It puts a name to the behavior and acts as a way to gain solidarity over an injustice, maybe laugh about it and go about your day.įor the term “Karen,” part of its appeal is that this name exists, for the most part, in antiquity. Names like Karen, or Becky? It’s an act of resistance by Black folks, Brock said. In other words? It’s about a desire by some white women to exert control over black folks – just as it was during slave times, just as it was in 1992 and just as it persists today, he said. “And the desire to control what’s in the gaze.” “It’s always about the gaze,” Brock explained. In 2020, when Amy Cooper called the police on a black man in Central Park who asked her to put her dog on a leash, the phrase “Karen” abounded on social media. In 2018, after a white woman called the police on a group of Black folks barbecuing in a public park, the term “BBQ Becky” was coined. The pattern of using these basic names has continued.

So though the names have changed now – we’ve largely replaced “Miss Ann” with “Becky” and “Karen” – the idea behind the names is still the same. It was a name Black slaves would use specifically to refer to white women who wanted to exert power over them – power that they didn’t actually have, Brock said. Miss Ann is one example, from the time of slavery. Black folks, he said, have also had names for white people who wanted to be in charge but didn’t actually have any control over them. She looks like one of those rap guys’ girlfriends.”Īnd who could forget Beyoncé’s iconic “You better call Becky with the good hair” line from her album “Lemonade” in 2016?īut the history goes back even further. The intro to the song famously begins with a reference to an unknown “Becky,” insulting an unnamed Black woman: “Oh, my God, Becky, look at her butt. Even comedian Dane Cook, in a bit from 2005, used “Karen” as the butt of a joke, as a placeholder for the friend no one actually liked.Īndré Brock, a professor at Georgia Tech, studies race and the internet, and has also done significant research on Black Twitter.īrock also referenced Sir Mix-A-Lot’s hit song from 1992, “Baby Got Back” as an example. Modern iterations of these names come from entertainment, he said. And Chad.Īndré Brock is an associate professor at Georgia Tech, and he’s spent years studying the intersections of race and digital culture. There are also names like “Becky,” which has also come to symbolize a certain stereotype of whiteness. Though these names have recently become popularized, thanks to the cultural force of Black Twitter, these names aren’t anything new.

Others say it’s a placeholder for speaking about the casual racism and privilege exhibited by some white women.īut where do these terms come from, and what do they represent? And what does it mean for people of color, people like Sun, who find themselves sharing a name with this stereotype? It’s also someone who calls the police on black people for, say, asking that they leash their dog in Central Park.

Who asks to speak to the manager over the slightest inconvenience. A “Karen” is generally defined as someone who throws a tantrum at a Starbucks. Karen Sun is a far cry from the “Karen” meme that has spread widely over social media in recent years.Īside from a shared first name, Sun – a 23-year-old Chinese-American – doesn’t exactly match the stereotype of a middle-aged, middle class white woman who, to use Sun’s words, acts like she “can get whatever she wants.”īut Sun, who has spent years working in the fast food industry, has encountered their fair share of “Karens.”Īnd many have.

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