No Matter How Many Times a Lie is Spoken – It Will Never Become Truth
By DL White
There is the truth, and then there is “people’s truth” — not truth at all, but what some would have you believe. Yet no matter how many times a lie is spoken, it will never become the truth.
Washington Post opinion editor Karen Attiah, who had worked at the Post for 11 years, was fired for sharing uncomfortable truths — truths about a man who was himself allowed to spread divisive rhetoric unchecked for years: Charlie Kirk.
Some have tried to compare Kirk to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Let us be clear: the only things they shared were an early death and a four-letter last name beginning with K. Their life missions could not have been more different.
Dr. King devoted himself to attacking unjust systems — segregation, discrimination, and hate — always through nonviolence. His words sought to uplift and unite. Kirk, on the other hand, spent his career attacking people. He demeaned Black women, mocked Simone Biles when she was injured, and insisted George Floyd died not from a knee on his neck for nine minutes but from drugs in his system. He encouraged his followers, nearly two million strong, to harass professors, journalists, and others who challenged him.
Despite this record, Kirk is being “sainted” in death. Former president Donald Trump praised him as a “great guy” and ordered flags lowered in his honor. But Kirk’s life was far from saintly. He was not a unifier — he thrived on division.
For pointing this out, Attiah was shown the door. In her column, she did not insult Kirk — she quoted him. She reminded readers of his own words, words he repeated for years to conjure hate and lies. For that, she was accused of “gross misconduct” and “endangering colleagues.”
In her defense, Attiah wrote:
“I did my journalistic duty, reminding people that despite President Trump’s partisan rush to judgment, no suspect or motive had been identified in the killing of Charlie Kirk — exercising restraint even as I condemned hatred and violence.”
Trump, true to form, immediately blamed “the radical left” for Kirk’s death. No apology followed when the facts proved otherwise. His reckless words even led to threats against HBCUs, placing campuses on alert.
Attiah summed up her dismissal this way:
“Washington, D.C., no longer has a paper that reflects the people it serves. What happened to me is part of a broader purge of Black voices from academia, business, government, and the media — a historical pattern as dangerous as it is shameful and tragic.”
Her words ring true. We are witnessing a disturbing double standard. The GOP champions free speech when it suits them, but the principle apparently does not extend to Black journalists who dare to speak hard truths.
Dr. King faced a similar double standard. He was mocked, jailed, and ultimately killed for demanding equality. Yet his message never changed: nonviolence, respect, and the pursuit of common ground. On the eve of his death, in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers, he delivered his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. He knew the threats against his life, but his commitment to truth outweighed his fear.
Kirk, by contrast, lived not for truth but for power and division. To honor him as if his life resembled King’s is to rewrite history — and to insult those who fought, and still fight, for justice.
That the Washington Post would fire its only full-time Black opinion editor for pointing out this reality is more than disappointing — it is dangerous. It sends a chilling message to journalists of color: speak truth at your own risk.
Violence in any form must be condemned. But so too must the attempt to glorify someone whose words and actions spread harm. Those who wish to honor Kirk are free to do so — but the rest of us should not be forced to accept a false narrative.
“The truth pressed to the ground will spring back.”
Thank you, Dr. King, for living a life truly worthy of honor.
Danny L. White currently lives in Phoenix, AZ. He is the author and creative lead for two books, the Sensational letter “S”, a children’s book focused on early reading comprehension and word development, and Discovering The Saunk in U, a celebration of youth conceived at the height of the pandemic. He is also an Adjunct faculty member at Maricopa College, and staff reporter for the Arizona Informant. He is an active member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc, in the Phoenix, Arizona Area.
