Can I wade face first into a shitstorm regarding the “you can’t be racist towards white people”?
First off it goes without saying that this generic statement does not hold, but I don’t think that’s what’s being said in general. This is an intentionally cut short version of the generally well-argumented position that “black people can’t be racist towards white people”. Which itself comes with further context specific to its origin which is that we’re basically talking about black Americans and white Americans exclusively. Though it's been used in South Africa as well. The argumentation is based om both the definition of racism and the historical context of relations between white and black people in America.
So the definition of racism is: prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.
I've highlighted the part that is being used in defence of the position mentioned above. It's also what sets apart racism from mere prejudice. What is being argued is that for black people who've grown up in America (and this could apply to the rest of the West too) it's extremely unlikely, bordering on impossible, for them to form the opinion that they are superior. They go through an education both in school and in life that generally unconsciously prevents that. You pick up a physics, maths or history book and it's basically all achievements and discoveries of white people. You pick up money with white peoples' faces on. You look around you and you see larger concentration of money and power with white people. And when you read about your history it's one of subjugation, slavery, dehumanisation and subsequent fight for emancipation. These hardly give fertile ground to form an opinion of black superiority. It's usually more of a fight to convince black people of their own self worth and equal ability rather than anything else.
The second point that is being made is that when a race have been the victims of oppression for centuries and still feel they are second class citizens in the modern society it's only natural to form a dislike, prejudice or hate towards the oppressor. "A man cannot hate the whip with which he is being flogged but then be expected to love the person doing the flogging".
So what is basically said is that yes black people can be hateful and prejudiced towards white people. But because of the unequal footing they find themselves in society and the still rampant racism towards them... it's only natural that such feelings will emerge. And since there's a near impossibility to form a view of their own superiority this prejudice or hate does not translate into racism. Just some things to ponder over.
None of this historical context seems to apply to Korean-American Sarah Jeong though, so she's fresh out of rational explanations. I'm not fond of dragging old tweets to bury people with, but the correct action is to own up and apologise. So long as she did that and her current views don't match those earlier tweets, she should be good. But of course there's a bit of double standards forming at the moment where if the situation was reversed and it was a white writer making these remarks against Asians, he or she would have been out there door before their feet touch the ground.