A senior editor at BuzzFeed has come under fire for inviting people to submit personal essays that “help make sense of the world right now,” but also urging white Americans to “think extra hard before you hit send” and “think about what you have to say before you say it.”
The request came from Rachel Sanders, who runs BuzzFeed’s READER section. According to the site, “READER is BuzzFeed News’s home for cultural criticism, personal essays, fiction, and poetry, as well as BuzzFeed’s Emerging Writer Fellowship.”
In a tweet asking for submissions from people, Sanders wrote: “If you have a story to tell that helps makes sense of the world right now, please get in touch.”
She then sent out another tweet, claiming her original call for submissions was “deliberately vague,” adding: “Basically, if you’re a white American citizen, think extra hard before you hit send.”
Seth Mandel, Op-Ed Editor of NY Post, mocked BuzzFeed, writing “Amazing.”
Editor of The Federalist, Sean Davis, wrote: “BuzzFeed senior editor wants essays about America, but not from white people. P.S. This is how you got Trump.”
Aaron Worthing, who claims to be an attorney in DC, tweeted to Sanders: “did you clear that with your compliance attorney? bc you just opened your company to lawsuits.”
Sanders replied, claiming all she did was to ask “consider what they say before they send it.” Worthing pointed out that her tweet showed “actual prejudice based on race, sex & country of origin.”
After drawing criticism for singling out a group of people, she said: “an addendum for anyone confused by this: i mean it purely & only literally, as in, think about what you have to say before you say it.”
BuzzFeed did not respond to a request for comment.
