Caledonia plant shop refuses to remove racial slur from store name

A plant shop in Caledonia is backtracking its own promise to rebrand despite receiving heavy criticism for including a racial slur in the store name.

Kellie MacMillan, an owner of the Princess and the Yard Ape, said when she and her husband named their business in 2014, they knew the phrase 'Yard Ape' was an insult to Black people.

"At the time [in 2014], we looked up the definition and we were aware that there was a racial, derogatory term of the same definition, however, since my husband is a blue-collar worker ... we really weren't concerned because he is the antithesis of the slur," MacMillan said in a video posted on Facebook on Wednesday.

The term "Yard Ape" is defined online as slang for an "unruly child" or as a derogatory term intended to describe Black people.

MacMillan said her husband, Dave, is a landscaper and "that is what they call themselves. In a non-threatening, non-racial way.  It is an insider term. And has no resemblance of any fashion to the term you are pulling up on Google," she wrote in a blog post on their website on Thursday.

MacMillan says a screenshot with the business name and her home address were shared online, leading her to phone the police due to threatening messages she received.

It led her to post the Facebook video on Wednesday, saying she wasn't making excuses or apologies for the name, but would bow to online pressure and change the name because "I want you to know that I listen and I care" — in less than 24 hours, she backtracked the comments and said they will not change the name of the business.

"Please be assured that our names are not listed as the authors of this term, as is clear to see on the many screenshots that have kindly been sent our way.  Perhaps, you may wish to contact the company that published this information in a dictionary format.  The citation is clearly marked for you to see whom the author is and where the credit should go," MacMillan wrote.

"The intentions behind the name choice were chosen by my husband who is a landscaper by trade ... My husband chose the name and is still happy to carry that name. It is his profession and his brand identity.  So from, this day, dated June 11, 2020 the term Yard Ape on this site and any forms of business clearly equals the name David S. MacMillan."

The backlash against the Caledonia business comes during a civil rights movement sparked by the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man killed by a white police officer in Minnesota two weeks ago.

Race expert says explanation is invalidating

Ameil Joseph, a McMaster University associate professor who studies critical race theory, told CBC News even the definition MacMillan was leaning on when using the derogatory store name has a link to racism.

"That is also based on the racial trope founded on humiliation, using caricatures and ornaments to humiliate Black people," he said.

He also responded to her comments that few people know of the slur.

"Just because someone hasn't made this much noise about it in the past, doesn't mean it hasn't hurt people over years and years," Joseph said.

He thinks MacMillan's original promise to change of the store name due to outside pressure was "invalidating" and dismisses their "complicity in the impact of harm."

"We can talk about racism as intent or racism as outcome and I think this is a moment where we're acknowledging it's not just about intent ... it is also about outcomes," he explained.

"A different response might have said, 'This is a racial trope, it is demeaning and humiliating, we are taking it down and here's what we're doing instead. We're issuing this apology, we take responsibility for both the ignorance around it and the practice of it.' That sounds very different to me."

Joseph said businesses, brands and people need to think about the origins and meanings of names, metaphors, euphemisms and slogans — and especially consider how they impact marginalized communities.

He also noted that raising attention will likely lead to pain within Black communities, as some will have to see the racial slur again.

"We need to be careful about how much of this then demands Black, Indigenous and people of colour to re-experience the trauma of the suffering of knowing this is so prevalent, while raising awareness."