Karen Attiah blamed the 'lies and tears of white women' for the 1921 Tulsa Massacre, the murder of Emmet Till, the 'exclusion of black women from feminist movements' and women voting for Trump.
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Washington Post opinions editor says white women are 'lucky' that black people are 'just calling them Karens and not calling for 'revenge'
- Karen Attiah tweeted on Sunday that the 'lies and tears of white women' had caused the murders of black people for decades
- She then said white women were 'lucky' that 'we are just calling them Karens and not calling for revenge'
- Attiah doubled down on her remark in another tweet, saying: 'Be happy we are calling for equality. And not actual revenge'
- She was accused of inciting violence against white women and there are now calls for her to be fired
By
JENNIFER SMITH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 08:52 EDT, 30 June 2020 | UPDATED: 13:24 EDT, 30 June 2020
The Washington Post's opinions editor has been accused of inciting violence after posting her inflammatory tweet on Sunday. There are calls for her to be fired, but The Post has not publicly responded
The Washington Post's opinions editor has been accused of inciting violence for tweeting that white women are 'lucky' black people are 'just calling them Karen's and not calling for revenge'.
Karen Attiah posted the tweet on Sunday, saying: 'The lies and tears of white women hath wrought; the 1921 Tulsa massacre, murder of Emmett Till, exclusion of black women from feminist movements, 53% of white women voting for Trump.
'White women are lucky that we are just calling them Karens. And not calling for revenge.'
Later, in her comments section, she doubled down on the remark, saying: 'I'm just saying. Be happy we are calling for equality. And not actual revenge.'
The tweets sparked outrage from other users who called for her to be fired.
'Oh so insulting generalizations based on race and gender are okay now? Or are they only okay for you? Just trying to understand the rules,' conservative writer Matt Walsh replied to Attia.
'You threaten white women with violence. WashPo what is your response? The world is watching and waiting,' another tweeted.
Soon after, the hashtag #fireKarenAttiah began circulating on Twitter.
In recent weeks, a number of prominent people have been fired - or 'cancelled' - for their controversial social media posts but, as of Tuesday morning, The Washington Post has not publicly commented on Attiah's incendiary tweet.
DailyMail.com has contacted the newspaper's managing editors for a statement.
Washington Post opinions editor Karen Attiah tweeted on Sunday that white women were 'lucky' black people were calling them 'Karen's and not calling for revenge'
After widespread outrage, Attiah deleted her tweet - but she insinuated that it was not because she regretted her remarks.
She retweeted another user who stated: 'When I tweet something and then delete it, it's not because I regret it. It's almost never that. I just want to say some s**t real quick and then leave.'
'Same. Lol,' Attiah wrote above that message.
It is unclear whether she was privately reprimanded by The Washington Post and forced to take down her message.
Later on Monday, Attiah appeared to tire of the backlash, writing: 'Adding another shot to my drink'.
It later seemed as if she wanted to shift conservation away from her controversial remarks, bluntly tweeting: 'Anyway...'
However, social media users continued to blast the editor and piled on pressure for The Washington Post to make a public response.
After widespread outrage, Attiah deleted her tweet - but she appeared to insinuate that it was not because she regretted her remarks. She is pictured speaking on stage at Glamour magazine's 2018 Women Of The Year Summit
'Last night @KarenAttiah of @thewashingtonpost posted this incredibly racist screed where she condemns all white women and makes an implied threat of violence. Has The Washington Post condemned this? Has anyone on the Left?' Matt Walsh wrote.
Another implied that Attiah would not be terminated by The Washington Post - despite the fact many have lost their jobs due to problematic social media posts.
'There is no greater privilege than getting to be wrong about everything and paying zero price for it. Congrats,' the person sarcastically remarked.
Another described Attiah's tweet as 'hateful', while other asked why Twitter hadn't flagged it for inciting violence.
Attiah's post sparked widespread backlash. Several asked whether Attiah would be fired from The Washington Post for her remarks
Attiah, 34, was born in Texas to Ghanaian immigrants. She graduated with a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University, before going on to study in Accra, Ghana on a Fullbright Scholarship.
She later obtained a Master's degree from Columbia University before joining The Washington Post.
Attiah has become a prominent media figure in recent years, and famously recruited slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi to The Post prior to his death.
She has also appeared on CNN and has spoken at a Glamor magazine Women's Summit. Her Instagram shows her cosying up to a number of celebrities for selfies.
Attiah's Instagram shows her posing for selfies with a number of prominent celebrities. She giddily posted this snap with Josh Groban, writing:'Omg. It happened. I have no words'
Attiah is seen backstage at a show with comedian Patton Oswalt in 2018
'Karen' is a derogatory term being given to entitled, white women who are caught on camera or video trying to assert themselves over people of color in social situations.
In the past month several months the 'Karen' nickname has taken off, after a multiple videos of white women throwing tantrums in public.
While many of the exchanges are undoubted examples of bigotry, others are less clear cut.
Last week, an unidentified woman in Seattle was filmed sobbing in her driveway and pleading not to be filmed, saying she had a 'black husband'.
Karlos Dillard filmed the video, saying the woman had called him the N-word during a road rage dispute.
He then started selling t-shirts online with the words 'I have a black husband' printed on them and defended it by saying that 'white people 'profit off of everything black people do in this country' and calling it his 'prerogative' if he wanted to sell the t-shirts.
The woman in the video denied flipping him off and he did not accuse her of using a racial slur against him when they were together. That accusation was in a different piece of footage when she was not there.
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An unidentified white woman in Seattle was filmed sobbing and insisting she was not a Karen after being accused of flipping the bird at a black man at a light stop. Karlos Dillard, the man, followed her home to film her and post the footage online. In another video, he said she'd called him the N-word. That was not caught on tape
Conversely, one of the original 'Karen' videos involved white woman Amy Cooper calling the police on Christian Cooper, a black birdwatcher in Central Park, claiming he was threatening her when he had simply asked her to put her dog on a leash.
Christian Cooper was never charged but he has since described the footage as proof of how quickly a white person can be to make a false or overzealous accusation against a black person to law enforcement.
In light of police brutality and systemic racism within law enforcement, such false accusations, he said, can be particularly dangerous.
