Rachael Barrett
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rachael10.bsky.social
Rachael Barrett
@rachael10.bsky.social
Nonprofit consultant. Love cats and Patrick. Gen X. Amateur powerlifter. Live in Philadelphia, raised in New England. Also, caregivers, psychology, immigration, workplaces, maps, data, narrative, history, religion, law, politics. www.rachaelebarrett.com
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
New from me:

There's a lot of misinformation around the reasons I was fired from WaPo.

Here's the official termination letter I got sent by Washington Post.

Read and judge for yourself.

open.substack.com/pub/karenatt...
Why Washington Post fired me
Read the official termination letter for yourself.
open.substack.com
September 20, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
The Women’s Refugee Commission Detention Pregnancy Tracker: A Critical Tool for Documenting the Treatment of Pregnant Women in Immigration Detention

🚨 Have you seen a pregnant woman in ICE custody? Submit a report today. -- Please share widely!

austinkocher.substack.com/p/the-womens...
The Women’s Refugee Commission Detention Pregnancy Tracker: A Critical Tool for Documenting the Treatment of Pregnant Women in Immigration Detention
🚨 Have you seen a pregnant woman in ICE custody? Submit a report today.
austinkocher.substack.com
September 16, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
Four years after Medicaid was expanded in Missouri: what do we know?

1. Enrollment has met expectations
2. Uninsured dropped significantly
3. Financially not a burden to state budget
4. Reduced out of pocket costs to recipients
5. Improved financing for hospitals
6. Some implementation challenges
MO Medicaid Expansion four years later: reflections on the impact

Medicaid expansion went into effect July 2021, first enrolled recipients identified in October 2021.
What do we know about its impacts?
open.substack.com/pub/timothym...
September 15, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
Washington D.C.!

Next week on Sept. 18th, I will be in conversation with recently-released Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil at @busboysandpoets.bsky.social!

Tickets are free and open to all!

www.busboysandpoets.com/events/th-ev...
Mahmoud Khalil in Conversation with Karen Attiah | Busboys and Poets
As part of our 20th anniversary celebration, Busboys and Poets is proud to host a special conversation between prominent Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil and Karen Attiah, a journalist and Founder ...
www.busboysandpoets.com
September 9, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
Meanwhile, the entire far right is trying to incite pogroms calling all trans people violent terrorists.
For the record.

My posts were not even about Kirk directly, but about America's apathy towards political violence, and the coddling of white male shooters and hate peddlers.

I was fired because I mentioned race: white men and violence-- that was my "gross misconduct."
September 15, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
A powerful essay by @karenattiah.bsky.social about the widespread repression in our country--Black people, Muslims, Arabs, anti-Zioinist Jews, trans people and many others are being fired or terrorized into silence.
September 15, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
I hired Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2017, and worked with him closely until he was murdered by the Saudi regime in Istanbul -- simply for expressing himself.

I put my safety on the line for years to push publicly for justice and accountability in his murder.

www.npr.org/2018/10/18/6...
'Washington Post' Publishes Jamal Khashoggi's Last Column
Noel King talks to Karen Attiah, of The Washington Post, about the column which was filed before Khashoggi disappeared. He wrote passionately about the need for a free press in the Arab world.
www.npr.org
September 15, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
On this day in 1963, a white man detonated a bomb under the steps of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, with 400 congregants inside. Four Black children were killed in the blast.
Sep. 15, 1963 | Four Black Girls Killed in Church Bombing in Birmingham, Alabama
Learn more about our history of racial injustice.
calendar.eji.org
September 15, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
"Democracy Dies in Darkness" is an oligarch's promise.
September 15, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
I really do think Ezra Klein needs to be held to account for why he gets to keep his columnist job, as a white man, for saying CK was "practicing politics the right way" while Karen Attiah, a Black woman, loses her columnist job for quoting what CK said about Black women.

Someone, plz ask him.
September 15, 2025 at 1:40 PM
A colleague recommended paying attention to and reading Attiah. I did, I do. Passing along the recommendation. As she writes: "Institutions may cancel me, but my pen and my teaching will not be silenced. If anything, my voice will be sharper now." Relentless forward momentum.
The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced.
I spoke out against hatred and violence in America — and it cost me my job.
open.substack.com
September 15, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
I do not mean to diminish the memory of any of the almost 3000 individuals who were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks with this post.

That said, we should be aware that the number of Americans killed by guns annually amounts to roughly FIFTEEN 9/11s

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S.
While the number of gun deaths in the U.S. fell for the second consecutive year in 2023, it remained among the highest annual totals on record.
www.pewresearch.org
September 11, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
I’m wondering why this hasn’t become a class and all hands on deck issue

I’m not actually wondering

I’m just growing more disgusted by the minute
Gonna post this at least once a day so we don't forget: Black women lost 319,000 jobs between February and July of
this year, the only major female demographic to experience significant job losses during this
five-month period.

White men saw the largest job increase 一 365,000 一 among
groups.
September 5, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Bellingcat’s Auto Archiver is a tool aimed at preserving online digital content before it can be modified, deleted or taken down. Publicly launched in 2022, it has preserved over 150,000 web pages and social media posts to date. github.com/bellingcat/a...
GitHub - bellingcat/auto-archiver: Automatically archive links to videos, images, and social media content from Google Sheets (and more).
Automatically archive links to videos, images, and social media content from Google Sheets (and more). - bellingcat/auto-archiver
github.com
August 24, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
I made an event timeline to try to make sense of all the federal overreach at @georgemasonu.bsky.social and whoo boy. When you lay it out like this, the executive over reach comes into focus. open.substack.com/pub/misofact...
Authoritarians are attacking universities. Here's how it's going at one public school.
I'm publicly documenting an event timeline to help bring order to the chaotic nature of events and help other schools plan the responses they are likely going to need.
open.substack.com
July 31, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
In this Routledge book chapter, I present tools for doing fieldwork in the Global South ethically, collaboratively, and respectfully.

You can download my chapter here: drive.google.com/file/d/1YB0q...

Here is the full volume: www.routledge.com/Research-Met...

Publication #5 for 2025 ✔️
July 22, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
7 Hotlines You Can Still Call After Trump Shuts Down 988's LGBTQ+
Youth Services
July 18, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
July 2, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
Breaking: The Trevor Project received a stop-work order last night on its contract with the national 988 suicide prevention hotline. The Trump administration is eliminating the option for LGBTQ callers to the hotline to press 3 and connect with someone who specializes in LGBTQ mental health.
June 18, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
“Historically, the most terrible things—war, genocide, and slavery—have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience.” —Howard Zinn
June 19, 2025 at 3:22 PM
PHILADELPHIA #NOKINGS
June 14, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
I've been thinking through comparative levels of action on behalf of others (philanthropy VS. mutual aid VS. solidarity) for a new piece. I keep returning to how we conceive of risk and who's risk it is. This new essay by internationalust feminist Mona Elthaway gets close to my own thoughts.
Essay: Should I Stay or Should I Go?
On Revolution and Risk
www.feministgiant.com
May 25, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Reposted by Rachael Barrett
Nailed it! Philanthropy - are you paying attention? We need you to be bold!
"We understand from allies in philanthropy that funders, for their part, don’t see themselves as retreating...

Yet for civil society, this restraint feels indistinguishable from abandonment. Because it leaves those working closest to the challenge bearing most of the risk."
COVID Was the Rehearsal (SSIR)
Just a few years ago, philanthropy showed what it could be at its best: nimble, coordinated, unusually brave. This time, facing the sudden slashing of foreign aid, the cavalry is quieter.
ssir.org
May 22, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Done! Thanks for sharing this
If you want to object, follow this link and tell them what you think. comment period closes Thursday.

www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD...
Regulations.gov
www.regulations.gov
May 20, 2025 at 11:54 PM