A New York Times editor attributed the fallout from her mathematical gaffe on MSNBC to racism in a recent op-ed.
Mara Gay, a member of the New York Times editorial board, mistakenly claimed last week that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg could have given a million dollars to every American with the $500 million he spent on his abortive presidential campaign. “Somebody tweeted recently that, actually, with the money he spent, he could have given every American a million dollars,” Gay said.
“It’s an incredible way of putting it. It’s true. It’s disturbing. It does suggest what we’re talking about here: There is too much money in politics,” she later added.
Gay acknowledged that her initial reaction was to joke about how her math didn’t add up, writing, “Given my history with math, I thought the flub was pretty funny, too. I tried to laugh it off. ‘Buying a calculator,’ I wrote on Twitter on Friday. ‘Brb.'” She then went on to suggest critics may have had a racial animus in the comments they made to her.
“What’s it like when people are trying to cancel you for a math mistake? Weird, and maddening and painful,” Gay wrote. “Of course, in my case it wasn’t really about math, as anyone who read through my mentions on Twitter or saw my inbox would know,” she continued.
Gay cited emails from “ring wing trolls” where people emailed her racist messages. “You’re a great example of why we need to end Affirmative Action. Get a job scrubbing floors. It’s the only thing you’re good for,” she claims one email read while another simply said, “Have a banana.”
The public experience, Gay says, was comparable to the media’s reactions to Monica Lewinsky’s sexual encounters with President Bill Clinton, reminding herself that she was legacy of black Americans who were persecuted against during the era of Jim Crow.
“I am here because of them. And there is nothing the haters can do about it,” she wrote.
