For much of Saturday, “Karens Gone Wild” was trending on Twitter because the Karens Are Not Alright. I do not understand why so many white ladies have not used this moment of global race/racism discussion to quietly reflect and decide what side of history they want to come down on. If anything, it seems like the Karens have been emboldened to be THE WORST though. And yes, I know there were other terrible things happening this weekend, but also: we need to study some of the Karen microcosms, the everyday Karens and how entitled and racist they are. Let’s start with Lisa Alexander, the founder of LA FACE, a vegan skincare brand which used to be carried by Birchbox. This incident happened in the San Francisco area, where Lisa Alexander and her husband stopped to police a person of color who was writing “Black Lives Matter” in CHALK on his own front stoop.
A white couple call the police on me, a person of color, for stencilling a #BLM chalk message on my own front retaining wall. “Karen” lies and says she knows that I don’t live in my own house, because she knows the person who lives here. #blacklivesmatter pic.twitter.com/rOpHvKVwgP
— Jaimetoons (@jaimetoons) June 12, 2020
I’ve watched this a few times, and I get angrier and angrier every time. The fact that she feels entitled to behave as a roaming police officer “questioning” the actions and motives of a man of color who is merely existing. And, again, it was JUST CHALK. Even if it wasn’t his property, it was just chalk. But it was his property, and Lisa Alexander lied about knowing the owner. As it turns out, she doesn’t even live in that neighborhood. She tried to post a statement on her social media: “I asked if he lived there because if he had said yes then everything would have been fine as it was his property. Being a good neighbor is important where everyone takes care of each other. It is too bad he took it in a different direction.” That was quickly deleted along with her Twitter and Instagram. Birchbox had to respond too:
They responded pic.twitter.com/mQQav4Ft0T
— GG 🧚🏽♂️💫 (@ggqt3) June 13, 2020
The second big moment for Karens Gone Wild was Covid Karen, a healthcare worker named Lauren Balsamo was so mad that someone told her to wear a mask in a coffeeshop that she ran over to cough on them:
Called out for not wearing a mask…
So she coughs on somebody, not realizing she is being recorded.
Y’all need to act right. pic.twitter.com/cudHs7Rk5X
— DeMarcus 🛹 (@semperdiced) June 13, 2020
Once again, people researched her and found her, and they began asking questions to what they thought was her employer, Weill Cornell Medicine. WCM had to issue a statement too.
Lauren Balsamo has not been an employee of WCM since Jan. 2020. As an institution on the COVID-19 frontlines, this behavior is shocking & abhorrent to us. Since WCM's mission is to protect the health & wellbeing of all NYers, we condemn this flagrant disregard of public safety.
— Weill Cornell Medicine (@WeillCornell) June 13, 2020
These were honestly just two videos from an avalanche of Karens Gone Wild over the past few days. Karens are not the police. They do not get to call the police on black people for merely *existing*. They have to follow the laws too. Jesus Christ.
the sleep paralysis demon in the corner of my room at 3 AM#KarensGoneWild #LisaAlexander pic.twitter.com/TVzB7kR7Sz
— Jayden Mildre (@JaydenMildre) June 14, 2020
Photos, videos courtesy of social media.
That photo is absolutely demonic JFC
That’s the evil in her soul being captured by a screenshot.
Pretty ironic she has a company called LA Face where she pretends that skin care can help. She’s obviously has surgical interventions from the usual LA plastic surgeons.
I seriously thought that had to be the idiot health care worker until I untangled the stories. I mean…..THAT’S the skin care brand founder?!? What’s in the box when it comes, the plastic surgeon’s phone number? Geez…
SF is currently requiring masks outside. MyGAWD we shouldn’t be able to see Karen’s face at all. WTAF Karen?!? She’s breaking the law while harassing this man. How much public shaming does it take to get people to assess their own behaviors?
This public sharing is’t “shaming” – these karens are revealing themselves as hateful and corroded. Thankfully we are ALL documentary filmmakers. That’s ALL.
Heyday – Even if the intent isn’t shaming that should still be the result. Karens should feel ashamed of their behavior and potential Karens should watch and reassess their values before finding themselves equally as shamed.
Her husband was just as bad. And he is the managing director of Raymond James, an investment bank, for whom (according to his bio on the site) he “has done work for virtually all of the State’s urban/suburban counties and a wide range of cities and successor agencies. ” Nice to know he and Lisa are getting what probably amounts to a huge amount of taxpayers’ dollars as salary and bonus yearly. Complain to Raymond James, you guys.
WORD.
So scary.
It’s sad that while a person of African background is #BREATHINGWHILEBLACK, that these Take-A-💩 Drumpf Luvvers are BULLYING them, other POCs including LGBTQ+ people as well.
What I’m learning from all these horrific videos, from the homicidal police to chalk Karen is that they all shout the same mantra to POC:
‘ GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT’.
The most fundamental white privilege is that we get to live in a world where we are innocent until proven guilty.
Seriously, that picture reminds me of Linda Blair from The Exorcist.
https://i.pinimg.com/236x/0d/57/e0/0d57e0d42c599c37fadd8b719419e41c–horror-icons-horror-films.jpg
chalk karen lives in my neighborhood. i see her all the time when i’m out doing errands. there’s a lot of people like her in san francisco now. it didn’t used to be that way which makes me sad because i grew up here. and it seems like the website and app ‘next door’ gives her and others like her a platform where it’s okay to act that way and report about everyone’s supposed transgressions.
‘Next Door’ brings out the Karens in every neighborhood.
Those tech boom really screwed the city in so many ways. My grandparents were Italian immigrants who lived in the Marina. My grandfather had an 8th grade education, and was a beer delivery truck driver. No way anyone like that could afford to live there now. There’s definitely a huge sense of entitlement that now goes all through the Bay Area.
I’m in Oakland but deleted Next Door years ago for my own mental health. If I had to read one more “there’s a man walking down my street and I feel uncomfortable” post ….
It’s happened in Chicago too. One new development of houses in my old neighborhood, which we can no longer afford, actually put gates in and out of the PUBLIC alley. Trying to have the best of both worlds — urban “cred” but white, gated community amenities.
Unfortunately San Francisco has reputation for being racist now. It didn’t when I was living there in the late 90’s. I’ve heard too many complaints from my non white friends and family and my partners colleagues that make fairly decent money.
I haven’t heard of Next Door. Sounds like the Internet version of Mrs. Kravitz!
I used to live in Pac Heights and the Karens on Next Door are OUT. OF. CONTROL.
Karen’s Hubby needs a name! If I could only count the number of men that also feel like they can tell me what to do when I am out minding my own business…
The Karen on my NextDoor app is named Tara and she hijacks posts that have nothing to do with BLM protests to rant about BLM protests with many angry face emojis. She’s had posts taken down and then reposts them the next day. I wonder if the NextDoor CEO’s email the other night about weeding out the racists will actually be followed through. I’m waiting for Tara to get kicked off.
@Laura – I believe he’s a Kevin :/s
I had never heard of Next Door and only signed up to keep an eye out for local businesses that were still operating during lockdown. Not sure it was worth it to have to see all of the petty, spiteful bile that’s spewed on there just to find out when the fish’n’chip shop re-opened.
If he was vandalizing someone else’s property, why would he be taking the time to carefully stencil words in broad daylight?! Wouldn’t he just scribble something with spray paint and then bolt? Makes no sense.
I was asking myself the same thing. Do graffiti artists use stencils?
If he was white would she have even stopped to ask if he lives there?
When you think that his black or brown skin is the crime it doesn’t matter what time it is. We are in danger from sun up to sun down.
Or use chalk that isn’t permanent and will easily washed away?
I screamed when I saw this picture
This woman doesn’t even look human.
Looks like a demon.
She’s an absolute ringer for Mama.
She looks like a cross between Caitlyn Jenner and the sister on Fleabag and high on bath salts.
Yessss!
If she’s a walking ad for her products, she may wish to rethink that. She look bad. Hubby was fired from his job yesterday.
So where does Karen cougher work?
It’s amazing that these women kept yammering they are being obviously filmed? What they don’t think consequences affect them?
though it was Caitlyn sans makeup but nightmare monster in the corner seems far more appropriate
Yeah I thought it was her as well, same level of LA face work. Relieved that it wasn’t.
What a horror these bitches are.
Why does her finger look like that? Why does her face look like that?
Honestly, this is why I find white women almost more scary than the cops these days.
The horrific sense of entitlement and superiority and hatred and cruelty that empowers these women to call the cops on people because they know all they have to do is mention a black person or a person of color and it will incite a response. They way they get off on putting someone’s life in danger is disgusting (no one will ever convince me that that isn’t the response they’re going for when these calls are made).
Every day is a potential Emmett Till with these women. We haven’t learned a thing since then and we allow it to happen over and over again.
It’s not just calling the cops.
The coughing Karen didn’t need to call anyone. She just weaponized her own mouth.
Where does this level of entitlement come from? It’s just appalling.
This level of entitlement comes from being White. It comes from the police ALWAYS taking their side even if they are straight up lying. The White woman is always right. White women (not all…some are amazing human beings) but some White women seem to think they are the most desired and wanted women in the world and therefore should have the rest of us kiss their feet. This is their world and we are just living it it apparently. This sh*t needs to change.
As a white woman, let me add that this brand of white woman is not just entitled when it comes to racism.
She will comment on your parenting skills, always negatively. She might even call child services because your kid is eating candy.
She will comment on your home, always passive aggressively. “Oh it must be so nice not to feel the need to constantly clean.”
She will take credit for your work AND get promoted because of it.
She will help herself to your boyfriend or husband, and blame you for not being pretty enough, whatever that means.
It’s all about her. All the time.
That’s why you can’t cure her racism despite the current environment. She just has zero self awareness and 100% entitlement.
@LaraK my god, you are describing my 98 year old mother-in-law. Perhaps she was one of the original KARENS!
LaraK, brilliant and thank you. I was about to post that I didn’t understand why some Ladies are reacting like this………..and you answered the question handily. I’m white too………….and this resonates in my bones. I feel like the origin is deep in the culture……….in princess stories………And being Mummy and Daddies special special girl. That is just the entitled side. Never mind adding the level of cultural racial toxicity to that, which compounds the problem exponentially.
I’m a white woman and just ‘unfriended’ another white woman on Facebook who was going on about how she and her husband had tried using their drone to help the police track down a Hispanic man who was somewhere near their property. She emphasized his race, didn’t make any mention of what his alleged crime was, and she couldn’t understand why I was questioning what the hell she was doing. I just told her to re-read her post and ask herself why this guy’s race was so important. Then I immediately unfriended her because I don’t want to deal with such idiots. Sounded to me as if his crime was that he was near her property.
I’m glad people are taking videos of these Karens and posting them on social media. They show how horrible the Karens are without the rest of us having to even engage with them.
I left Facebook in 2016 because The Karen’s started coming out do the woodwork during the election. I’ve been happier w/less negativity so I completely understand. Got rid of Next Door as well because apparently if you walk down a street you don’t live on the Karen’s call the cops. As for LAFace chick her “this isn’t how you do it” comment was so condescending. Oh & she lied. Cough “I have antibodies” Karen (which doesn’t matter as you can become reinfected & infect others) should be charge criminally for assault. When they happens maybe they will go away
I’m tempted to leave FB, too.
I don’t understand this at all. Don’t they have hobbies? Personal business to attend to? How do you go hrough life like this? Like I care if anyone writes anything in chalk anywhere! If it’s a hateful message, I got a water bottle with me, other than that I got sh*t to do. Who are these people who act like a Blockwart? Gross.
^They are unhappily married to entitled misogynistic white men? (I am white FTR)
Right? Is it that hard to mind your business?
The more I see of these videos the more shocked and embarrassed I am to be a white woman. I can’t imagine just randomly going up and asking someone if they live in a certain house unless I KNOW they don’t. And even then, asking over some sidewalk chalk…? I can’t really imagine doing more than surreptitiously snapping a photo *if* I knew the owner and thought they would be the type to mind, or if I knew other neighbors had been hit with unwanted (say, really offensive) chalk graffiti or something…but even then, it’s freaking chalk! Even if he hadn’t lived there, would it have been a crime?
and for the record
its chalk done in a beautiful way that says Black Lives Matter
THAT is the message that she really took issue with
You missed the old woman taking a hammer to her neighbor’s car. Lisa’s behavior is really common though but usually a little more sly.
Two hammers! She took two hammers to their car, screaming at them to get out of the neighborhood the whole time, tipped over their trash containers, spilling trash all over their lawn, AND went after one of them with a garden hose before one of them picked her up and threw her in a bush.
Is there a link to this? That’s crazy.
It’s on Twitter. If you just search Edy, or @SuperduperEdy. it comes up. Edy owns the car that was damaged but wasn’t actually there at the time.
That beat down was amazing. Hammer!Karen was crazy.
I’m not on twitter, so I am always behind the curve in seeing these things. I have not heard anything about a woman with a hammer. Wow.
I seriously cheered when that older woman held Meth Karen in a headlock and cursed her out before tossing her in the bushes. So damn satisfying to finally see one of these people get the beat down they richly deserve.
Right? Meth Karen for sure, she was not right in the head.
It was two hammers and it was NUTS. I will say, however, that there is a followup video in which said Karen ends up shoved into the bushes and it is DIVINE.
The bush toss is so deserved and so hilarious. She sprayed a hose on the older woman, who got her in a headlock; told her off, punctuating each sentence with “Bitch;” then tossed her into the shrubbery.
Yikes. I too am embarrassed to be in the same demographic.
My first thought was that had she been a minority, she would have been shot dead for wielding those two hammers like that.
I wanted to say I am amazed how calm he stayed and then thought, well actually he is forced by our society to stay calm für his own safety. Every white person would have shown rightful anger and gotten away with it. PoC are not only policed by white people at will, they also have to police the emotions they show in their response. And the way she uses this Kindergarten voice shows so clearly how inferior he is in her mind.
100% agree. Us POC have to always be on edge. We have to always be aware of our surroundings. White people get away with so much us POC can’t even imagine. It really isn’t fair.
He should have dealt with her the way that young lady in Arizona dealt with that Karen who laid hands on her. Hauled off and slapped the b*tch in the face. That is the ONLY way to deal with these people. They’ll never learn otherwise.
White women voted overwhelmingly for Trump so I am not surprised many of them are now openly racist.
Thank you for saying this. Many (not all) white women have been complicit in supporting white men—-holding up the patriarchy—-because they believe in it and benefit from it.
Edna – this exactly but to some degree it feels like Stockholm Syndrome to me. Not making an excuse for the behavior of Karens but they are actively working against their own best interests. Life in that guilded cage with some Chad holding the key to your freedom isn’t so great.
I’m amazed at how many voted for that orange turd.
Please take a look here for non partisan statistical analysis of the 2016 election results.
https://www.people-press.org/2018/08/09/an-examination-of-the-2016-electorate-based-on-validated-voters/
Among white women who actually voted, 47 percent voted for Trump, 45 percent for Clinton. Most white women, and most citizens, didn’t vote at all.
We have to vote.
Yes but I’m going to guess that the SF Karen is a “liberal” who votes Democrat and considers herself non-racist. It’s a belief system that’s not only with Trump supporters.
She’s actually a Trumper. She’s retweeted a lot of MAGA stuff. There are screenshots everywhere.
No, not overwhelmingly. https://time.com/5422644/trump-white-women-2016/
You can’t believe what Trump brags about, he is a legend in his mind who probably still thinks he is catnip with the ladies.
Never forget!
Face matches the personality …I’m already having nightmares over it
Me too. The still shots look like the face that jumps out in a horror movie. The evil intent…. shudder
The over racism I’ve experienced in my life has been from white women. I argued with some white ‘friends’ how feminism didn’t include or benefit WOC. They absolutely are convinced it did. white women want power just like white men. WW stay close to the seat of power – to white men and WWs have no intention of sharing power.
The above said, I am absolutely convinced that a number of these women are absolutely mentally ill. Suffering from BPD and other issues which brings about their racism with such firey hatred.
well the one with the two hammers (as mentioned above and I did see that video too) is definitely a head case. but these two? I don’t think so. I think they are just that entitled. Just that smug.
I think hammer woman was drunk.
You know what’s worst? These women can vote; I guess we have the answer to the question: “why didn’t they vote HRC?”
They are no different from the women we see at maga/trump rallies; they just hide it better and every single election cycle, we ask “why did white women vote x vs y?”
I moved from an Indian reservation to an almost all white suburb of a rust belt city when I was 10. I was tormented by Karens for the next decade. None of this surprises me.
@aang.❌💯
Ugh. No one should be treated this way.
Last night my daughter was standing in line waiting to go into the grocery store. The Karen in front of her was wearing a T-shirt with Support Trump and a confederate flag on it. Karen turned to her daughter and said “they should just go back to Africa”. We live in a town of 18000 people in a very tranquil part of Ontario Canada. Karens are everywhere. Luckily a young white guy was also in line and he ripped her several new ones. My daughter is nicer than I am – she feels sorry for the woman for carrying around so much irrational hate and fear. Me, I am livid and think she is simply a waste of skin and hope karma bites her hard.
@Tammy, I’m so glad the guy did that, but I’m angry that happened to you in the first place. I am so sorry.
Worst part is, she’s already indoctrinated her child into it too.
Goddammit, I know we have problems with racists in Canada too, but for it to really be that bad. I’m in Northern Ontario, and I hear about this sh*t too. I haven’t SEEN it in front of me, which I don’t know who it’s lucky for, me or the perpetrator. I’m *always* waiting for something like that to happen. Gets my blood boiling!! Where’s my anger support goose?
You might enjoy Untitled Goose Game. You play a goose that goes around hassling people. It is hilarious, and a great way to blow off steam!
I’m from Northern Ontario as well.
I hate canadian bigots who openly support that monster. They are dumb on top of racist because dump is against Canada. That shirt sounds like a hate crime too. So glad that guy said something. These racists need to be shamed publicly.
If I see or hear someone doing that sh?t, I will damn well call you out on it. I live in a small city in Ontario, Canada and there is absolutely no place for that “Karen” behaviour. For the record, I’m a 49 white female who is a well respected medical professional but I will still call you out on your crap behaviour. I can’t believe how some of these people act. I’m embarrassed to be a white woman!
I saw some disturbing footage of this crazy racist bitch on Twitter yesterday – screaming at an Asian man and apparently she had done something similar to a young Asian girl jogging in the park on another day. Same woman, same language.
https://twitter.com/AntiKarenLeague/status/1270944186506698752?s=20
THESE are the people that Trump is empowering to “speak up” about the government and “our country”. It makes me want to vomit! What possibly goes on in your life where you can be so filled with hatred and viciousness for someone you don’t even know, based upon the color of their skin?????? I hope these asshole Karens get what is coming to them!
Apparently that crazy lady also assaulted someone. The police know who she is, but can’t find her… I have to wonder about that because she sure has no trouble finding Asians to terrorize!
WOW…just wow! Can’t find her? Really???
They have her license plate – I have no idea how they can’t find her. Not sure how it works in California, but isn’t your plate & ownership associated to your driver’s license which includes your home address? This lady seems to be everywhere.
I wonder if her family is hiding her. Both of her daughters are local cops.
I read that it’s a different Lena Hernandez who has the daughters who are cops.
The woman’s name is Lena Hernandez.
https://twitter.com/spinborn/status/1271322484835414016?s=21
That woman has a long history of problems and apparently is mentally-ill and refuses to take her medication.
Yes, the way she speaks…I’ve seen it. She should be on medication.
I’m bi-polar and take my meds daily. But on or off medication, I’ve never been a racist or taken hammers to people’s car or any other Karen-like behavior. (Except to Comcast Cable whose Internet service is crap in my area). I think this woman is a racist AND mentally ill, I’m not giving her a pass.
That is horrible-but I think she’s mentally ill.
I don’t even know what to say. I’ve said so much, and at this point my migraine is constant. These bitches are clueless, arrogant, evil and disturbed. Coughing on people? Angry over chalk? My God. The cougher needs hefty fines and a jail vaycay. The other is hopefully learning something about consequences. And to think had she just said, “Hi! Have a beautiful day!,” and kept walking……….
that coughing karen is why i bought pepper spray a few weeks ago. I realized it’s only a matter of time, especially where i live. and no one is coughing on me, and i’m not standing by and watching one of them cough on some store employee either. the karen with the demon face really shows how white people seem to think we’ve been deputized to run around questioning black people. maybe we should demand to see their papers too? where are they learning this behavior?
Yeah, the whole need to be in charge thing is ludicrous. Part of me wishes he had simply continued finishing the chalked message and sat down to quench his thirst. I’m starting to feel an entrapment need leading to handcuffed white crays. But i don’t live in fear of being persecuted. We should come together across the land setting up sting operations to bring down Betty’s. Reverse the pain. Reverse the target. Take away their vile voices. I don’t believe that most humans who live through consequences of their own bad behavior and decisions act like this. Clearly some discipline is in order because adult white women are acting like teen thugs.
Last month in London simeone insisting to have had Covid 19 deliberately coughed and spat on a black woman working at a train station. Her name was Belly Mujinga and she ended up dying from the virus. That whole situation and the way it was handled is just disturbing and leaves so many questions.
A man here (who owns a pizza place!) was arrested and charged for coughing on a grocery store employee back at the beginning of Covid.
This f’ing nut in the coffee shop needs to be fired, if she has a job, and charged. Also, just put on a damn mask. It’s not that hard, and if she’s truly in the healthcare field she should know better.
And Karen’s Husband recording the man on this own property was a nice touch. What was he going to do with that?
Maybe for divorce court?
He even sees how the tide is going and puts down his phone. He is screwed too, they found out he is a managing director that manages the investment of CA pensions
The Karen in the coughing on people in the store needs to be arrested for assault. In most states this qualifies as assault at a minimum and in some states is considered bio terrorism. Karen needs to be frog marched to jail for that crap. These women make me so embarrassed. White women, it is time for us to police our own. This behavior is unacceptable. Karen meet Liz. If you talk to anyone of Color, or LGBTQ or well just anyone like this in front of me I am going to tell you to shut up and I can be loud Karen. Then if you don’t stop terrorizing the world Karen….I AM GOING TO CALL THE MANAGER….while I tape you.
@Liz version 700 I support you. Please do. Police your own and most importantly SPEAK UP preferably in the moment because people do not believe people of color. If you are always the perpetrator you can never be the victim!
We have to shout back at them. Their privilege and the jerk in the President’s chair have made them shameless. They need to know their behavior is not ok. I am done being polite. If saying this attitude and racism is bull$hit costs me friends or relatives so be it.
Expose them all, expose them all, expose them all!
you guys, I feel so ashamed for being a white woman, and as a slavic person I was also molested by these Karens and even worse, their male versions who had no problem telling me I was stupid and a slut. and yet… i feel… I can’t even verbalize how horrible I feel about all of this. I also feel guilty for not being able to support BLM with more than donating, walking last in line and listening…. but walking. It seems so fake. I just want to reach out to everyone who has suffered for so long, people who go through this every day. I know I shouldn’t be ashamed of who I am as a person but it pains me so much to watch all of this happening. I am proud though to be a part of history when people are out there, marching, speaking, in the end teaching. I hope we all listen and learn.
chalk karen lives in my neighborhood. i see her all the time when i’m out doing errands. there’s a lot of people like her in san francisco now. it didn’t used to be that way which makes me sad because i grew up here. and it seems like website and app ‘next door’ gives her and others like her a platform where it’s okay to act that way and report about everyone’s supposed transgressions.
As a black woman, I am glad these women are being caught on tape. Finally, we have proof (because our word and experience was/is never enough) that they “are (not) so nice” “truly (not) harmless.” I have dealt with Karens all my life from the openly hostile ones to the passive-aggressive ones. For years, I am the angry black woman when I am truly just pissed of seeing Karens for who they are and then being racially gaslighted by someone telling me I’m overreacting, not her, don’t take it so personally. I just feel like with Lisa Alexanders and the Amy Coopers of the world, we black people have been saying this for years and finally you guys are listening.
So for you non-Karens, don’t feel shame – just do better. Call out the Karens when you see it and check to see if you have any Karen tendencies.
No wants to be policed or micromanaged excessively. Black people just want to live our lives. Go jogging, go bird watching, chalk OUR property in peace.
That’s the end of my rant.
you just answered my non direct question, more a plea, in the matter of what I can do as a white woman. Thank you. Thank you so much. And you did not rant in any way.
“because our word and experience was/is never enough” — EXACTLY! So infuriating.
I am a white woman. My family and I went to the park yesterday. While there, I thought about how the white men in my extended family (not my husband) would have reacted to the people there. They would have immediately felt suspect of any black person there, with the perception of they are up to no good. No matter that it was a park filled with families, dog walkers and that it was noon on a Saturday. They would also deny there is such a thing as white privilege.
As we walked, I thought. How can we as a white community, subject our neighbors with such suspicion? A walk in the park is probably something nefarious. Going to the store? Probably stealing. Walking down the street? Probably doing something illegal. This is exactly what my relatives think. I live in an upper middle class neighborhood. A male cousin, who barely graduated high school, said loudly, there goes the neighborhood when black neighbors walked by. Those black neighbors were better people than the cousin, who looks exactly like Trump rally attendee would look like. I can’t even stand to be around my family at this point.
I live in the midwest. My state went for Trump because of voter suppression and people like this. How do we fix it? How can we make it better? The world is so depressing right now.
Same here, Geraldine. A good portion of my family are Trump supporters. For the life of me I can’t figure out why. For a few the attraction is definitely his open racism.
I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Women like these Karens infuriate me. My true feelings would get me banished, so this sorta counts as sugarcoating.
The Karens of the world start young. For most of my life, I’ve been on the receiving end of their disapproval. Too tall, too independent, didn’t listen to the right music, too working class, cautiously open about dislike of the status quo, you name it.
By NO means, do I equate my struggles to those of people of color. Whole different level.
Frankly I have always despised these entitled wenches.
I hope karma slaps them all hard and often.
The hammer and follow-up.
https://twitter.com/mmpadellan/status/1271938344084217863?s=21
That is just so awesome. I watched it over and over. Thank you so much for that clip, Jerusha.
I read an article about a Karen calling a black woman the n-word because the black woman had “passed her (Karen) on the left and she is tired of the looting!” It made 0 sense and they went to the police station and Karen started crying going “I’m just so tired!” And the black woman was like “I’m tired too! We’ve been tired for 400 years!”
Ahh yess those good old Karen tears lol. They must sell those in a bottle or something.
There’s video of that whole exchange on Twitter
There is an Instagram page devoted to Karens gone wild. It shows such ugly people. Not only Karens but Kevins as well.
If the world was fair, prisons and jails would be filled with these f*cking a$$hole Karens, not innocent POC wrongfully convicted for things they didn’t do. How many lives do you think these Karens have ruined?
43yo white woman and I get feeling guilty, but our white lady tears and hand wringing aren’t going to help the situation. (I say that because I definitely feel the guilt but also know that I have to get past that to action).
There’s a great quote by a Black woman writing about the Combahee River Collective (a Black feminist movement from decades ago that really invented the whole concept of being an intersectional feminist even if they didn’t coin the word itself):
“If Black women were free it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.”
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective
So I think the answer is to work in solidarity with Black and Native women to dismantle white supremacy, because it’s tied closely to patriarchy (and I’d also argue to capitalism). The part we play as white women looks different: follow Black women’s leadership, use every scrap of our race privilege in service of change–advocacy at work, in the schools our children attend, wherever we have a louder voice for no other reason than being white women. This means risk, and vulnerability, and sometimes it means walking away from family members and friends. It’s still a small cost compared to the hundreds of years of oppression that Black women and men have endured.
I’m still figuring out how to do this, and how to do it better. I’ve been reading and thinking about this stuff for a long time (I was a philosophy professor with a joint appointment in the gender studies dept) but my activism was fairly low-level–donating and some protests and letter-writing and speaking up at school board meetings and that kind of thing. I have to do more.
I’m a 44 year old white woman. I think we also need to call out our race when they do racist things. When I was younger, I was scared to do that now I’m not. Because these racists will not listen to POC, we must do our part to let these racists know what they do is not acceptable.
So true. Other white people need to call out this b.s. Every single time no matter how “small” the aggression. It is the only way. We can’t look the other way any longer. Even if it means cutting ties with racist family and friends. Things are getting dire and it’s time to choose a side.
Also, if that bitch in the coffee shop coughed on me like that, she would have been knocked on her entitled ass and I would be in jail for assault and it would be worth it.
I am so encouraged by the decency of celebitchy readers. Thank you for your solidarity, we need it
@Joanna. Totally agree with you.
WTH??? Fellow white women, you don’t have to be an ally if that offends your delicate sensibilities, but why go out of your way to add to an already toxic situation? Are these women bored and/or in need of a drama fix so badly? Who cares if someone is writing something on their retaining wall in chalk? If someone asks you to wear a mask, ignore them or say you don’t want to, then go about your business. Both of the above instances were hostile acts that were obviously designed to harm someone for no other reason than these women felt they were superior and wanted to show the world how superior they were. Again I have to ask, why?
Years ago, before mobile phones were everywhere, I had car trouble in a deserted parking lot at night. A young black man came up to offer help and, yes, I was more than a little afraid. The man lifted the hem of his shirt and turned around, saying “I’m not armed, I just wanted to see if you needed help.” I felt horrible. He was able to get my car started and he followed me to a gas station because he noticed a tire was low, put air in it for me, and made sure I was able to get on my way. That was almost 20 years ago, but I think of it often, especially with everything going on now. I am perhaps most disturbed that, if that same incident was experienced by a “Karen” or witnessed by a police officer, that young man may not have gotten the chance to show he was unarmed or they wouldn’t have cared.
When I was 18 I had been visiting my boyfriend in Alabama and was returning to my home and was parked at a truck stop somewhere around midnight. Someone knocked on my window which naturally startled me and I cracked my window a bit. It was a black man who pointed to his pregnant wife and went on about how they were having car trouble and needed less than $10 or something. I pushed a few dollars through the window, still startled because I am alone and it’s after midnight. When he turned he said “see not all black people are bad” and I still think about this scenario a lot. I don’t think I would have reacted any differently had it been a white man, because again it was late and I was alone. I didn’t question the man’s story, I just passed him some cash through the window.
This is how these women behave when they KNOW they are being filmed. Imagine how the behave when they know they aren’t. Think about who supports them, who makes it safe for them to believe this and act this way, who protects them from consequences.
It’s not just Karen. It’s everyone she knows. It’s in the air we breathe. Make this behaviour have social and financial consequences, at a minimum. People’s actual lives depend on it.
This behavior is so insane! The “Karen” epidemic reminds me of all the popular white girls that peaked in high school and never developed past that stage so they spend their time creating drama and policing people they see as underneath them to feel relevant. What a bunch of losers!
very true!
Most definitely. You nailed it square on the head. They’re infants in grown bodies.
This is what happens when small minded white people feel like their power is being threatened. When equality is oppression to them. So they freak out and need to feel dominate again. It’s great to see them being taken down one by one. You hit them in the wallet. You hit them in their careers. You shun them, you humiliate them. You don’t let up. It’s a beautiful thing to watch. Giving just a taste of what POC have been going through for 300+ years is the only way to facilitate change.
This is what happens when small minded white people feel like their power is being threatened. When equality is oppression to them. So they freak out and need to feel dominate again. It’s great to see them being taken down one by one. You hit them in the wallet. You hit them in their careers. You shun them, you humiliate them. You don’t let up. It’s a beautiful thing to watch. Giving just a taste of what POC have been going through for 300+ years is the only way to facilitate change.
What blows my mind about outwardly racist white women is that by supporting that structure of white supremacy, you’re supporting the same system that oppresses YOU. The same system that crushes blacks in this country is the same one that holds down women, it holds down LGBT+, it holds down the disabled, etc. It’s the equivalent of giving yourself just enough socially empowered rope to hang yourself with it.
Insidious racism, I get. It’s easy to be white in this country and sheltered if you have enough money. Even going to good schools and growing up working class, I had to re-educate myself on a lot as a white American in my twenties. It’s a constant battle against the indoctrination of a racist society. But this is just….stupidly short sighted, even overlooking all of the ethical and decent reasons not to be racist. Don’t think because you choose to be the butcher instead of the calf at the end of his knife that someone else can’t take and wield it against you.
You are so correct Veronica. The same crowd that wants African Americans at the back of the bus so to speak also want to deny rights to other groups. I figured this out a long time ago by observation.
So it is in all our best interests to stick together. People of color have suffered a great deal more obviously. And continue to do so.
I’m not going back to the right wing’s idea of America where the the white male had most of the control. No one else should either. The forced birth crowd don’t care about women or children just about having complete control of women. That’s just one example.
To any right wing types I would say get with the program or get out of the way. The future is not on your side.
white folks using Twitter to blackface and say “as a Black person” while going on to justify the actions of Karens. As if white people are OWED answers to their nosy questions.
I’m going to go back to my old neighborhood I was priced out of and start asking all the white people if they live there. I’ll even wear my natural hair! I’m sure the police will come right up and be very supportive of me going on private property to question everyone. /sarcasm
There’s a FB group called Karens Against Police Brutality that’s trying to harness the power of the Karen for good. Check it out for events/info it’s a decent resource.
Be like George Holliday, he’s the person who filmed Rodney King getting the shit beat out of him by LA’s finest.
Maybe SF Karen can get work on the next Jordan Peele project. Y’know like a villain?
How hard is it to mind your own business and walk on? Unless someone is blatantly harming someone or themselves , it’s not my business. How hard is it to wear a mask or leave people alone. You can’t tell these women anything but they have the gall to approach random people and police their life. I’d be afraid of getting my ass whooped. Then they cry about it to get sympathy for being assholes.
There’s a follow-up tweet where the homeowner states that Karen and Kevin came back over to the house after seeing the police car leave and he rapped on the window and waived to them from the living room.
I spend 6-8 months out of the year in San Francisco for work. I usually have to rent ‘corporate apartment’ for the duration. Anyhow, this last time I rented in the Marina District. I moved in. Going about my business one day and this white woman see me exiting the lobby (I was on my way to the management office). She stopped dead in her tracks and stared me DOWN. I ignored her and kept walking. She tried blocking my path so I just side stepped her and kept going as she shook her head.
It ended up she lives on the same floor. She would see me exiting the elevator and my goodness would give me this stink face and look at me like I was trash. Guess what??? Turns out she was living with black guy. LOL. The guy was so very very lovely and polite and he would always make a point of saying ‘hello, how are you?’ every time he saw me.
Eventually he and I got chatting and I told him I am from Canada and that I was in the area due to work. I think this guy also knew I was likely old enough to be his mom but his GF didn’t which is likely part of the reason for her stink face.
Eventually she started saying hi how are to me. Initially I didn’t respond to her but started feeling bad so I’d respond to her thru gritted teeth. Some of the nastiest white women I’ve met are the ones who are with black men. It’s like they have an extra hatred to for black women.
How awful.
I (am a black woman) and have had a similar experience. I lived in a nice apartment downtown and one early morning, I was coming home from taking my puppy out for a walk. A white woman was ahead of me, opening the door and she looked at me in absolute terror and tried to slam the door so that I could not come in. If I were truly coming in to rob the place, why would I bring my 6lb morkie puppy?
Ok. Well, she’s terrifying.
My 2 cents…. The entitlement these “people” feel, Geez.
I live in a suburb which in the 20 years since I built here has been over run with these type of people. The housing cost is now 400K+ and up, a new development being built, which is actually truly being sold as “Welcome Home to Karma Estates” starting at home/land packages $700K.
In Minnesota, 25 years ago it was farmland, complete with standing cows and muddy fields.
Karma Estates? Honestly? Makes me want to upchuck.
You bet this town has turned from working class homeowners to McMansions.
I call them “size zero, fake blonde, Stepford families”
Escalades in every garage, hockey playing jock kids, and damn near every house has Home Security signs and fences. We have a Police Force, why do u need a personal security system?
Hey, I just wanted a house that didn’t need to be repaired all the time, I never thought I’d be living in a keep up with the joneses ‘burb.
Having said all that…WTF is with these people? Other humans are also on planet Earth, what ever happened to live and let live? Better yet, Mind your Own Business.
Next door-ism is so toxic.. I had a conversation with a neighbor (Let’s call him Me Kravitz) from another street who came up to me demanding to know who that (Latino) guy was who approached me while I was in front of my property. I told Mr Kravitz that he had offered me tree cutting services and pointed to another neighbors property where he was cutting trees. Mr. Kravyiz then told me that I should be careful as three have been a lot of break-ins the the neighborhood. ( there is not true as a matter if fact) I told him that it seems unusual that someone would go to the trouble of Forming a tree trimming company just to rob me.. he wasn’t pleased with that response.. too bad I am not getting invited to his racist a@& Christmas party next year.
LOL Good one, Justwastingtime.
They. Are. Sadists. Every white woman with nice hair and a nice job can be a sadist. The pleasure they get from cruelty outweighs any joy they could have in kindness. The perception that they must be not just nice but GOOD is just marketing. They’re in our (I’m white) families, at school, at work, in our book clubs and political parties. They are funny and bake and work hard and would enjoy killing News, Blacks, trans folks, and on and on. I was raised by one and experienced a milder version of sadism myself alone (no one ever believed me, until she turned on them) and they won’t change. Get the bystanders and the systems to change, but don’t bother trying to win the hearts of the sadists.
I’m a white woman, and I’m thoroughly embarrassed by these Karen’s. WTF is wrong with these women? Shame on them….
Not too long ago but before all this I briefly dated a guy and said that it was an embarrassing time to be white (we’re both white). He got totally offended and angry, like really unreasonably upset and it started an argument. I stopped seeing him after that.
Karen needs to get arrested and spend some time in jail. Karen needs to be handcuffed and fingerprinted. Karen needs to be searched, thrown in a police car, and have to post bail after some time in lockup. Karen needs to call her family or friends to beg for help.
For assault when she coughs in your face. When she lies to 911 or the police when she says she knows where you live but doesn’t, or when she says you’re assaulting her but you aren’t, or when she abuses her dog.
For a thousand malicious, aggressive actions, Karen needs to be arrested every single time.
Gross!
What are male Karens called??
I would suggest Bob, incidentally, her husband’s name
I saw a poll on twitter and Chad was the winner(or would that be loser).
I think Kevin was high on the list, also.
Her condescending tone, preaching that “this” isn’t the way to fight the injustice, the lie about “actually” knowing that he doesn’t live there….ugh. I’d punch that ugly plastic face.
As a woman, person of color & a native of San Francisco, this is so embarrassing & certainly doesn’t paint the way most folks are. I know of “Karens” like this. They don’t believe that someone of color could possibly live in a nice neighborhood….
I’m a loving peacemaker, however her “trying to sooth ” tone & manner of speaking to him, made me want to slap the words out of her mouth, hard.
Probably long overdue
I got Karen’ed this weekend (policing my behavior, not minding her own business, aggressive insinuations, unequal reactions to mundane “slights”). Then I saw all of these videos plus the hammer Karen video and it just really upset me and I haven’t been able to shake it off with a good attitude.
Is there more to this, people feel like they can’t control anything anymore so they lash out to be the miserable people they are?
I think a lot of these white women are already wound up and miserable in their own lives. Hurt people hurt, although I have zero sympathy or tolerance.
Their comfort level to abuse and say whatever they want knowing they can hit reset in their video game bubble world and suffer no consequences has been ingrained in them. They have to find targets to feel some momentary flash of superiority and control and yes, their ugly support systems back them up. It needs to be recognized and called out hard every single time. Oh, to have been a personal witness to both these trash bag incidents…*rage*
I had discussions on twitter Saturday and Sunday with people reprimanding the house resident for not answering her question. These two people, Lisa and Robert, have no authority. Why would the resident tell them personal info? They could be dangerous, couldn’t they? Had the situation been vice versa they WOULD NEVER tell a man in front of their home that they indeed lived there. They would call the police claiming he’d want to steal from them or worse. Like, just because she thinks she is this innocent-seeming lady she is entitled to ask.
The resident also says (on purpose indirectly with his hypothetical question in return) that it’s fine what he’s doing. That should be enough. I am serious, there are actual people on twitter who said he should have shown them his keys or even open the door with his keys in front of them!
The resident, of course, knew immediately what Lisa’s suspicions/prejudice were and wanted to expose her racism, which he easily managed. I think he’s great.
Did you guys see the 64-year old Karen who spat on a black child? Amazing…
That woman looks so much like a starving succubus. If she was on a horror movie cover I would be too scared to see the movie.
The Bay Area has become a cesspool of gentrifying entitled white folks.
Last week, the Buffalo Police Department, they who nearly killed a 75 year old Catholic peace activist, posted a photo of little kids writing “Thank you BPD” in chalk in front of their headquarters. The one trip of the year their Karen moms will make downtown from their all white suburbs to condition their kids into worshipping the police. Who just left an elderly man to die on a sidewalk.
they can’t control themselves. sad.
the way chalk karen pretends to be nice and acting like she is calm but calling police on him is just scary. and chalk karen should scrap her skincare line cause clearly it is not working. clean your soul karen, even my closet demon looks better than you jfc