The Karen that needs to get off this page

Dear “Karen” (or any other Karen who even thinks about comments on this page), 

We’re here to address the racist behavior of a Karen* on our Instagram account and make it clear that:

1. This space is dedicated solely to giving visibility and affirmation to the spectrum of racist experiences BIPOC face in a system of white supremacy. 
2. We do not tolerate behavior that is racist, sexist, ablest, anti-Indigenous, anti-immigrant, homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic or incites any sort of hatred or violence. We will report and block you.
3. There is no room to “play devil’s advocate” here. 

*This Karen has been blocked from our account. 

We found this incident to have the following “Karen-like” (white normative, white-centric, white supremacist) characteristics:

• Gaslighting a person of color, whom you’ve never met, over social media (and on a platform that is addressing the very racist behavior you are exhibiting – oh, the irony)
• Gross sense of entitlement in your ability to “privsplain” (new vocab credit: @schhopogo) the experiences of BIPOC 
• Perpetuating the historic and chronic American strategy of turning to violence and oppression instead of listening to and respecting BIPOC 
• Ignoring any information that does not suit your agenda (in this case, choosing to side-step the fact that there had been a “history of condescending behavior”)
• Worship of the written word (in this case – City Zoning – which, as addressed in the original post, is another enduring way that Black, Indigenous and other people of color have been lied to, denied full citizenship, segregated, contained, and suppressed from economic mobility over hundreds of years)
• Centering own thoughts, feelings, and experiences; obsession with being understood rather than listening, learning or growing
• Overwhelming defensiveness 
• Making blatant, false statements (i.e. “I absolutely hear you 100%” & “totally hear you”)

If you’re a white person who has chosen to follow our account, your role is to:

• Support the BIPOC-owned accounts mentioned in our feed and stories 
• Listen.

That’s it.