Karen Attiah

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Karen Attiah
Karen Attiah Resisting Extremism in Africa- Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Acts - 37860453116 (cropped).jpg
Attiah in 2017 as moderator for New America think tank
Born (1986-08-12) August 12, 1986 (age 38)[ citation needed ]
Desoto, Texas, U.S.
Education Northwestern University (BA)
Columbia University (M.A.)
Occupation(s)Columnist, Editor

Karen Attiah (born August 12, 1986[ not verified in body ]) is an American writer, commentator, and editor.[ not verified in body ] As of 2021, she serves as a Global Opinions editor and columnist for The Washington Post, an affiliation she began in 2014.[ needs update ] Along with David Ignatius, Attiah won a 2019 George Polk Award for their writing about the murder of their colleague Jamal Khashoggi. She was also named 2019 Journalist of the Year Award by the National Association of Black Journalists for her coverage of Khashoggi's murder. Her writing focuses on race, gender, culture, human rights and international affairs.[ not verified in body ]

Contents

Early life

Attiah was born in Northeastern Texas on August 12, 1986 to a Nigerian-Ghanaian mother and Ghanaian father". [1] Her father was a pulmonologist. [2] [ better source needed ] After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies, with a minor in African studies from Northwestern University, [1] Attiah won a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Accra, Ghana. [1] [3] In 2012, she obtained a M.A. in international affairs from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. [1] [3]

Career

After graduate school, Attiah became a media consultant for the World Bank’s Africa program and worked as a freelance reporter for the Associated Press while based in Curacao. [4] [ better source needed ] She joined the Washington Post in 2014. [4] [ better source needed ] In 2016, she became the founding editor for the Post's Global Opinions section and was promoted to the role of Opinions columnist in 2021. [4] [ better source needed ]

In 2018, Attiah was also awarded the 2018 NABJ Salute to Excellence award for Digital Commentary for "TL;DR with Karen Attiah", which ran from 2017 to 2018. [5] [6]

Attiah became the focus of international attention in October 2018 when a columnist she had recruited for the Washington Post's Global Opinions section, Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, went missing on October 2 after entering the Saudi embassy in Istanbul. [7] [ better source needed ] In an interview in Marie Claire , Attiah said her WhatsApp was suddenly flooded with "Jamal's missing" messages, and she "started to fear the worst". [8] On October 5, Washington Post Opinions let Khashoggi's usual column space in its print edition remain blank, [9] [ better source needed ] with the title "A missing voice", and did something similar in its web presentation. [10] Since then, she has been interviewed by major news outlets as the primary contact for Khashoggi's last published opinion,[ citation needed ] and she began writing about his death and advocating for investigation.[ citation needed ]

In 2019, she received a number of awards for her efforts. She and David Ignatius won a George Polk Award for their reporting on Khashoggi's murder. [3] Attiah was also named 2019 Journalist of the Year Award by the National Association of Black Journalists, recognized for "raising her voice and using the power of her pen to bring attention to and offer ongoing coverage" of Khashoggi's murder. [11] Further, she was named to the 2019 Root 100 list, cited as "an evangelist for racial equity and justice and [...] a champion for columnist Jamal Khashoggi, whose assassination exposed violence against the press." [12] She also received an honorary doctorate from Dickinson College for her work. [13]

In July 2019, Attiah accused Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, of making dog whistling attacks against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley, and asserting that it has helped to fuel President Donald Trump's rhetoric. [14] In November 2020, Attiah tweeted inaccurately about pending French legislation, wrongly accusing French President Emmanuel Macron of planning to "give Muslim's kids ID numbers to go to schools." [15] Attiah later deleted her tweet and apologized to her colleagues, though not to Macron. [16]

Attiah was the recipient of the 2021 "Star to Watch" award by Washingtonian Magazine. [17]

In March 2024, Attiah became an adjunct professor at her alma mater, Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. She is also the author of an upcoming book about Khashoggi called Say Your Word, Then Leave. [3]

In January 2025, Attiah wrote a viral op-ed about Liv, a Meta AI chatbot. Her article, which exposed how the self-proclaimed "Proud Black queer momma" bot perpetuated digital Blackface and the lack of diversity in AI technology, led to Meta taking down the AI chatbot program. [18] [19] She also launched The Karen Attiah Podcast, a podcast about liberation politics, global culture, Black/African feminism, and fighting for what’s right.

In April 2025, Attiah founded the Resistance Summer School (RSS), an education initiative established in following the cancellation of her course "Race, Media, and International Affairs 101" at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs in 2024. The creation of RSS was motivated by significant public interest, prompted by a post Attiah made on the social media platform Bluesky. [20] RSS seeks to respond to the limitations within traditional higher education institutions regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion, and aims to provide open access to knowledge that challenges dominant Western narratives in international affairs.

Personal life

Attiah is a strength trainer and martial artist.[ citation needed ] She is a Muay Thai enthusiast,[ according to whom? ] and has competed in a number of exhibition fights.[ citation needed ] Attiah fought her first match in the U.S. Muay Thai Open in November 2021, and lost it by split decision, [21] but took home the silver medal for the 125-132 division.[ according to whom? ][ citation needed ]

Further reading and viewing

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Kyeremeh, Fred (November 24, 2018). "Meet Washington Post Editor Karen Attiah". Ghanaian American Journal. Retrieved May 27, 2021. Karen was born in Northeastern Texas in 1986 to a Nigerian-Ghanaian mother and Ghanaian father. After a bachelor's degree at Northwestern University, Attiah won a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Accra, Ghana and obtained an MA from Columbia University before later joining the Washington Post.
  2. ↑ Potter, Payton & Lat, David (April 22, 2020). "Bergen County Native Shares Coronavirus Survival Story" (interview). Patch.com. Mahwah, NJ: Patch Media. Retrieved December 7, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)[ better source needed ]
  3. 1 2 3 4 Schiffrin, Anya & Attiah, Karen (October 29, 2020). Schiffrin, Anya & Bennett, Sofia (ed.). ""All I Can Do is Tell My Truth"" (interview, with fact-checked lead). SIPA.Columbia.edu. New York, NY: Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Retrieved June 16, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. 1 2 3 Marcus, Ruth; Larabee, Mike & Mumford, Nana Efua (June 17, 2021). "The Washington Post's Karen Attiah Named Opinion Columnist". The Washington Post (Press release). ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved January 14, 2024.{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)[ better source needed ]
  5. ↑ "NABJ Names Karen Attiah 2019 Journalist of the Year". June 24, 2019. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  6. ↑ "TL;DR with Karen Attiah - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  7. ↑ Diamond, Larry (host); Attiah, Karen (guest); Dunne, Michele (guest); Margon, Sarah (guest); and McInerney, Stephen (guest) (October 18, 2018). U.S.-Saudi Arabian Relations (CSPAN Special Report) (streaming video). Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution, and CSPAN. Event occurs at time unstated. Retrieved June 16, 2025. The Hoover Institution held a discussion on U.S.-Saudi relations as the investigation into the disappearance of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi continued. Speakers in the first panel talked about implications for democracy and human rights. In the second panel, speakers focused on Saudi Arabia and U.S.-Saudi relations.[ full citation needed ]
  8. ↑ Adler, Kayla Webley (October 17, 2018). ""It Shouldn't Be a Crime In This World to Speak Your Mind"". MarieClaire.com. Retrieved June 16, 2025.
  9. ↑ Washington Post Opinions [@PostOpinions] (October 4, 2018). "[No title]" (Tweet). Retrieved June 16, 2025– via Twitter. We are holding a spot for Jamal Khashoggi in Friday's newspaper https://[ better source needed ]
  10. ↑ WP Global Opinions Eds. (October 4, 2018). "Global Opinions / By Jamal Khashoggi". The Washington Post (WP). Retrieved June 16, 2025. Editor's note: Jamal Khashoggi is a Saudi journalist and author, and a columnist for Washington Post Global Opinions. Khashoggi's words should appear in the space above, but he has not been heard from since he entered a Saudi consulate in Istanbul for a routine consular matter on Tuesday afternoon.
  11. ↑ "Ghanaian American Karen Attiah receives top NABJ award". Africa Times. June 13, 2019. Retrieved November 22, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Karen Attiah". The Root. 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  13. ↑ Sheriff, Sarah. "2019 Commencement Citations". www.dickinson.edu. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  14. ↑ Re, Greg (July 15, 2019). "AOC unloads on Trump after he tells progressive congresswomen to 'go back' to home countries". MSN News. Make no mistake: Nancy Pelosi's dogwhistling snipes at @AOC, Ilhan Omar, @RashidaTlaib and @RepPressley helped pave the way for this vicious, racist attack from the president.
  15. ↑ McElroy, Damien (November 23, 2020). "France claims fake news after 'Muslim IDs for children' plan spreads online". The National.
  16. ↑ "Itinerary of a fake news: how France was accused of failing young Muslims". The Canadian. November 23, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Photos & Video from the 8th Annual Washington Women in Journalism Awards - Washingtonian". July 1, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  18. ↑ "I talked to Meta's Black AI character. Here's what she told me". The Washington Post .
  19. ↑ Morrow, Allison (January 3, 2025). "Meta scrambles to delete its own AI accounts after backlash intensifies | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved March 26, 2025.
  20. ↑ Attiah, Karen (April 20, 2025). "In a moment when institutions are capitulating to the administration over diversity and race— Im thinking of offering a condensed version of my short Columbia course on race, media and global history for this moment. Would y'all sign up?". Bluesky.
  21. ↑ Attiah, Karen [@KarenAttiah] (November 21, 2021). "[No title]" (Tweet). Retrieved June 16, 2025– via Twitter. My first US Muay Thai Open fight came down to a really close split decision, which unfortunately didn't go my way. / But I'm really proud of myself and grateful for the experience to test myself in the ring. I fought like hell! I'll be back :)
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