Georgia School Official Fired After Calling Michelle Obama a Gorilla

On Oct. 3, a Forsyth County, Georgia elementary school employee was fired after a series of racially insensitive remarks about first lady Michelle Obama surfaced online.

According to Atlanta’s WSB-TV Channel 2 News, Chestatee Elementary School paraprofessional Jane Wood Allen called Obama a gorilla in several Facebook posts. Many of Allen’s posts spread across the web prior to her deleting them. However, the Forsyth County School District was made aware of the posts and fired Allen for her racially charged statements.

In one post, Allen implied that Obama could not survive outside of the White House without the luxury afforded to her.

“This poor gorilla,” Allen wrote. “How is she going to function in the real world, by not having all of her luxurious vacations paid for anymore?”

Subsequently, the district released a statement denouncing the former employee, her actions and others of the sort.

“Jane Wood Allen has been relieved from duty. And is no longer an employee of Forsyth County Schools. Racism and discrimination are not tolerated in our school district. We are committed to ongoing staff training on the acceptance of all individuals.”

Independent journalism doesn't fund itself.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top