Washington Post opinion editor gets threats from white men

The Washington Post opinion editor who said white woman are lucky black people aren’t looking for revenge has shared images of the threats she says she is receiving from white men. 

Karen Attiah posted a tweet Wednesday morning showing an apparent text from an unknown number telling her to ‘be careful with hate’ and that ‘revenge only begets revenge’. 

It warns Attiah that her comments would ‘wake white men who will protect their women’. 

Another email she shared referred to Attiah as a ‘monkey’ and an ‘ape’, telling her she was angry ‘because white women are beautiful’. 

It comes after the editor was accused of inciting violence for tweeting that white women are ‘lucky’ black people are ‘just calling them Karens and not calling for revenge’. 

‘I explicitly said Black people *ARE NOT* calling for this [revenge],’ she wrote, as she shared a screenshot of the message she received, which she claims is from a white man. 

‘A good amount the threats and hate mail I’ve been getting are white men threatening me with violence to —*checks notes* protect “their” white women.

‘Exactly the point I’ve been making about “Karen” behavior all along.

‘America is a racist *and* patriarchal society,’ Attiah continued in a second tweet. 

‘We cannot dismantle the full range of oppression in this society without addressing how toxic ideas of white masculinity interplay with the notion of “protecting” their women from Black people.’

The message Attiah shared appeared to have been sent to her on Monday evening. 

The Washington Post opinion editor shared screenshots of the texts and emails she says she has been receiving since she posted a controversial tweet about white women on Sunday

The text told Attiah to ‘be careful with hate’ and that ‘revenge only begets revenge’

She claimed the problem stemmed from men thinking they need to protect white woman

‘Be careful with hate. It is a very dangerous and thankless master,’ it began. 

‘Calling for revenge only begets revenge. You don’t want to wake white men who will protect women, and come after you and yours.

‘We are all human beings with souls. Some of us, have the training, experience, and background to find you and yours in an effort to make an example of racists like you’. 

On Tuesday evening, Attiah had shared another email in which the writer asked ‘Did the monkey actually speak?’

‘Did the white-woman-wannabe n***** speak?’ it continued. ‘You’re just angry because white women are beautiful. ALL men agree on that. White men, black men, Hispanic men, Asian men … all agree that white women are much more desirable than some low IQ’d, low rent, hood rat n*****.

‘And that would be you. All black women do is appropriate white culture and try to mimic beautiful white women. And you know it. Revenge? lol you’re a** is about to be grass you ugly ape.’

Attiah shared a further screenshot of an email that called her a ‘monkey’

The email told her she is ‘just angry because white woman are beautiful’

Attiah later retweeted further responses agreeing with her tweet

She reposted this tweet that responded to the text screenshot she had shared

‘Them: “Karen is a racist, dehumanizing slur!”‘ Attiah wrote with the screenshot. ‘My inbox, after challenging racism.’

‘”Karen” = naming and shaming the *choice* to engage entitled, aggressive and racist behavior. But the N-word? I didn’t choose my skin. The two will NEVER be the same.’

Later on Wednesday, Attiah retweeted other users who had responded to the tweet.

‘There were serious arguments by white men in the 1860s that Black men should not get the vote bc then they would have the power to access white women,’ one read.

‘Denying the suffrage to Black men was a way for white men to protect “their” women.’

‘Honestly, women (including those who happen to be white) don’t need white men treating them as property. Especially because those white men “protecting their women” often are the same violent ones who will beat/kill them,’ another said.  

Attiah posted the first controversial tweet that sparked backlash and threats 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.’  

It has since been deleted.  

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 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 Wednesday afternoon, 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, 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 predicted that Attiah would not be terminated by The Washington Post.  

‘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, 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 cozying up to a number of celebrities for selfies. 

Attiah’s post sparked widespread backlash. Several asked whether Attiah would be fired from The Washington Post for her remarks 

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 

Attiah with Andre Leon Talley in another of her Instagram posts 

One of Attiah’s recent opinion pieces in The Washington Post 

In her tweet, Attia reference the derogatory term ‘Karen’ – a new nickname being given to entitled, white women who are caught on camera trying to assert themselves over people of color in social situations.    

In the past month several months the ‘Karen’ nickname has taken off, after 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. 

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.  

One of the first ‘Karen’ incidents was in Central Park when Amy Cooper (pictured) called the cops on black birdwatcher Christian Cooper, alleging that he was threatening her, when all he’d asked her was to do was put her dog on a leash