Hello everyone. The last few weeks have been quite—— hectic.
Two weeks ago, I broke the news of my sudden and wrongful termination from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk murder and Colorado shootings on Sept 10th.
I posted the termination letter that the Washington Post sent a few days ago, which you can read for yourself.
Why Washington Post fired me
Ever since I went public on Monday about my firing from the Washington Post, there has been a lot of misinformation about the stated reasons for my firing. A narrative that has taken hold is that I was fired for mentioning Charlie Kirk’s views on Black women.
My alleged crime? Doing my journalistic duty, condemning political violence and posting the truth about America, forced performative mourning, and the documented patterns of white male extremist violence.
My plan now: I’m going to fight this.
As documented in The New York Times, I am a long-time Washington Post Guild member, and I have filed a grievance to challenge the termination.
I have also retained the Democracy Defenders Fund, a bipartisan legal team, which includes Norman Eisen and Katie Phang. They have sent a letter to WaPo leadership, which you can read for yourself here.
Tomorrow, October 2nd, is the anniversary of the brutal murder by Saudi agents of Global Opinions columnist and Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, whom I hired and edited at the Washington Post's opinions section. He, too, was silenced by Saudi media and banned from writing before finding a home to write at the Post. And now, that very same Washington Post that platformed Jamal as a cause for global press freedom has now unjustly removed my voice.
Speaking the truth cost me my Washington Post job. For Jamal, it eventually cost him his life.
So indeed, this is bigger than me, or a job— this fight is about America’s democracy and the First Amendment. It is about global journalistic freedom. It is about the human right to speak the truth about power, even when it is uncomfortable or difficult.
And I know I’m not alone in this.
I would like to thank the members of the Washington Post Guild and the Washington-Baltimore News Guild for their unwavering support and condemnation of my firing, as well as the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) for raising the alarm about my firing and the steep decline in Black journalists at The Washington Post. I’d also like to thank the Washington Association of Black Journalists (WABJ), Asian-American Journalists Association (AAJA), and the Washington Association of Asian-American Journalists for their solidarity. Also, thank you to Kimberle Crenshaw of the African American Policy Forum, and the Media and Democracy Project for their support.
To the independent media, including Don Lemon, Van Lathan, Joy-Ann Reid, Roland Martin, Tiffany D. Cross, Angela Rye and others who have given me a platform to speak when other major TV networks wouldn’t—thank you.
To my fellow Substackers who have had me on their platforms, including Paul Krugman, Jim Acosta, THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali , Qasim Rashid, Esq. and Dana DuBois + Lawrence Winnerman of GenXy — thank you.
And to so many of you from around the world who have sent messages, encouragement, and solidarity, thank you.
I’ll be posting updates here on Substack, so please do subscribe.
As always, despite the challenges, obstacles, and curveballs thrown…
We move!
Karen
Thank you for your courage in speaking out and pushing back. We can’t overestimate how important this is as the fascist playbook unfolds before our eyes. Your efforts to teach the First Amendment are equally important. As John Dewey said, “Democracy has to be born anew in every generation, and education is its midwife.”
Good for you, and thanks to the folks with law licences and/or a media forum who are supporting you.