The Washington Post Accused Me of 'Gross Misconduct.' Here's My Response.

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.

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

and . 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

of the African American Policy Forum, and the

for their support.

To the independent media, including

, , , , , 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

, ,

, and + of — 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