“Can I speak to the manager please?”
When I hear those demanding words in real-time or on social media, I don’t need to look to know immediately that those words were uttered by a white woman, now simply known as Karen.
Karen is a pejorative term used in the Western world for a woman perceived to be entitled or demanding beyond the scope of what is considered appropriate or necessary. A common stereotype is that of a racist white woman who uses her privilege to demand her way at the expense of others.
It makes me wonder when Karen on the surface at least lives a better life than most black and brown people, why she is so demanding and unreasonable.
Where does this deep sense of unhappiness stem from that she feels the world has to concede to her demands?
I would like to give her the benefit of the doubt by not automatically think she is just another racist disguised as a petulant child in an adult body.
Whilst the world may laugh and mock her for the way she carries on in society, there are deadly consequences to her behaviour.
Karen could be found in Caroline Bryant when she alleged that 14-year-old Emmett Till, an African American boy, grabbed her, whistled at her and made lewd advances toward her. In the very segregated Mississippi in 1955, those unsubstantiated claims resulted in the brutalization and lynching of Emmett Till.
Years later she admitted that she “exaggerated” and Emmett Till was murdered for nothing.
The revelation should have been shocking and should have served as a constant reminder to other “Karen’s” just how deadly the consequences of her “white tears” and allegations of “upsets” are. The false accusations of black men raping them when they have been out with boyfriends they weren’t allowed to be out with have seen “Karen” survive through the years.
With the upsurge of “Karen” incidences in The States and elsewhere, it would seem that those lessons have not been learned. That Karen continues to wreak havoc wherever she goes.
Karen can be found on the streets, in shops demanding to speak to the manager, at workplaces telling lies about black and brown colleagues and on social media attacking mostly black men for very little reason.
Wherever there are black and brown people Karen can be found not far behind. She deliberately continues her reign of terror under the guise of “caring!” Caring about what happens in her neighbourhood, the environment, animals, and so on.
Now whilst I acknowledge that there are white women who do truly care about all of the above, “Karen” isn’t there to fight for justice. She is simply there as the interfering, “in your face” busybody who feels entitled to spew her racist hatred on black and brown people.
She does not mind her own business and is found in liberal circles too, doling out advice, talking about what black and brown people are doing wrong even when they are trying to enter the buildings they live in or just going about their business.
When Karens confronted as the racist bully, along comes the waterworks, known as “white tears,” closely followed by gallant white men or worse, racist police officers jumping to her aid.
“I’m not racist,” she cries.
“It is my business because I care about what happens,” she is heard saying.
I call bull because if “Karen” cared so much about people, about the neighbourhood and the environment, she would be seen knocking on white peoples doors, like the warrior she purports to be the moment she hears a child cry, a woman scream, white children playing in the street or a dog yelping.
Instead what Karen does in suburbia is shut her door when she hears noises or sees anything wrong happening and quietly says, “it’s none of my business!” And that sentence is an indication that her “business” is that of being racist, nothing else. She is there to uphold the racist systems society is entangled in and waits patiently for her accolades from white people that “she did the right thing!”
