Some personal news:
I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.
Thread incoming.
substack.com/@karenattiah...
For the record.
My posts were not even about Kirk directly, but about America's apathy towards political violence, and the coddling of white male shooters and hate peddlers.
I was fired because I mentioned race: white men and violence-- that was my "gross misconduct."
The last political column I was allowed to write in the @washingtonpost.com was a criticism of Obama.
His people took issue with my piece, but we were respectful.
Now he is tweeting in support of me.
This is how free political speech and respect for debate *actually works*.
Or used to work.
A reminder that seven years ago almost to the day, the CIA determined that Mohammed Bin Salman ordered the killing of @washingtonpost.com journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
I hired and worked with Jamal for a year.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/nation...
For everyone saying political violence has no place in this country…
Remember two Democratic legislators were shot in Minnesota just this year.
And America shrugged and moved on.
I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered.
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
The U.S. is giving dying mall vibes.
I can't explain it, but you know I'm right.
So.. officially, I'm the last Black staff columnist left in the Washington Post's opinion section.
Over the course of my career, @joyannreid.bsky.social has been one of the few to give me and so many other Black voices consistent airtime.
In a time in which Black women’s voices are needed now more than ever— This cancellation hurts, but the bounce back will be impeccable. We got you, Joy.
“Black women do not have the brain processing power to be taken seriously. You have to go steal a white person’s slot”.
-Charlie Kirk
“It's hypocrisy to call yourself a Christian and chase away a refugee or someone seeking help, someone who is hungry or thirsty, toss out someone who is in need of my help.
If I say I am Christian, but do these things, I'm a hypocrite."
-Pope Francis
I think a lot about this quote from Anaïs Nin’s diary from 1939-1944:
“America is in even greater danger because of its cult of toughness, its hatred of sensitivity, and someday it may have to pay a price for this, because atrophy of feeling creates criminals”.
So uh... how exactly is America going to host the World Cup next year with all these travel and immigration restrictions?
Yes I will be fighting back against the unjust firing by @washingtonpost.com.
I have filed a grievance and will be represented by none other than the amazing @katiephang.bsky.social and an incredible legal team.
Journalistic freedom is a bedrock of a healthy society and is worth battling for.
I gave my heart and soul to that place. Built entire sections for journalists pushed out of their home countries.
When the writer I hired, Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi Arabia, they paraded me around as a symbol for press freedom.
I put MY LIFE on the line to defend journalism and WaPo.
Washington Post dismantled the platform Jamal wrote on. Discarded the fellowship they created in his memory.
They fired me unjustly for speaking the truth.
But I’ll never stop talking about my friend, writer, and amazing human, Jamal Khashoggi.
RIP, Jamal.
open.substack.com/pub/karenatt...
I actually wish the media would stop using "DEI" and "diversity hiring" and just get to the essence of the thing and ask:
"Are you saying that this crash was caused by desegregating the races?"
And see what happens.
My latest.
As journalists and writers, we have a duty to use language that is accurate and describes our current reality.
I’m no longer going to talk about DEI/Anti-DEI.
Let’s be clear. We are facing racial purges and re-segregation.
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
AOC was right.
It's probably the right time for a lot of people to start entering the fray and running establishment Dems out of office.
I think everyone should get to know the west African term “wahala”.
It generally means “chaos”, “confusion”, or “drama”. A clusterfuck.
I’ve been on a mission for years to use it more regularly in my work.
Because—- *gestures at everything*
See wahala?!???
We are being ruled by absolute losers
I used to write the WaPo editorials on US-Africa policy, as well on as human rights and politics on the continent.
To describe hundreds of thousands of deaths on the continent as “messy” is an absolute abomination.
It’s a miracle any non-white, non straight, non-citizen person in America is getting any work done right now—
—While the regime is actively trying to purge us from government, workplaces, universities from its websites, and from society in general.
As a former gamer, I cannot overstate how big of a deal this right-wing takeover of Electronic Arts is.
Are they going to create video games where they kidnap and dismember journalists like Jamal Khashoggi?