School official calls evacuees "yard apes"

[Jill1228]

Same here! At work I have a coworker (who has 5 kids) call them ankle biters

Originally posted by CutiePie2000
Same here...I thought the same thing, kind of like referring to children (ANY CHILDREN) as "rug rats". Good to be enlightened about something new....

[FHwku]

they're scrambling to cover their asses for something that wasn't even a racist statement.

reminds me of that guy that the mayor of D.C. let go for (correctly) using the word "niggardly" in a speech. i think he eventually rehired the guy. i was in high school, at the time. i expect that thing from our nation's capitol, though. before that mayor, didn't they re-elect a crackhead?

Greenville Tech could've just Googled it. Googled it before the NAACP decided they needed to comment.

i had forgotten about Beverly Cleary's Ramona until i read this thread. we watched Ramona's Bad Day in the 3rd grade, i think. you had to bring in a permission slip for movie day, but there was trail mix and popcorn.

[Marie]

Originally posted by FHwku
they're scrambling to cover their asses for something that wasn't even a racist statement.

Without knowing her, how can you determine what her intentions were? True, she could use this term in her everyday speech to refer to her family and friends. However, it's certainly is not uncommon for some form of the terms ape or monkey to be used in an offensive manner towards African Americans. One of the most common uses was 'porch monkey', which was (and sometimes still is) used to degrade and dishonor blacks. I can't help but to notice the similarities btwn the two. Are you just giving her the benefit of the doubt, or is this a popular pet name that all people in this town use for one another?

[valkyrie]

I've heard the expression "yard apes" before and am aware of the racial connotation -- I don't think it's terribly rare, although maybe it's an older term that people don't use much any more -- thankfully.

Renee Holcombe, formerly an associate vice president for student services with a staff of about 40, told employees in two separate briefings last week that the school's aid for the mostly black hurricane victims staying at the Palmetto Expo Center would include sending yellow buses to pick up the "yard apes," said Barton and senior vice president Ben Dillard.

Seriously, if you are stupid enough to refer to people as "yard apes" even if you don't know the racial connotations during an EMPLOYEE BRIEFING, you're really too stupid to be working for the schools. Since when is it okay to call children ANY name while addressing employees in a relatively formal capacity?

[33girl]

Originally posted by valkyrie
Seriously, if you are stupid enough to refer to people as "yard apes" even if you don't know the racial connotations during an EMPLOYEE BRIEFING, you're really too stupid to be working for the schools. Since when is it okay to call children ANY name while addressing employees in a relatively formal capacity?

Exactly. If she had called them rug rats or something else of the like, people would have been just as upset.

[FHwku]

Originally posted by Marie
Are you just giving her the benefit of the doubt, or is this a popular pet name that all people in this town use for one another?

you're right, i don't know her. so really i really don't know. but i'm giving her the benefit of the doubt when she says she wasn't being racist because

1. it's something i've heard before to refer to children, without negative connotation--even Ramona says so

2. the senior VP of Greenville Tech, said that the children of evacuees were being provided separate transportation (the big yellow school buses)

some people say that it's derogatory comparison because it refers to people as primates (e.g. "porch monkeys") but i don't see that. to me, saying that "yard apes" is racist, would mean that jungle gyms and monkey bars are racist playground apparatus.

* * *
i think that the staff writer for The Greenville News could have worded this better:

Renee Holcombe, formerly an associate vice president for student services with a staff of about 40, told employees in two separate briefings last week that the school's aid for the mostly black hurricane victims staying at the Palmetto Expo Center would include sending yellow buses to pick up the "yard apes," said Barton and senior vice president Ben Dillard.

people all over are misreading that little blip on the internet, thinking that she made mention of the fact that the evacuees were mostly black.

FYI, I am from Greenville, SC and I just moved back there. We don't usually call people yard apes. Like I said, I had never heard of calling people yard apes until this happened.

Now that I know what it is, I don't think it was racist because apparently people call children this no matter the race. I personally wouldn't call children rugrats in a board meeting.

Greenville Tech Administrator Wants Job Back After Calling Evacuees "Yard Apes"
-- WHNS, Fox News

A former administrator at Greenville Tech who resigned earlier this month, now wants her job back. Renee Holcombe stepped down as Associate Vice President of Student Services after making comments some found offensive. She admits to calling the evacuees of Hurricane Katrina who came to Greenville “yard apes” at two separate employee meetings.

On the Greenville Tech campus, controversy over the former adminstrator’s comments still has student’s talking. Bradley Dendy told Fox Carolina, "I think she should have kept it to herself." And Carrie Anne Thaxton said Holcombe never should have made the comment. Thaxton said "I don't think she meant what she said, but this day and age you can't say anything because you don't know, people take everything differently."

Now Holcombe has filed an appeal with the State Budget and Control Board Office of Human Resources to get her job back. Student Jennifer Deberry hopes that doesn’t happen. Deberry told us, "She knew what she was doing before she did it and I just don't think they should give her another chance."

Members of the NAACP agree. They want to make sure that Holcombe never works at Greenville Tech again. President Paul Guy said, "The use of this term demonstrates a total lack of sensitivity and shows a deep cultural bias toward black people."

But Renee Holcombe and her lawyer say the term wasn’t meant in a racial way. Holcombe says “yard apes” was used in the book “Ramona Quimby Age 8” by Beverly Cleary. In one passage the book reads “she yelled again, tears of anger in her eyes, yard apes!”.

Fox Carolina talked to Holcombe’s lawyer Melvin Hutson. He said, “We really don’t understand or agree with the NAACP’s position. This was an unintentional insult even if it was an insult.” But members of the NAACP say the use of “yard apes” is never acceptable when referring to people no matter with their race is. Civil rights activist Ennis Fant said, "Everybody is a part of the human family irrespective to color, we all pay taxes in this state."

Fox Carolina called Renee Holcombe, but she had no comment. Members of the NAACP plan to meet with the President of Greenville Tech on Monday. They are also investigating other concerns on campus like the lack of minority representation in managerial positions. We’ll keep you posted about what happens on The Ten O’clock News.