Sarah Jeong

After “The New York Times” announced that the “Verge’s” senior writer Sarah Jeong would join its editorial board, Jeong’s old tweets resurfaced. These comments, mostly about the oppressive nature of white culture, date back to 2013.

“Oh man it’s kind of sick how much joy I get out of being cruel to old white men,” she wrote in July 2014.

Jeong, a female journalist and a woman of color, identifies herself as a feminist, and she is familiar with harassment. At the time, she was a part of, “what I thought of at the time as counter-trolling.”

Right-leaning news sources labeled Jeong’s tweets as “racist,” “offensive,” and “anti-white.” Others were not as quick to judge Jeong’s statements, as they remind people to consider the culture, history, and current society and politics in context.

“Everyone makes rash decisions,” said Tony Thompson, 12.

Jeong weighed her thoughts, as she wrote in a recent tweet, “While it was intended as satire, I deeply regret that I mimicked the language of my harassers. These comments were not aimed at a general audience, because general audiences do not engage in harassment campaigns. I can understand how hurtful these posts of out of context, and would not do it again.”

“The New York Times” defended Jeong and maintained its decision to hire her. Although “The Times” does not necessarily approve of Jeong’s tweets, it insisted that it understood the context of the comments.