US Columnist Claims She Was Fired After Speaking Out On Violence, Guns

Longtime Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah has alleged that she was fired from the paper's Opinions department after "speaking out against political violence," following right-wing activist Charlie Kirk's death. 

Ms Attiah, who had been with WaPo for over a decade, said her dismissal came after she raised concerns about racial double standards and gun control in the United States.

She joined the newspaper in 2014 with the goal of using journalism to serve the public. In a Substack post, Ms Attiah said she now feels her voice has been silenced by the publication.

Ms Attiah said that she only directly mentioned Charlie Kirk in one post. "In 2023, Kirk reportedly made a remark saying that some prominent Black women 'do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously.'"

She included a screenshot of this post on Bluesky in her Substack letter to show that she was using his own words as evidence for her critique. She said she wanted to clarify that she wasn't falsely accusing him but was instead reporting his own statement.

After shootings in Utah and Colorado, Karen Attiah spoke out against how the US accepts political violence.

"I condemned America's acceptance of political violence and criticized its ritualized responses- the hollow, cliched calls for 'thoughts and prayers' and 'this is not who we are' that normalize gun violence and absolve white perpetrators especially, while nothing is done to curb deaths," she wrote.

Karen Attiah added, "I wish I had hope for gun control and that I could believe political violence has no place in this country. But we live in a country that accepts white children being massacred by gun violence."

Ms Attiah also highlighted that she was the last full-time Black opinion columnist at The Post. She states that with her departure, the newspaper no longer has a columnist who reflects the experiences and perspectives of the local community.

Ms Attiah stated that The Post accused her of "gross misconduct," calling her social media posts "unacceptable," and endangering "the physical safety of colleagues," all of which she denies.

"Political violence has no place in this country. But we will also do nothing to curb the availability of the guns used to carry out said violence," she said in a Substack post. "America is sick and there is no cure in sight," according to a report by The Guardian.

Her dismissal, according to Ms Attiah, was a part of a larger effort to silence Black voices in the media, government, industry, and academia-a historical trend that is tragic and dangerous."

"Because America, especially white America, is not going to do what it needs to do to get rid of the guns in their country," she added.