7
The woman dubbed “Soho Karen,” captured on video attacking a Black child after falsely accusing him of stealing her phone.
Screenshot: @keyonharrold (Instagram)
Whenever Black people collectively and specifically speak to the realities of anti-Blackness, there is often outraged and offended backlash from people who would rather racism continue unabated and—importantly—unacknowledged as racism. Because to acknowledge racism would necessitate people who consider themselves decent to actively work at eradicating it, or at the very least, call it out when they see it.
Advertisement
This is the context behind the journey of the word “Karen,” which firmly took its place in the national parlance in 2020—though the behavior which gave birth it has been documented since at least 1955, when Carolyn Bryant, a white woman, falsely accused Emmet Till of whistling at her and caused the 14-year-old Black child to be lynched by a mob.