WV Official Who Made Racist Post About Michelle Obama Gets Her Job Back

The leader of a state- and federal-funded non-profit in West Virginia who was suspended last month after making a racist comment about Michelle Obama on Facebook will go back to work later this month, according to a letter sent to the state.

Pamela Taylor remains suspended but is scheduled to return to work on Dec. 23, more than a month after her Facebook post made national news following Donald Trump's presidential election win.

"It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady in the White House," her post said. "I'm tired of seeing an ape in heels."

Rather than condemn the post, Clay Mayor Beverly Whaling replied to it and said, "Just made my day Pam."

Whaling later resigned for her comment. Taylor was placed on leave after thousands of people called for her resignation in an online petition.

Taylor deleted the post and replaced it with an apology, then told WSAZ that the attention on her had become a "hate crime against me."

SEE ALSO: Nonprofit Worker Removed from Job, Mayor Resigns After Racist Facebook Post Directed at Michelle Obama

Taylor is the head of the Clay County Development Corp., a private non-profit that provides services to poor senior citizens in the poverty-stricken county. The group received $1.5 million in federal funding and $365,000 in state funding in 2014, according to the Gazette-Mail.

The letter announcing Taylor's reinstatement, sent from the corporation's acting director, Leslie McGlothin, to the West Virginia Bureau of Senior Services, was first reported by the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

Attempts by Patch to reach the Clay County Development Corp. were unsuccessful. We'll update this story if we hear back.

Posts on the organization's Facebook page were angry after news of her reinstatement broke.

"As a taxpayer whose tax dollars are helping fund your organization I'd like to know why Pamela Taylor is being returned to her job," Clay resident Delphine Fairley wrote on the page. "My concern is with her treatment of the seniors of color who are in her care. We cannot trust her to treat them with dignity and respect if her heart is coal. I want her fired."

Kathy Jameson wrote: "As an American Citizen who believes in the doctrine of all men are created equal, I am amazed, appalled, and disgusted that Pamela Taylor, an openly racist public servant has been reinstated into a position where she has to treat all people equally and fairly."

Image via Gage Skidmore, Flickr, used under Creative Commons