Why âKarensâ Are a Threat to Racial Progress
From Ida B. Wells to Emmett Till to the âKarensâ of today, the trope of white women in danger has been used to harm Black people.
I have white women in my life whom I like and love but, for some white women, a predatory element lingers just under the surface of their smiling faces. Because in many ways, white womanhood is the secret weapon in the perpetuation of white supremacy: When a white woman feels âunsafeââparticularly in situations that involve a Black woman conscious of an injustice or a Black male simply existingâwhatever solution that follows cannot be questioned. Â