Source: ROBYN BECK / Getty
Here’s the thing: White women complain about being called Karens—as if they’re the new victims of racial injustice—but they really don’t understand what it’s like to constantly be a target for racial profiling and to never know which mundane activity they’ll be engaging in when it happens next. We can’t work. We can’t do enjoyable activities. We can’t have parties. We can’t perform public services. Our children can’t play in the streets or water plants. We often can’t even shop in stores without some white person minding our business, harassing us, asserting authority they don’t have or assuming on sight that we’re criminals. The “Karen” media phenomenon of the last handful of years is nothing to white women compared to how generations of the “Karen” reality have affected Black people.
In other words, white women complaining about the so-called “slur” can cry me a Karen river.
MORE: Video: Karen Calls Police After Catching Beat Down Over Racial Slurs And Attack On Black Women
Anyway, here’s a video of a Walmart Karen accusing Black customers of not having any money to buy anything while also accusing them of being drug dealers. A Klearly Konfused Karen, if you will.
The video begins with the white woman Walmart employee arguing with a group of Black people, one of whom threatened to report her to corporate. (Imagine being such an unhinged Karen that Black people are demanding to speak to your manager.)
“You turn me into corporate,” she challenged the men after making a point to give the person holding the camera a close-up of her name tag.
Then the Karen, identified as “Mary” in the video, puts her hands on her hips and starts spasming in a way that almost looks like she was trying to roll her neck in an attempt to mock Black women while telling the customers, “Unless you spending money, we don’t need customers.” (Seriously, she almost sounded like she was trying to fake a blaccent while doing her best impression of what white people think Black people’s attitudes are like.
“Oh, I’m not spending money because I’m Black?” a man responded.
Karen started to Karen-splain that she had already had to chase other people out of the store because they thought it “was a playground.” One of the Black men responded by asking what they had done to treat Walmart like a playground, and A Karen Called Mary appeared to ignore the inquiry and continue insinuating that the Black customers have no money.
Also—I’m not trying to be classist here—but if you’re an employee at Walmart, maybe you’re not in a position to be pointing at random Black people and calling them broke. In fact, one of the men in the group said as much.
At one point, Karen turned to her manager, another white woman, and demanded that she have her back. The manager was basically like, “Nah,” and reprimanded the employee instead. (Imagine being such and unhinged Karen that when you demand to speak to your own manager the manager also pretty much calls you a Karen.)
“I will not have him treating me like that. If you don’t stand up, you have superiors to answer to,” Miss Mary-Karen shouted at the manager. “Now take care of him!”
As she stormed off, one of the Black men shouted, “No, I’m the customer. You’re the worker. I got money— more money than you make,” to which Karen responded by implying that they had “drug money.”
Karen told her manager the whole confrontation began when she asked the group if she could help them find anything and they were rude in response. The Black customers disputed the claim and said she spoke to them in a rude turn and they just returned the same energy. Again, Black people know this experience all too well. We know there are different ways a store employee can ask, “Can I help you find anything.” There’s a way to ask the question politely that would have no one suspecting that you’re asking it for any other reason besides to provide good customer service. Then there’s the way white employees often have of asking the question, which denotes that they’re trying to accuse them of shoplifting without accusing them of shoplifting.
And before anyone accuses me of playing the infamous “race card,” I would remind you that Karen assumed these Black customers had no money, and upon being informed that they did, in fact, have money, she assumed they were drug dealers.
Either way, Karen’s manager was not on her side, which made that old white woman hopping mad.
“You will answer to this,” she shouted at the manager after returning with her camera out to record footage of her own, which is a strange thing delusional Karens do when their caucasity blinds them to the fact that they’re the only ones in the wrong.
During the video, one of the men can be heard asking if the employee will be fired. That question doesn’t get answered but the manager can be heard telling Mary to “walk away” and then following her to give her a good scolding as she finally does.
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