May I ask, where are you from? It was racist. People want to deny it, but I recall the days of my youth when blacks were referred to as yard apes. It hurt my feelings because my very first best friend was a black girl,. Tina and I got along well because we were both different, she more so than I to our classmates.
My mother called us monkeys because we were swinging from trees. I see it as one of those “if the shoe fits” sort of phrases. I don’t believe she was commenting on this woman’s race, but her looks and personality. Remember, the left used the same language regarding Bush Jr. and he’s lilly white.
It can be used as a racial slur, but not always. Is VJ even black?
BTW, I’m from Seattle, but have lived in rural KY for seven years. I also spent time in California, Oregon, Wyoming, Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado in the 60’s. My father worked on land based nuclear missiles as well as submarines so we got around.
I learned to make - and throw away - friendships fast. My first experience with a lot of black students was in grade school in Vallejo while my dad was working at Mare Island. I just naturally tried to befriend some of the black kids because, well, they were just kids to me. It didn’t work, sadly. I don’t think their race was the problem. Rather, it was the culture.
There were two neighborhoods across a large ditch from each other. Both were the same home designs and built at the same time. One was all white and the other all black. The white neighborhood was a pretty typical middle class neighborhood. The other side of the ditch was a place to be avoided. I walked across the foot bridge once (about 30 yards long) and saw a different world. None of the yards had lawns. They were bare dirt and brown weeds. I remember hollow core front doors with holes kicked in. The most weird thing I saw was a girl that appeared to be in first or second grade riding a bike down the street with no tires. Just rims.
IT was then (in 3rd grade) I learned from those two neighborhoods that though things may start out equal, it doesn’t guarantee an equal outcome.
But again, I don’t pin it on race. I pin it on culture.