help it because it is all pervasive. I don't know about where you grew up in the south. Where I lived there were some of my friends who didn't bat an eye calling a black person a nigger. For fun, these guys would take a coin and heat it up with a cigarette lighter and then toss it towards some congregated black kids. In their minds they knew those black kids would scramble to try and get it but the joke was on the person who grabbed it.
They got a big kick out of that.

As you can imagine, there were some white folk who did not cotton to integrated schools. So little "academies" began to pop up. These "academies" where private, only-white schools. If you where a child and you attended these schools your parents stood a better than average chance of being racists.

So, I don't know what part of the south you grew up in but I would have loved to live in an environment that wasn't so racist.

Count yourself lucky.

[ebal]

122. South Ga.

Grew up in south Georgia. Schools had long been de-segrated by my time. My schools were probably around 45% black students. I had a middle school principle that was black, as well as many teachers.

In the eighth grade, for example ('81), my teachers were:

Black: Band, Algebra, History, Science
White: English, P.E.

The term "yard ape" was never a commonly heard phrase. In fact I can't even remember anyone using that phrase.

[Vickers]

41. Where? In south Georgia, that is a racial slur.

I can't imagine that a couple of hundred miles north of me that it was an innocent phrase. :eyes:

[Clark2008]

73. Well, it is.

I'm in Tennessee and when I was growing up, it just meant kids playing in the yard.

My PARENTS (and I'm white) called us all 'yard apes' when we'd be out goofing in the yard. No big deal.

As I said above, using it in THIS context is certainly racial because these evacuees are adults, but, in the South, yes, it's used to mean kids of any color.

[Vickers]

76. Yeah, well I call my kids monkeys, but I doubt I'd refer to hurricane

victims as monkeys in a public forum.

[ebal]

123. I agree

I didn't say it wasn't a racial slur.

I was replying to the statement:

"that sort of talk is common"

[renie408]

35. I live in South Carolina and I was born in South Carolina...

and I have never lived further north than Charlotte, NC, or further west than Atlanta, Ga.

I have only heard someone use that term MAYBE three times in my whole life. My parents were racist and I come from a long line of plantation owning racists. And my own mother would be shocked to hear somebody use that term.




Everybody knows you call them 'colored's'.

[Julius Civitatus]

20. Katrina has blown the cover of many a conservative...

revealing the hatred and unadulterated racism they've been cramming in their closets.

[DontBlameMe]

28. Sweet! I'm so glad these racist fucks...

are coming out of the woodwork!

Sorry, my African American friends, but this county needs to, once and for all, confront its bigotry. In the middle of this tragedy, IMHO, is a perfect time.

Maybe we, as a whole, will actually learn something from this.

[LastDemocratInSC]

29. Ms Holcombe has resigned ... this is my hometown, sadly

Ms Holcombe's remarks are an embarrassment to anyone who calls Greenville home.

http://www.greenvillenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050914/NEWS04/50914006

[chaska]

30. I'm from Columbia (homie)...

We both know this is all too common in SC, especially in G'ville.

[renie408]

39. I am from Fort Mill (small town, east of Rock Hill, slightly larger town)

And I NEVER hear this. I must hang out with the right crowd. I never even hear the N word. I never even hear people say stuff that is that obviously racist.

[chaska]

42. Hmm, maybe you're younger. I hope that the place is getting better.

I've seen and heard some pretty awful things, from my own family even. I had to get out of there.

[renie408]

64. I am 41

There is racism here still, of course. But I think it is almost worse than the outright 'yard apes' kind of racism. It is a subtler, closet kind of "we are better than THEM" racism. Also, in an ironic twist, blacks and whites have found that they are united in their racist attitudes towards hispanics here. Sort of a 'enemy of my enemy' sort of a thing, as it were.

Here is an example of the 'new Southern racism': My son's girlfriend happens to be black. We are going out of town this weekend, but my son is staying because he has school commitments. He is staying with some friends of ours who also have a 14 year old son and that kid and my kid are taking their girlfriends to the movies tomorrow night. The mom called me last night and somehow wandered her way into a ten minute explanation of how she didn't have a problem driving my son's girlfriend to the movies. She REALLY wanted to impress on me that she didn't have a problem with the girlfriend being in the car. REALLY. It was FINE. NO PROBLEM. She thought it was GREAT that they were dating. REALLY. GREAT. "You guys are such cool parents"???

Anyway, she never talked to me like that over the summer when he was dating Mackenzie.

[Pepperbelly]

31. I call all kids that ...

along with cookie crumblers, curtain crawlers, milk-breath, and snot-faces.

:D

My kids are grown. I can afford to be a curmudgeon.

[renie408]

40. Yeah, but if you say that down here, you would be a dead curmudgen.

[Pepperbelly]

63. Down where? nt

[renie408]

78. SC...

Ok, so evidently you CAN say that in SC and live. I just know I have a lot of black friends who would kick your ass if you used the term "yard apes" in front of them. In fact, a bunch of our kids were trick or treating together last year and one guy would not let his kids go to the house that had a confederate flag in their yard. It took three of us to convince him that going up and asking the guy if he thought it was appropriate to fly such a flag and whether or not he understood that it represented hate and racism (which I am not sure about, but he seemed DAMNED passionate about it).

[Pepperbelly]

82. LOL

I doubt that would happen to me for using the term 'yard ape'. Shit, I used it today in front of black friends. I told him I got behind a fucking school bus and had to stop every fifty fucking feet to scoop up another fucking yard ape. He agreed that school buses are a pain in the ass when you get behind them.

I think that it depends on context or maybe even the person saying it.

on edit, on reflection, I KNOW racial slurs. I grew up in the South, lived on both coasts and then returned to the South and I know racial slurs. I have heard them forever. I think perhaps that some people are confusing 'yard ape' with another similar phrase that I personally believe to be offensive, because I grew up hearing it and know that it is intended as an insult and slur. That phrase is 'porch monkey'. When they use that phrase, it is a slur.

[Tomee450]

104. I am just wondering why you

felt the need to use that word today in front of your black "friend." What was the point? I am black and find the term very offensive. Your "friend" might not have said anything since he may have been unaware of the race of the children you were referring to. I doubt if he would have been happy if the students were black and you called them yard apes. If he did know and said nothing about it, then he has a problem.

[Pepperbelly]

105. actually ...

they were all white kids. And if it offended you, I think it might be as much your problem as mine. The only thing wrong with my friend is that he doesn't leap to conclusions as you just did.

on edit:Of course, he also knows that I am not a racist. We once had a conversation about when one sings along with records. I asked him what was appropriate if I was listening to Dr. Dre when he used the 'n' word. We discussed it and then listened to a song on a cd of music I recorded. I think he ended up advising me to just sing the song and fuck it. It's honest that way.

So no, you may think he has a problem. I do not.

In addition, it could just as easily came out as 'little fuckers' or 'milk breaths' or even 'monkeys'. Of course, being a human being, I do have both an affinity for monkeys and see the resemblence of same to little humans.

[Tomee450]

108. Well,

I still think it is quite telling that you would use that term in front of an African AMerican knowing quite well that it is offensive to many. You did not care that he could have thought that those kids were black. And yes if he readily accepted your use of that term not knowing that the kids were white, he does have a problem. I think most black people hearing that term would never believe that you were referring to white children since that slur, along with others such as monkey, gorilla, coons are usually hurled only at black people. I still don't know what you were trying to prove using a slur like that in the presence of a black person, especially in today's atmosphere of heightened racism. Hearing something like that reminds me of all the lawn jockey whites used to place on their lawns. They thought there was nothing wrong with that either.

[Pepperbelly]

126. when someone isn't a racist ...

it might not even occur to them that it would be racial. I still think you're full of shit about it because I have heard it used as a generic term for kids for years. Shit, I was called 'yard ape' as a kid.

I think people need to relax a little bit and not conclude that EVERY slur is racist. It's not. It's anti children. If he considered it a slur, he didn't say anything or even look slightly offended or as if he even noticed it. Maybe he's a good actor but I doubt it because if he had found it offensive, he would've said so.

He is just now the intended victim of an actual racist and we have discussed that at length. And btw, just so you fucking know ... it is not a matter of "what you were trying to prove using a slur like that in the presence of a black person" when I never even considered it a slur to begin with.

Hell, I still don't. If someone is offended by me, they can fucking take it up with me at the time. But to the people that actually matter to me ... my friends ... it is never an issue because they know better.

I bet you're tons of fun to be around if you continually look around you for something about which you can be outraged. Your own personal stereotypes blaze across your post. I think that it is you who makes prior conclusions about people based on your own stereotypes. As far as your whole tone, you jump to conclusions and I have another term for that ... outrage-dependent.

I wish you the best and would really suggest watching that whole outrage and offended thing ... it sucks for your blood pressure.

[Clark2008]

74. Well, Pepperbelly can obviously say it in Arkansas

and Tennessee and be OK, especially if he is referring to kids playing in a yard, because that's what it means in our states, now.

Geesch.

[really annoyed]

110. Surprise, surprise...

I think you live to be annoying to others.

[bobbieinok]

43. campaign 2000--1 of W's advisors talked abt 'porch monkeys'

bushco spent a long time saying it wasn't racist.....then the guy who said it left

there was a LOOOONG discussion about this incident and the phrase at salon.com's tabletalk

[paineinthearse]

46. Did a little googling

The college's cached donors list - http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:W9iNsHdIkyMJ:www.greenvilletech.com/About/foundation_2000_honor_roll_of_donors.html+%22Renee+Holcombe%22&hl=en (interesting it is no longer on the school's site) has a "V. Renee Holcombe".

A Virginia Renee Holcombe went to Pickens High School -http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:j-0L9nXen_IJ:pickenshigh.com/HiResPhoto2.html+%22Renee+Holcombe%22&hl=en

That is all.

[ladylibertee]

59. As you can see, I have expressed what I think.My only regret is

that I was not here earlier.I hope to GOD this gets reposted because everyone who has been talking about this seems to be from the south and I just want to tell you that for those of you who are sensitive and so called understanding of this bitch and her comment? You need to check yourselves.Seriously dude.Check yourselves.We are Liberals for a reason.Think, long and hard about that.Thank you. Have a nice day.

[LizMoonstar]

81. why do you assume

that those of us who've never heard it anywhere other than out of the mouth of Ramona are sympathizing with the crazy bitch?

i was surprised to find out that it's a racist term in some contexts, but once i did i support getting rid of the person who used it, and i think we're all in agreement here on that. just because we didn't know something doesn't make us racists.

[skooooo]

85. exactly

[XanaDUer]

60. Isn't SC the state where fundies want to set up

a new world order based on the bible?

[ladylibertee]

62. I would'nt be surprised.

[Dems4HowardDean]

114. yep! link to website

http://christianexodus.org/

[cwydro]

66. I grew up in the South

and the phrase was considered racist....and any time I heard it used, which was not infrequently, it certainly was intended as such. I hate it when Southerners continue to make all of us look so ignorant.

[OzarkDem]

69. Haven't heard it in the last 30 yrs

But then I haven't been living in the south in a long time either.

Its truly shocking that the term has resurfaced.

Bigotry has never gone away for some people, it just wasn't "politically correct" to express it any longer. Right wingers have become comfortable with their prejudices.

[bluedawg12]

67. School sow reveals racist streak. n/t

[personman]

75. How about the term "shit-canned"?

I hope she becomes familiar with that one.

Seriously, aren't we as a people above this shit yet?

Racist remarks about hurricane survivors, legislating gay-hating, unprovoked, illegal wars of aggression...

Sometimes it seems like we have bigger better guns now, and fancier shit to blow up with them then we did a few thousand years ago, and maybe that's the only real difference. We still just love to separate, judge, dominate, etc.

Nothing makes us happier then proving to someone different from us how inferior they are.

-personman

[okieinpain]

88. wow, wonder how she decide when folks went to her for help.

guess blacks need not apply, but I'm pretty sure she'd be the first to say she's not a racist. fuck man, don't tell me bush's election (theft, or whatever you want to call it) doesn't have anything to do with race.

[Dems4HowardDean]

92. Follow up article in the Greenville News today.

About 25 to 30 people were in the meeting where Holcombe made her remarks, Dillard said, but not her immediate supervisor, who is Nancy Welch.

Simpkins said, "It wasn't so long ago when it would have been socially acceptable to use such language because there wouldn't have been African Americans around to hear it in the first place."

"You're speaking of them as less than human, and it goes to the basic dignity of every human being," he said. "It's unfortunate, but it's also a sign that there's still a lot of work to do in terms of race relations."

When asked why it took five days to reach a resolution, Dillard said he was notified of the remark before lunch on Friday by an associate vice president who was not at the meeting but had been told by someone who was. He said his first priority was to make sure Holcombe apologized to the people affected, which he said took place Friday afternoon and Monday.

Barton said he was informed of the matter late Friday, and on Monday the school set about gathering more information about the incident. Holcombe resigned on Tuesday, although Barton said he didn't have official confirmation until Wednesday morning. He said he considers the matter closed, and that no other employee will be disciplined.

Any time the school loses a staff member, Dillard said, it reconsiders the position to determine if it can do without. Holcombe's post was "critical" and will most likely be filled, he said.

The school has two employees at the associate vice president level who are minorities, said Helen Clarkson, director of human resources, one of whom serves on the school's leadership team.

None of its vice presidents are minorities, although Barton said it's "not because we haven't advertised everywhere."

More.


http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050915/NEWS04/509150321

[Robeson]

93. Good. That's one less racist in that school system.....

...To Ms. Holcombe: You reap what you sow.

[Igel]

95. People on this thread have been busy arguing over what they

understand 'yard ape' to mean.

I'm surprised nobody's wanted to see more context, in case that would clarify things, or wondered what it is the speaker intended it to mean.

Many people assume it can only have one meaning, and it's what they say it is.

(And, for the record, it's an expression I'd not heard, but could see it being coined several different times, or shifting its meaning once coined).

[Dems4HowardDean]

96. Its a definitely a derogatory term in the south !

from the article: (Furman University is in Greenville too)

The derogatory term is based on long-held stereotypes comparing blacks to monkeys and is considered "highly offensive" to blacks, said Dr. John Simpkins, associate director of the Riley Institute at Furman University. Simpkins also is an assistant professor at the Charleston School of Law and an author on race and culture in the South.

Paul Guy, president of the NAACP's local chapter, said what disturbs him most is that 15 black workers attended the meetings and none of them reported the remark to the NAACP. He said it could indicate black employees "are afraid to speak up," although he has not fully investigated the matter.

[Dems4HowardDean]

97. you're from Texas isn't it a racial term there too?

[Igel]

124. I'm less from Texas and more in Texas.

More from Maryland; Eugene, Oregon; Los Angeles; and Rochester, NY. At this point I've spent more time in New Jersey and Delaware than Texas. I don't get out much here, and I've only ever really talked to one Texan at length, and her MA thesis was on the representation of homosexuality in some Russian Modernist writer. Not your typical Texan, I'm betting.

Never heard the term before (although my dad used to call me and the other kids I hung around 'monkeys', and I've taken to calling my own that, but there's nothing racist in it. Ageist, maybe ...)

[cwydro]

98. did I miss

the exact quote? Apologies if I did, but it would be interesting to read the whole thing, though I cannot imagine it makes a difference. Still, I want to know how someone in a professional position would use that term ANYWAY, except maybe at home wearing her sheets.

[Dems4HowardDean]

99. according to the article..

we will take these yellow buses and go pick up these yard apes. (She said it in several meetings.)

[cwydro]

101. oh, OK, thanks

YIKES! 'Nuff said.

[Contrary1]

100. I waded into the sludge over at Freepville to see their take.

Seems like a good percentage of them were called yard apes by their parents. The posters that do mention what race they belong
to happen to be white, but they have determined that the statement is not racially motivated no matter who it is aimed at.

"Yard apes may be silly, but it has nothing to do with blacks, and simply a fondly insulting term for kids (of any color)."

That settles it, then.



http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1485288/posts?q=1&&page=1

[bluedawg12]

103. Yea and fags mean cigarettes and dykes mean levee's. n/t

[TomInTib]

106. PC nails another hapless soul (maybe). I grew up white in MN,

and "yard apes" were the older version of "rug rats". Maybe he meant something derogatory, but I would give him the benefit of the doubt...I wouldn't have read anything into it.

Better that he had called them "vertically and age challenged outdoor acrobats".

[Tomee450]

109. That term is racist.

Given the history of this country with blacks being called animals, why would anyone use that term when referring to a black person.

[really annoyed]

111. Don't call the PC card

Since when are racial slurs acceptable in ANY society?

I'm so sick of people calling PC... What happened to a decent society?

I'm sure my mom would be happy with you though... She called the two black cablemen in our home the other day "gorillas."

[skooooo]

113. regardless what it means in the north...

evidentally in the south it is racially derogatory. what's hard to understand?

[Sean Reynolds]

107. When in doubt if it's racist, check urbandictionary.com

1. yard ape link send redefine 17 up, 2 down

The term "yard ape" refers to a black person. It's derivation is from the lawn ornaments of black coachmen holding lanterns, or black children fishing, or many of the other lawn ornaments of that type. It has devolved into a perjorative term for blacks."Those yard apes drank all of my 40s"

2. Yard Ape link send redefine 7 up, 1 down

1.Semi-evolved or primitive person, characterised by speaking with grunts and moans. 2.Person of low intelligence. 3.Person who cannot master simple technology such as calculators or toasters. 4.Simpleton. 5.Native Australian (see boong).1.Aboriginals are such yard apes.

3. yard ape link send redefine 7 up, 24 down

1. Inbreed white "trash" species of the human race, not specifically human that sit in lawn chairs outside their trailer homes with no more then 3 teeth in their mouth and drink Budweisers in Coozies.I don't like going through Park Place trailer park. All those yard apes stare at me all jealous like.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=yard+ape

[Dems4HowardDean]

121. Some evacuees have left Greenville SC ( racism)

Some evacuees have left town because of a perception of racism in Greenville, said Jack Logan, a local resident who said he has provided rides and services to about 25 of them. Logan said he's tried to explain that the strange looks many say they're getting are more likely a case of the survivors being new to town.

more.....

"The majority want to stay," he said of the people he's met. Still, "some of them feel like there's a lot of prejudice in Greenville."


http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050916/NEWS04/509160319