“Karen” behavior is being called out again on social media. The latest incident involves a white woman who was caught on camera allegedly attempting to steal a rentable Citi Bike from a young Black man in New York City.
The woman appeared to be an employee of NYC Health + Hospitals based on the embroidered health system’s logo observed on her scrubs. “Help! Help me! Please, help me” screamed the woman to grab the attention of passersby who would see her in perceived despair.
The bike had apparently already been paid for by the young man, who continued to hold on to a portion of the handlebars. All the while, the woman continued to attempt to straddle the bike and draw attention to the chaotic encounter. “You’re hurting my fetus,” she quipped before fake crying to drum up sympathy from the crowd of onlookers who had begun to surround her. As noted by the person recording the ordeal, she never actually shed a tear.
When a white male dressed in similar scrubs suggested that she be allowed to take the bike, the young man explained that it was already associated with his account. It was not until the man said she should take another available bike that she finally calmed down and began to set up the nearby bike for use.
Across the social platform, people called out “Karen” for crying wolf during an incident that could have ended tragically for the group. “I keep coming back to this, and I am so irritated. The same type of bulls**t is how Carolyn Bryant got Emmett Till killed. It’s how white women have facilitated the deaths of Black men for centuries,” wrote one person.
Another commented, “That white man told the Black kid to just give up the bike he paid for to that white woman because she felt entitled to it. That’s the sort of perspective that white [people], if they heard it from anyone else’s lips, would call extremely un-American.”
And a third tweeted, “This is horrific behavior that could have got these guys arrested, assaulted, or worse. White women’s tears (although there didn’t actually seem to be any tears) are dangerous.”
The full encounter is below.