Who is "Karen" and Why Does She Keep Calling the Police on Black Men?

'A meme about a white woman who "wants to speak to the manager," "Karens" have been experiencing a resurgence in pandemic times: she's refusing to wear a mask. Refusing to socially distance. And, in this case, refusing to leash her dog and then calling in the power of the state on a fellow New Yorker. And "Karen" is not alone. Before her, we had BBQBecky, PermitPatty, Golfcart Gail: a slew of White people, often White women, calling the police on Black people, often Black men, for the offense of "living while Black." Apryl Williams is a communications and media professor at the University of Michigan and a research fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, where she's been researching the BBQBecky phenomenon. She explains  how these memes have shed a powerful light on a social dynamic that has dangerous implications for Black people's lives.' -- On the Media