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Think those Karen and Kevin videos work because they give white America a chance to see the terrorism that is inflicted on black and minority people? Well, here's why I think they don't work.
A thread:
A thread:
I’m obsessed w/Karen videos-like the rest of internet. I watch wypipo call the police on PoC for doing things like existing in nonwhite skin while screaming about their own rights being taken away b/c of masks. So as a country are we starting to understand systemic racism?
Naw
Naw
So, here is why I believe Karen videos don’t work in the way we hope they do: Wypipo are invested in white supremacy. So at every opportunity, they deny that racism is in fact racism. When racism is apparent, they dismiss it as a single incident that does not represent the whole.
This maintains the illusion that in fact Karenism (i.e. white supremacy) isn’t the problem, but instead it’s one individual being racist and not the system that enables them.
Consider for example: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CCv8-IBFJC3/?igshid=182xlbebmuq4h
Consider for example: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CCv8-IBFJC3/?igshid=182xlbebmuq4h
The comments on the post condemn the black man for being mean to the poor old lady. They claim that he is out for “clout” and that he is the instigator. Let’s for a moment, however, think about what happens in the video.
The white woman admits she yells “Is there something I can do to help you” because the black man looks at her. Then she asks him if he likes her car, as if he’s scoping it out to rob her. She is the aggressor. Yet all certain groups see is a mean black man harassing a whitewoman.
Why, then, is the white woman given the benefit of the doubt, but the black man is not?
I’ll answer that for you, white supremacy.
I’ll answer that for you, white supremacy.
Video evidence shows that white women all over the country are toxic for black & minority ppl & in the video she admits she confronts him for “looking at” her. Do the hundreds of videos within the last few months not speak to how oppressive this group can be to others?
Does this not then also provide evidence that they have been conditioned to behave this way and that it is accepted by authority figures? After all, a Karen is less likely to be arrested for Karening, than a black man is for buying a bike for his son.
But they are "hot, beautiful, white" and definitely not afraid of the cops. And why should they be? There is a long history of white women (and men) using their whiteness against other groups, particularly Black people. Emmett Till.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBZAlumFRrL/?igshid=1icic802fn03j
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBZAlumFRrL/?igshid=1icic802fn03j
Instead the conversation becomes about internet mob lynching of white people or the terrible "cancel culture."
Who has a history in this country of being lynched and by whom?
No, this is a deliberate reframing of the language and deflection to protect white supremacy.
Who has a history in this country of being lynched and by whom?
No, this is a deliberate reframing of the language and deflection to protect white supremacy.
Holders of white supremacy always need proof. The proof cannot come from the black or minority person. The proof must be on camera, and it must be overt racism—i.e. calling someone a racial slur. It does not matter that there are hundreds of examples of this behavior happening.
Karen deniers are unwilling to make connections, apply logic or even put the vast number of videos occurring everyday into context. The point, tho they may not even realize it, is to protect white supremacy.
To put all of the videos, evidence & lived experiences of PoC into context is to admit that white supremacy is a functioning part of society. That it's systemic and must be dismantled. White supremacy cannot admit it exists, despite mounts of evidence, because it would crumble.
This is getting long, because white supremacy through Karen and Kevin has a long history.
White supremacy gaslights. It denies. It changes the goalpost. It does whatever it can to protect itself.
Karen exist as a perceptual victim--she supports white supremacy and is supported by it.
Karen exist as a perceptual victim--she supports white supremacy and is supported by it.
But please continue enjoying Karen videos. Enjoy the comeuppance. I do. But remember, the system that Karen videos expose isn't equally being dismantled.
Just a bit of context. There's still work to do.
Just a bit of context. There's still work to do.
*Sorry for the typos. Thinking through this and my brain is moving faster than my fingers.
