Professor Watchlist, Karen Attiah, & The GOP War On Free Speech

Free speech, we’re advised, is the bedrock of democracy. It’s the oxygen that fills the room, the fitting that supposedly protects us all. It’s all a lie. Day-after-day, I watch the individuals who scream the loudest about this proper twist it right into a weapon, usually wielding it to defend themselves whereas denying it to anybody who dares to carry a mirror as much as their hypocrisy. The Republican Get together has perfected this contradiction. They declare themselves martyrs free of charge expression, however their actions reveal one thing far much less noble: they solely imagine in free speech when it reinforces their very own energy.

I do know this firsthand. 

In 2018, I used to be doxxed by Charlie Kirk and Turning Level USA. My title was plastered on their “Professor Watchlist,” a blacklist that exists for one goal solely: to intimidate lecturers who dare to carry and talk progressive views. Kirk and his allies branded me harmful merely for instructing my college students about race, gender, and sexuality—and taking these beliefs to social media—in ways in which made them uncomfortable. 

Their so-called free speech absolutism stopped the second I used my voice in methods they couldn’t management. The threats I acquired after that weren’t summary—they had been actual, terrifying, and sanctioned by a conservative machine that claims to hate censorship however has no drawback silencing individuals like me. And I’m not alone.

Now, in 2025, we’re watching that hypocrisy metastasize in public view. When conservative commentators or politicians are criticized, out of the blue it’s “cancel tradition” and a grave menace to democracy. However when progressive journalists, comedians, or professors converse truths about race, gender, or white supremacy, it turns into trigger for firing, suspension, or regulatory intimidation. The hypocrisy is loud; it’s clear, and it’s harmful. And that’s not simply cancel tradition, it’s authoritarianism. 

Take into account what simply occurred to Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert. These males usually are not fringe voices; they’re mainstream late-night hosts who’ve constructed careers on political satire. They joke, they name out hypocrisy, they make highly effective individuals uncomfortable. But even they’ve grow to be targets. 

Kimmel confronted coordinated outrage after remarks about Charlie Kirk’s demise, with FCC Chair Brendan Carr reportedly warning ABC they might “do that the straightforward manner or the laborious manner.” That’s not civility—it’s censorship dressed up as regulation. Colbert’s critiques of conservatives drew related political assaults. Completely different circumstances, similar purpose: intimidate networks into silence.

And if that is how white, rich, straight males with huge platforms are handled, think about the dangers for Black ladies, queer individuals, and others with out that safety. Individuals like Karen Attiah. 

Attiah was the final full-time Black opinion author at The Washington Put up till, simply days in the past, she was abruptly fired. Her crime? Posting on social media to condemn America’s acceptance of political violence as a substitute of the hole “ideas and prayers.” 

Her solely direct reference to Kirk was his personal phrases. For that, her employer declared her responsible of “gross misconduct” and “unacceptable” habits. Gross misconduct? For quoting Charlie Kirk? For declaring the apparent hypocrisy of conservatives who deride Black ladies in public life whereas demanding compassion when one in all their very own is killed? For empathizing with the political assassinations of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman, her husband, and her canine. 

Attiah was as a substitute dismissed with out dialog and stripped of her platform for the sin of claiming aloud what others solely whispered. That’s not about office coverage. That’s about silencing a Black lady whose reality made individuals in energy uncomfortable. And it isn’t a coincidence.

The best insists that nobody must be punished for his or her speech. They are saying this with a straight face whereas backing tasks just like the Professor Watchlist, whereas demanding networks muzzle comedians, whereas cheering when progressive journalists are ousted. They weaponize the First Modification as a defend when it protects them, and a sword in terms of us. What they need will not be freedom however management: management of language, management of narratives, management of who will get to talk in public and who should keep silent.

This is the reason the present wave of silencing feels each like a enterprise determination and a political menace. For networks like ABC, suspending Jimmy Kimmel is about appeasing advertisers, regulators, and conservative stress. For The Washington Put up, firing Karen Attiah is about defending relationships with highly effective stakeholders—together with Jeff Bezos, whose enterprise empire thrives on not upsetting conservative regulators or shoppers. 

However behind these company choices is a bigger story about energy. As a result of when the FCC Chair threatens a community, when a billionaire-owned paper sidelines its solely Black lady opinion columnist, when comedians are punished for doing their job, the message is similar: speech is just free if it doesn’t disturb the individuals already in cost.

Let’s be clear: none of those circumstances entails calls to violence. None of them entails harassment. None of them falls outdoors the bounds of protected First Modification expression. What they share is one thing else solely: they made conservatives, who’re all afraid of President Trump, uncomfortable. 

And in right this moment’s political local weather, that discomfort has grow to be grounds for punishment. The hypocrisy is staggering. For years, Republicans defended the ugliest, most violent rhetoric beneath the guise of free speech. They joked about Paul Pelosi’s assault. That racial slurs on campus had been simply speech. That Trump calling for a Muslim ban was simply speech. They shrugged off literal calls to rebellion as protected expression. 

However when progressives title white supremacy, when Black ladies level out racism and misogyny, when comedians mock conservative hypocrisy, out of the blue the First Modification not applies.

The chilling impact is actual. Journalists second-guess whether or not to put in writing sure columns. Professors marvel if a classroom dialogue will land them on one other watchlist. Comedians calculate whether or not a joke is price their job. And within the meantime, conservatives proceed to weaponize “free speech” as each defend and sword—screaming about their rights whereas dismantling everybody else’s. And that’s the purpose. To trigger us to suppose twice. To pause. To decide on silence. 

If free speech means something, it should defend the voices that problem energy, not simply those that flatter it. It should defend the comedians, the professors, the journalists, the activists who danger discomfort to talk the reality. It should defend Black ladies like Karen Attiah, who refuse to be silent even when the price is excessive. It should defend queer Black males like me, who realized the laborious manner that talking up comes with actual hazard. As a result of if free speech solely applies to those that have already got the microphone, then it isn’t freedom in any respect—it’s permission.

Republicans need us to imagine they’re the guardians of liberty. However the proof tells one other story. They don’t need free speech. They need managed speech. They need energy with out critique. And they’re going to proceed to weaponize the language of freedom to silence those that remind us that freedom, actual freedom, requires reality.

That’s why this second issues. We can not let free speech grow to be one other empty slogan, stripped of which means. If democracy is to outlive, it is not going to be as a result of the highly effective protected their proper to talk with out consequence. Will probably be as a result of we defended the fitting of the marginalized, the crucial, and the inconvenient to talk in any respect. Even after we can face penalties. 

Preston Mitchum is a coverage advisor, attorney-activist, author, and tv persona whose work focuses on the intersections of racial justice, well being and gender fairness, and LGBTQ+ rights. 

SEE ALSO:

Understanding The First Modification And Why We Want To Defend It

Trump Assaults Free Speech, As Pam Bondi Targets Journalists