This article is a terrific step towards developing a new level of consciousness to combat our attitudes born of white privilege, something most of us don’t recognize within ourselves. But it is easy to point a finger at Karen: to stretch out our arms and distance ourselves from her. When we do use our voices, we have to say uncomfortable things in white spaces. An equal opportunity piss and moaner no matter your gender, race, ethnicity, religious persuasion, sexual orientation, political leanings, wealth or lack thereof, manner of speech or beverage of choice. Am I Karen? Okay, Iâm calling a white girl meeting. Itâs helpful to talk to anti-racist white allies or to draw strength from a community that shares your values or writers who inspire you. Itâs easy to be Karen. He ran the forklift and drove the delivery truck. Why am I comfortable? Dates that went south without my consent. America: The Poorest Country in the World. C) A car with TV screens in it. Then there’s the Airbnb across the street with guests who keep leaving trash out days prior to collection day. But it is easy to read a book on how to be an anti-racist and to miss the point: we can easily identify with an author of color or position ourselves as one of the good white people described: Oh, I do those things. One little listen, learn and shift… appreciate the time and vulnerability. We’ve always touted that phrase ‘We’re the richest country in the world!’ or ‘We’re the greatest nation on earth!’. Donât push her away or shame her. We call our students of color by each otherâs names, as if they are interchangeable, and we donât take time to learn to say everybodyâs name correctly. Listen also to Karen. Donât pretend sheâs not yours. The service was good and I love the t shirt! Long before this current meme defining a “Karen” as a privileged white woman, a racist, a mask-refusing, histrionic, complaining snob, above it all and especially entitled, I was born a Karen. It is easy to watch Karen videos and think, oh look at how racist she is. Real power empowers the people around us. Yes, I guess? Donât let Karen lash out and hurt anyone. She may not listen. I will do a lot to make sure that my home, my neighborhood, my kidsâ school, my workplace, and my interactions are comfortable for me. Warning if you take this quiz and you get Offended remember this quiz is for shits and giggles so remember that if you dont like your result at the end sorry for what you get please don't take any offences to … Well hello there, Karen here, yes the REAL Karen White, ex page 3 glamour model of the 90s that decide to say hello to the world, so come say hello on #onlyfans x Your email will not be sold and will ONLY be used to notify you of new GonzoToday.com posts. I’m definitely Karen. Change ). We have been challenged to change: to learn, act, donate, read great books. We also have to learn to talk less. Lifestyle Blogger -Living life out loud and in living color ️with family, friends, ministry and business Life is better together . Now Black Lives Matter, so shut up. Our awareness will not fix this; our ability to be present with shame just might. 1. And work to make whatever spaces we occupy more equitable. One Asian. But it is important to try: white supremacist power is the wrong sort of power to hold onto if you care about your soul. Let’s start with saying this: I am Karen. Striding out of air-conditioned sales offices to check on product, I marched through the warehouse in heels and sharply cut business suits that featured my toned legs. First, here at the meeting, we will watch those videos and not step away from Karen. It doesnât matter if our use of white supremacist power is conscious or not. Karen is part of us. IGTV Tagged. We donât like it. Share. No reason not to pursue this latest offense and at least file a grievance. My name is Karen Yeung and I'm a fashion, beauty and lifestyle blogger who's currently based in Los Angeles. A valiant offer by a different colleague to drive me home from some other job one night turned into a desperate negotiation over what sexual “favors” I had to provide if I wanted to be delivered to my front door or dumped on a street corner in South Central LA at 1 a.m. After a while these encounters became a blur and I’m sure I’ve forgotten many. I am Karen Page a family member of someone we've lost to ALS, an ALS healthcare professional, someone who cared for a person we've lost to ALS Massachusetts. Letâs pause for a moment and stay with that discomfort. Who is not comfortable here? August 3, 2020 For folks who avoid social media:  a Karen is one of several emergent archetypes which embody white womenâs weaponized uses of white privilege.  Karen calls the police on Black people barbequing.  Karen reports Black students in the student lounge.  Karen uses police action to threaten the life of a Black birdwatcher who challenges her unleashed dog. Facebook is showing information to help you better understand the purpose of a Page. Why? Come on, now. He just wanted to be a jerk. Search; https://youtu.be/R9TWt_9ARrg. Karene Horst I didnât earn it and it hurts people. Entitled, loud, trashy moms of three who care about nothing but themselves and three kids. Donât call the manager. In the video, the woman can be seen licking the bar window and then trying to ram herself through […] ( Log Out / We like knowing that our childrenâs teachers see and love our children and want the best for them. With awareness of the power that shapes our comfort, we can learn to see our weapons more clearly â and take aim in another direction. I AM GOLDEN KAREN is a coming-of-age story of Thaawa, a Karen refugee in search of his identity as a migrant in Thailand. Large institutions have to adapt to what regular people say is acceptable: look at the NFL. As Karens, we have the privilege to focus on videos that show some of the more obvious versions of what it looks like to wield white supremacist power (or âwhite privilegeâ if we want to call it something nicer). Chuck Kamar. Purchased item: Not Today Karen. Myself included 100%. 4. I am taking my lessons learned, mistakes made, wins, losses and everything in between and sharing my knowledge with women-owned small businesses who want to grow and scale their business from 6 to 7 figures in 24-36 months. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. I could not be a Karen. Another day and another Karen video has gone viral on the Internet. This is brave, brilliant, courageous. Reels. In fact I recently called on my neighbors who hosted an illegal and fucking dangerous bonfire next to my home in bone-dry Southern California. We have the privilege to maintain a willful, self-interested kind of blindness about our own participation in that erasure. Pick an iconic Karen trademark that you actually kind of like: 271 likes. Check out the Freakonomics book for that explanation. Thank you for posting – and I’m glad to find your work. Thank you also to my co-conspirator white girl friend and scholar Lara Handsfield for her help in refining this piece. Take this magical 20 question (I think) quiz to see what percentage of Karen you … Or, we can work to see these things that are invisible by design. My purpose in this lifetime is to show people how to heal. A white woman of privilege complaining that a BLACK man sexually harassed her? Sure, why not? 11 talking about this. We are waking up to the realities of systemic white supremacy and we respond by voicing a strange sort of helplessness: what can I do? Contributed to The Globe and Mail . If we can grow less attached to the comfort and privilege we enjoy, we do have the power to do make changes in the world around us. He knew it. It is comfortable for us to not see, to not hear, to take silence as assurance of our virtue. A) A silver or gold mini-van, that fits all of your brats. Again, with feeling: I am Karen. We think curriculum leveling is an appropriate way to teach. Purchased item: I am the Manager, Karen. I never told anyone other than a girlfriend or two. Angelina. What do we do when we get home from the march? So the use of “we” is about owning the impact of what we have done and continue to do, collectively. Shame is tricky like that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySCTllJqjwE&list=PLTAi4Z3cb2zdSrX2ftL3HFzPtBOX5BaMw. Yes, we should read and educate ourselves. I am Karen and I need the support of other Karens to listen, to embrace uncertainty and vulnerability, to ask better questions, to imagine change. We can start by learning to see the ways we benefit while others do not, the ways we are visible while others are not, the ways we are heard while others are not. Donât expect a parade. Too young, too shocked, too drunk or stoned, too sure that no one would believe me or care. Come on, now. Itâs on YouTube as well. No, you didnât create it, but thatâs not the point. Published July 20, 2020 . Thousands of Black men and women died, many of these murders sanctioned by law enforcement and celebrated by entire white communities. If you’re looking for Clinical Reflexology, … Stand next to it. This is hard. Or a drive. They wonât thank you for it. We assume that our students of color are poor, their parents uneducated, and we make a lot of assumptions about what that means. The bears and coyotes knock over the bins in order to sort through fast food wrappers and pizza boxes before dragging several tasty pieces of cardboard and plastic into the bushes in my yard. I have always liked my name. I was a bleeding heart liberal. We can pay attention to where we feel comfortable, moments when we donât, and have some uncomfortable conversations with ourself. If you might be looking for more reading on Black students’ perspectives and identity development, I would recommend Beverly Daniel Tatum’s classic, Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And maybe you havenât done those things â anyway, I hope not. Celebrating a Half Century of the Music of Frank Zappa, Album Review: The Damn Truth’s Devilish Folk, The Doors First Album and Mary Werbelow: 50 Years on, CIA Whistleblower John C. Kiriakou: the Gonzo Today Interview, Copyright © 2021 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes. How is this space set up to serve my comfort? WIBTK if I left a review for this company even when there is no easy fix? That erasure of the voices, experiences, and knowledge of people of color is a kind of existential violence that normalizes physical, economic, and educational violence. I used to teach full time, now I sub, I ALWAYS take the time to learn how to pronounce the students’ names properly. You have said what has been on my heart and in my mind since I saw the video of Amy Cooper. I am Karen White. This test is specifically for kids over 10 years old. Companies don’t just blow off complaints of sexual harassment, not even back then in the 2000s. If youâre new to the concept, it can be helpful to read these lists; learning how differently people of color experience the same contexts can indeed make our privilege more obvious. Posts. I’d read about Emmet Till and America’s long and terrifying history of lynching. We are not going to retreat into white supremacist systems that engineer our ease. I am now the founder and CEO of Excelous, a 10 year old Management & IT Consulting Firm. Welcome, I’m Karen a holistic therapist, intuitive,healing expert. Letâs say it together: I am Karen. Angela Wright. Karen gets Black men murdered.  The archetype provides a welcome, grimly comic outlet on Black social media; itâs part of a long history of using language and humor for psychological survival.  And the archetype is effective beyond those purposes, as well: the public shaming of this venomous behavior works because the ridicule gets attention.Â. by Karene Horst, contributing editor – My parents named me Karen. I can already see the emojis and tweets responding to my Karenesque whining: You bitches had your turn with #MeToo and they slammed Harvey Weinstein in prison. And speak. 550k Followers, 1,018 Following, 571 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from | 楊蓓欣 (@iamkareno) But awareness is just a start. But of course I could not. By showing up, I do not mean you have to have all the solutions. No power relationship threatening my job security here; he had absolutely no authority over me and if he screwed up my orders the boss would take him down. As a little girl I grew to expect mean taunts, punched arms and pulled ponytails from boys. Ask yourself, do I need to speak, or to shut up and listen? Donât let Karen tell you itâs hopeless; when it comes to systemic racism, we are the manager. Attendance at this meeting does not get anyone out of that work. I thought I’d gained a sympathetic ear from one boyfriend, then he executed another version of virtually the same sort of shit. I frequently ask to speak to managers and write strongly worded letters. For upsetting a white woman. Youâre probably Karen, too. I never reported any of them. We are ashamed of Karen. Karen meme by Karene Horst. Equally, it is easy for us to go to an anti-racism workshop and let the strategies we hear validate our current practices. What power do I have in this space? We have a lot invested in seeing the way things are as normal and right. Notes on power, shame, and the internal work of anti-racism for my fellow white women. Lately, I am hearing a certain note of frustration and helplessness among many white women friends. I had my “gethers together” as one of my past dementia patients would have phrased it. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. *a word from the editors: In order to avoid offending our gentle readers, please note that the the use of the adjective “doltish” (definition: dull, stupid, idiotic, moronic, foolish, ignorant, simple) does in no way suggest that ALL men of color are doltish, the word “doltish” only describes a specific individual, who just so happens to also be a Black man. Because Karen is a part of us that needs to grow and change, it helps to make our relationship with her conscious and verbalized. I didn’t always speak up when I felt threatened, disrespected, or attacked. It is comfortable for us to see our schools and neighborhoods and workplaces as natural and correct the way they are, rather than to read history and see the constructed reality that systematically benefits us and oppresses others. I wonder if, instead, we might both see Karenâs behavior and also own it in ourselves? That is my name. We are Karen. Commentary, Featured content, Front page You are capable of more than you know, our bodies are always communicating to us if we stop and listen. Here, on the couch, after the march, we can claim our Karen-ness. 7. Sheâs coming with us. Welcome, I am Karen Allan, holistic therapist, intuitive and healing expert. I am a Karen. There are hundreds of lists and articles about white privilege. What sort of world do you want to live in? Enter your email address to receive notifications of new GonzoToday.com posts by email. They have made the street completely unlivable for the last two weeks. Posted by 20 days ago. That ridicule is not for our entertainment.  It should make us uncomfortable. Annie Blais, Ph.D., is a teacher, scholar, mom, partner, and neighbor, living and writing in Michigan. Until you deal with her, she will stand in between you and others whom you want to be shoulder to shoulder with. Including us. Jan 22, 2021. Keep up the work! 11 comments. Nah. I tried to signal that by using “we.” Maybe that did not come across clearly! The latest Karen video comes from Houma, Louisiana where a drunk woman lost her mind when she was refused entry at a local bar. Maybe Buzzfeed would publish this piece, if I did: maybe some nice clean boxes we white girls could check off one by one until weâre not racist anymore. Itâs a diminishment — an impoverished, earthly sort of grasping for material advantage. * Everyone is welcome. We may feel bad for others who donât have what we have but, you know, generally it all works for us. I am that white woman. But you can decide: do want to make decisions based on those fears? Always helpful to get feedback and I appreciate you taking the time. I AM GOLDEN KAREN is a coming-of-age story of Thawaa, a Karen refugee in search of his identity as a migrant in Thailand. Good work Annie. We like being able to get an apartment anywhere, and to count on there being clean water. But letâs pause, again:  how are we white women consuming those Karen memes? It is painful to be increasingly aware of how we hurt people all the time. We want to get as far from it as possible. It works for us. This work is not linear and its effectiveness is uncertain. You can bet your ass I demand to speak with the manager. For making a white woman feel nervous or afraid. Nope. For example — I have done many of the things in this list, but not all — and yet, as a white teacher, I need to be aware that this list may describe the classroom experiences of many of my students of color. But embarrassment wonât kill you. As a fourth-grader, Karene Horst decided she wanted to be a writer when she grew up, and it's been downhill ever since. It worked. America is great. I was born in Hong Kong and raised in … Thank you for such a thoughtful and compelling article. With appreciation…. Karen is comfortable. There are many opportunities to do this work: Karen will be back, again and again, in the news and in ourselves. Men yelling obscene demands through their car windows while they passed me at the bus stop; one trying to drag me into his car as I walked down a dark suburban street. Kahron Spearman. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. So this construction company is doing sewer line work on my street. Plot Summary | Add Synopsis Iâm a white, upper middle class, highly educated, Obama-voting, liberal donating, Midwest-suburb-living, protest-marching, manager calling, minivan driving white mom and educator. It doesnât matter how âwokeâ we are. * When my eyes rarely met his, I just sneered. Keep on listening and showing up with your messy self. 6 talking about this. If our families are white, too, we like not worrying when our family members go out for a jog. At that point the abuse just took a sexual turn. You will need to listen to her fears. Pay attention to when Karen is comfortable: it deserves critical analysis. So I let him off the hook. We like it that our tears make people nicer to us. Donât look away. The thought of accusing him, even to just my employer, horrified me. Always. I routinely phone the garbage guys and demand they fine the property owners as a public nuisance. Then the acceptance. I Am Karen. Itâs your racism. If weâre not talking about power, weâre not being honest. Eyes locked on mine, he’d lick his lips and rock his pelvis when he knew no one was looking. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Regular people changing who we listen to, how we see the world, and how we speak is more powerful than we may realize. So when we feel discomfort â or are too comfortable â pay attention. Hope you and yours are well. ARE YOU A KAREN QUIZ. 5 out of 5 stars. Keep in mind, this work does not make you a hero or automatically welcome in multiracial spaces, either. Karen Francis . Karen is still there, but what kind of person do you wish to be? We Karens like the way things are. Thatâs why I wrote as âweâ. Are you a karen. D) Something else. After a woman was denied entry at a bar in Houma, Louisiana, she drunkenly began running into and licking the glass door, earning her the moniker of “Zombie Karen.”. In my field, weâve had generations of new teachers unpacking the white knapsack and reading about teaching for âliberation.â And yet, racism and its effects persist. Be ready to go deep, push aside those tears, and get to doing the work! Or what tone we choose when we engage families. And donât lash out at people who are telling you that you messed up. I wish I had a magical numbered list to bring to this meeting. My intention in that paragraph was to describe the things that collectively many of us white teachers do. Am I a “Karen”? You donât have to act on them, but canceling them doesnât work. We have to acknowledge our power: not just the ways we benefit passively or âinvisiblyâ from systemic racism, but also the ways we actively use that power to protect our comfort in public and private spaces. We can use the power we have to try to dismantle the power we have. Because no one ever gives up power willingly. She is beautiful, she is full of hope and opportunity. Racism is not a good look. Who speaks? It comes from the structures outside you, but it lives in your language and your responses and now itâs yours. Letter: I am a Karen. Thatâs a phrase Iâm glad that Iâm hearing a lot, these days. Certainly, poet Audre Lorde may be right that it is not possible to dismantle the masterâs house with the masterâs tools. We want to be liked. Letâs start with saying this: I am Karen. Karen Mitchell Jul 13, 2020. Or what it means when someone doesnât turn in the homework. But challenging oppressive systems that live inside ourselves can help us to see and begin to dismantle those systems in the world around us â in healthcare, schooling, housing, criminal justice. Whose voice have we not heard? I go by Karene in print because there’s a ton of Karen Horsts on the internet. Feeling stupid for putting myself into a vulnerable situation. Is it enough? I am a black male high school teacher. Political and economic systems derive their power from culture â from what regular people decide is acceptable and what is not. I’ve had it. B) A gas-guzzling SUV, driven 5 under the speed limit. I was no longer some scared little girl. IRL. In my experience, a Karenâs power centers around the power to be comfortable â to have the world serve our convenience. Maybe we even extend our arms further to write or share a post or hoist a sign that shows how virtuous or anti-racist we are (like Iâm doing now). share. Thanks Charles! Initially I reacted as I always had: the frightened rabbit skittering back to her hole. I’d been asking for it. Or whose families we feel comfortable calling when a studentâs work slips or they miss class. Perhaps, think about her as you would an aspect of yourself who is very much in need of correction. By Danny M. Lavery. I want to step away from things that make me uncomfortable. Still, my inner child is a Karen. Even if we donât engage in overtly discriminatory practices, we may make toxic assumptions about studentsâ capacities or interests. Anyone who shares their anger or pain with you is giving you a gift; believe me, most of the time you hurt someone, you wonât get to hear anything about it. $1* for 6 mos.! Are they based in reality? Instead of distancing ourselves, we have to do some harder work. Say it with me. And your point it is …? Iâm definitely Karen. EDITOR`S SPECIAL 3.0. A boy one year older than me raped me when I was 11. We support the gatekeeping practices that keep students of color from trying harder classes because we donât want to âwater downâ the curriculum. We are comfortable teaching the things and the methods we learned, in school. Feb 8, 2021, 11:11 am*. We like being able to count on people letting us bend or break the rules. You can choose instead to act in alignment with your values. I don't really care. We like being able to count on the police. Karens rock! Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Pro tip: please donât ask friends of color to make you feel better about any of this. This is not an exercise in tolerating her behavior or her responses; this requires that tough kind of compassion at the core of real teaching. 16.7k Followers, 1,811 Following, 335 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Karen Alexander (@iamkarenalexander) Let go of the need to be at the center. You have to own your Karen. If you have a high score then you are a karen if you have a low score then you are chill. This meeting is about getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. is an interactive live conversation and interruption practice where you will learn from other white women how and when to interrupt anti-Blackness when it happens. Pay special attention when Karen is uncomfortable: thatâs where the learning is. From now on, I will always be a Karen.
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