A Notice to Workplace Karens
Change is here.
The tension in the room rose quickly.
I was meeting with a new colleague. She is a white woman new to the organization; I’m a black woman attempting to share my knowledge of the organization and help get her up to speed. Immediately, we struggled to connect. She would ask a question, I would answer the question, and she quickly responded by questioning my competence. Well, this process makes no sense, and I can do it better than you. She was working overtime to position herself as a knowledgeable asset but lacking organizational context; she leaned into being condescending and belittling. I was astounded when she, without irony, lectured me about the DC metro system. At the time, she had lived in the city for less than a month. The lecture was not surprising; I’m a black woman; too many of the people I interact with assume my IQ and shoe size are the same. However, I took note when my sarcastic quip, “wow, I’ve lived in DC for many years, but you have so much more to teach me about the metro system,” flew over her head. I don’t mean she ignored me. I mean, she was incapable of seeing her condescending behavior or my frustrated reaction. At that moment, I knew I was in the presence of a workplace, Karen.
We struggled through the conversation, but when she started making Holocaust jokes, the meeting took a turn for the worst, and I deliberately broke the social construct of white supremacy structures: I, a Black woman, was disobedient. Her facade instantly slipped when I refused to let her interrupt and dismiss me. The only thing a Workplace Karen hates more than poor customer service is a non-compliant black person. The moment she realized my defiance, the tension in the room became palpable as we stared each other down. The anger in her eyes was unmistakable, and I’m sure my own defiant glare conveyed my own contempt. Without saying a word, we both understood the dynamic at play.
When social media exploded with the video of Christian Cooper being attacked by Amy Cooper (no relation) in Central Park, I immediately thought of my Workplace Karen. When Central Park Karen chillingly looked directly at him and said, “I’ll call the police and tell them an African American man is threatening me and my dog,” suddenly, a simple exchange between a Karen and BIPOC escalated into a fraught interaction. Central Park Karen laid bare (on video) what so many BIPOC have known all along: whites in our society are not only keenly aware of structural racism, they intentionally weaponize it at the drop of a hat.
Central Park Karen didn’t call 911 because she was scared. She called because she was angry. She was upset a black man attempted to hold her responsible for her actions; a black man challenged her belief the laws didn’t apply to her. Most importantly, a black man wasn’t deferential to her societal power. She wanted him lynched for this transgression. With cunning calculation, she employed her faux screams and faux panic to elicit a swift and violent response from NYPD. It was a stunning display of weaponized white womanhood.
Shortly after my tense meeting with Workplace Karen, I was unsurprised when a colleague informed me Workplace Karen was openly sabotaging my reputation with leadership. She made the same calculation as Central Park Karen; she weaponized her position in our racial caste system to make unfounded claims to punish me. Workplace Karen didn’t begin a campaign to discredit me because of my performance but because I broke rank and asserted myself. I wonder what Workplace Karen used to elicit a response from leadership regarding my performance. I bet unlike Central Park Karen, Workplace Karen’s voice was calm and serious as she shared her “legitimate” concerns regarding my performance with colleagues. If she chose this path, she then tapped into the same reservoir as Central Park Karen and modulated her tone to project innocence and victimhood. The right tone coupled with her whiteness, would be construed as authentic rather than nefarious.
Black Twitter reacted strongly to the video because she instantly reminded many of us of the abusive women we’ve endured during our careers. Women like Central Park Karen and Workplace Karen are in offices, deciding who should get hired and fired, deciding raises and promotions, and deciding which staffers get favorable exposure to leadership. Karens are always given the benefit of the doubt, and their daily microaggressions go unchallenged. They subject colleagues to humiliations and aggressive racism with impunity. Leadership treats these women as innocuous and above reproach. While black women are viewed as work mules incapable of strategic thinking or leadership, this behavior is driving black women out of corporate America. They leave in search of opportunity and respect.
An inconvenient truth is white women are mindful of the power they wield within the corrosive white supremacy power structure, and the only way to cultivate balance in workspaces is to dismantle white supremacy throughout public and private institutions. Organizational leaders will be asked to permanently end the white silence and white solidarity that absolves Workplace Karens of any accountability of their abusive behavior. Now is the time for organizations to root out these bad actors. Organizations that accept this new reality will be leaders. Workplace Karens who cling to the old ways will find themselves increasingly frustrated with black and brown colleagues who are no longer deferential. Speaking for myself, I will not be tolerating hostile environments, microaggressions, career sabotage, or gaslighting, and I know I’m not alone. I’ll be more vocal in meetings, I will be more vocal to leadership and HR, and I will continue to be vocal in support of my fellow BIPOCs. Change is here. Workplace Karens are on notice.
A quick note:
On my worst days of withstanding the abuse from Workplace Karens, I often find myself reading this quote from James Baldwin I hope it helps you: “Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure does not testify to your inferiority but to their inhumanity.”
