RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 8 sourcesIn a victory for people who call things what they are, The New York Times reports that an independent arbitrator has ordered fired Washington Post Global Opinions editor and columnist Karen Attiah to be rehired. Following her termination over social media comments she made in the wake of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk’s murder in September of last year, Attiah was defiant that her comments fell under both the First Amendment and her duties as an opinion writer for the Post .
And on Monday, arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa agreed, ruling that the paper had violated its labor agreement with Attiah and that the Post “failed to establish the grievant engaged in gross misconduct,” as had been alleged by opinion editor Adam O’Neal and chief executive Will Lewis among others. (O’Neal and Lewis are both no longer with the Post .)
On Bluesky on Monday, Attiah celebrated the decision, stating, “ After the Washington Post fired me last year for speaking the truth in the wake of the Charlie Kirk killing, I fought back. And I’m happy to announce: I won my case against the Washington Post . They have been ordered to reinstate me immediately.”
One of a raft of individuals fired or otherwise disciplined after conservative backlash following Kirk’s shooting death, Attiah has said she is “willing to go back” to the Post , a publication she still calls “ one of the world’s most storied newspapers .” Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Post is quoted only as stating that “the company respects the arbitration process,” with no further details. According to the labor agreement, the ruling is legally binding (although as of Monday, Attiah’s Washington Post bio still refers to her employment there in the past tense).
Attiah, in one of the social media posts deemed “beyond the pale” by O’Neal in the leadup to the award-winning columnist’s termination, said of the demand for public grief over the death of a guy who called the Civil Act a mistake , proclaimed that school shootings were just one of those things , and claimed that Black women “ lacked the brain processing power to be taken seriously ,” “ 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.”
With the ruling, Attiah joins a growing number of fired educators, journalists, government employees and others who have successfully won reinstatement or hefty financial settlements for similarly refusing to whitewash Kirk’s bigoted legacy after his untimely death.
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