WaPo fires only full-time Black woman opinion columnist for condemning political violence

At the Washington Post, a columnist condemning political violence and current gun control legislation in the wake of Christian nationalist Charlie Kirk’s killing is grounds for termination, “a risk to the Post”, and excluded from the Opinion section’s focus on “personal liberties and free markets.”

Long-time columnist Karen Attiah, who worked at the newsroom for 11 years and says she was the last full-time Black opinion columnist at the Post, was fired Sep. 11 for Bluesky comments about racial double standards and gun violence in the U.S. Though the Post characterized the comments as referring to Kirk’s killing, Attiah says those cited in her termination letter directly referenced Minnesota legislator Melissa Hortman’s assassination in June 2025. 

“Part of what keeps America so violent is the insistence that people perform care, empty goodness and absolution for white men who espouse hatred and violence,” one such post reads. Attiah posted just one direct reference to Kirk, referring to his comments on prominent Black women not having “brain processing power”. 

PEN America and Free Press’s Media 2070 project, a racial justice project focused on reparative media, condemned her dismissal as an attack on free press. It also reflects newsrooms’ reneged promises to support Black journalists after George Floyd’s murder and increased trepidation around diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives under the Trump administration. And the Washington Post put its newsletter focusing on “candid conversations about race and identity in 21st century America,” About US, on hiatus last summer. 

“What happened to me is part of a broader purge of Black voices from academia, business, government, and media — a historical pattern as dangerous as it is shameful — and tragic,” Attiah wrote in a blog post. “Washington D.C. no longer has a paper that reflects the people it serves.”  

Attiah’s perspective is consistent with The Post’s history. A 2022 pay study produced by the WaPo union’s Black Caucus found that despite D.C. having a majority-Black population, the Post has never had a Black publisher or Black executive editor. 

“It’s difficult to argue that our coverage is not still intended for a largely White audience,” a staffer said in the 2022 WaPo Guild Black Caucus report. 

Status’s Oliver Darcy obtained Attiah’s dismissal notice. Wayne Connell, the Post’s chief HR officer, wrote in the dismissal letter that the former columnist’s Bluesky postings about white men violated the newsroom’s social media policy around “postings that disparage people based on their race, gender or other protected characteristics.” 

Black reporters and columnists have received similar sanctions for social media posts acknowledging racial double standards in coverage and editorial framing for years — most publicly and notably at the outset of protests in 2020 reacting to George Floyd’s murder. 

In The New Republic, Attiah’s former Post Opinions colleague Perry Bacon Jr. argues that this expectation for Black journalists to tread carefully when discussing white supremacy and its relation to democracy prevents honest writing about the current political climate.

“Republican appointees on the Supreme Court and lower-level courts and now the Trump administration have essentially outlawed any program that seeks to address racial disparities,” he wrote. “The political right is trying to basically outlaw any discussion of racial inequality — and news organizations are trying to appease the political right.”

WaPo Guild’s leadership shared a statement on Sep. 15 saying the Post both “flagrantly disregarded standard disciplinary processes” and “undermined its own mandate to be a champion of free speech.”

The union said it will continue to support Attiah and defend her rights, though a spokesperson said they were not able to comment at the moment on any planned actions when reached for a statement.

Attiah is currently gearing up to teach a fall session of an independent course, Race, Media and International Affairs 101+102.

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James Salanga is the co-director of The Objective.

This piece was edited by Gabe Schneider.