Washington Post ordered to rehire opinion writer who labeled Charlie Kirk a 'White man that espoused violence’

If she were White there would have been 🦗

 An arbitrator has directed the Washington Post to rehire Karen Attiah, the opinion columnist who was fired last September over comments she made on social media about conservative activist Charlie Kirk on the day he was brutally assassinated.

Monday’s decision to reinstate Attiah caps off an 11-month battle that began when Attiah referred to Kirk as a “White man that espoused violence.”

“Refusing to tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence is … not the same as violence,” Attiah had wrote on social media. “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.”

In a statement, Attiah defended her previous comments, attributing them to her role as an opinion writer at the Washington Post.

 

 “This decision confirms what we’ve said from the start: I was doing my job as an opinion journalist, and doing that job is not misconduct,” Attiah said in a statement. “After spending over a decade of my career at the Post as an editor and an opinion columnist focusing on race, gender and global human rights, I’m relieved to finally have that record set straight … I hope that this win sends a message to journalists and media institutions everywhere that freedom of expression is always worth fighting for.”

Attiah was later fired “for gross misconduct,” on September 11, 2025 after she had held the role for 11 years.

The union representing Attiah, however, claimed that she had not violated company policy, “let alone gross misconduct,” and that her position at the Post included expressing her opinions.

 

Attiah also received support from both the Washington-Baltimore News Guild — the main union representing Washington Post staff — and Democracy Defenders Action, a group co-founded by Norm Eisen. 

 Eisen praised the ruling as a major victory and argued it was a critical milestone for all journalists.

On Monday, arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa 

 ruled that the outlet had violated Attiah’s rights as a union-protected employee and ordered the outlet to reinstate her and reimburse her for lost wages.

“In the Arbitrator’s view, the Post’s witnesses’ testimony seems to attempt to hold the Grievant accountable for the actions of bad actors who were posting threats against her and The Post on social media,” Espinosa wrote. “To imply that the Grievant’s posts were justifiable provocation for threatened criminal acts or that the Grievant’s employment may be terminated for just cause because bad actors threatened The Post is unsupportable.”

 Nonetheless, the outlet maintained that Attiah violated the company’s social media policy which states that employees “must not harm the editorial integrity or journalistic reputation of the Post.”

Former opinion editor for the Washington Post, Adam O’Neal, said Attiah’s comments were “beyond the pale- completely unacceptable for someone associated with Opinions.” He added that Attiah’s posts also created major security risks for the company.

“People were at this intense moment of violence in America, and we didn’t know what was coming next,” he said in a hearing for the case. “And we’re walking into a building that says Washington Post on top of it, and here there’s a columnist at Washington Post on this account that’s making these horrific comments and that was of deep security concern beyond the professional – beyond the publication standards and our policies.”

 It remains unclear whether the Post plans to appeal the reinstatement ruling. However, a spokesperson for the company said the news outlet respects the decision to reinstate Attiah but declined to comment further.