If there is one indisputable truth when it comes to feminism it is this: Regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality or socioeconomic status, within each of these spheres women are seen as second class to men of their same group.
In 2016, I like many other women, was horrified that Trump had been elected. A white woman named Bob Bland spread the idea of The 2017 Women's March to protest not only Trump's election, but what it would mean for women's reproductive rights if Trump made more Supreme Court appointments.
Shortly after, people became angry that women of color were not also leaders and organizers of this protest. To ensure that the march was led by women of differing races and backgrounds, Vanessa Wruble, co-founder, and co-president of Okayafrica, served as Head of Campaign Operations and brought on Tamika D. Mallory, Carmen Perez and Linda Sarsour to serve as National Co-Chairs alongside Bland. Former Miss New Jersey USA Janaye Ingram served as Head of Logistics. Filmmaker Paola Mendoza served as Artistic Director and a National Organizer.
What happened next? Some people became angry at the "pussy hat" idea and started complaining that women's reproductive rights should not be centered in the march because "not all women had uteruses." All of a sudden wearing hijab became a feminist choice, and Louis Farrakhan was called the GOAT by Tamika Mallory. Serious infighting and accusations of antisemitism and more hit the major media.
The march became so "inclusive" that it was viewed as ridiculous and hypocritical. It lost it's teeth and became the butt of jokes rather than a powerful show of women's anger.
In more recent years "Karen" has been used as a pejorative term to describe any woman of a certain age who speaks up about something. We are told this term originated on Black Twitter as a way to describe middle aged white women who give black people in customer service roles a difficult time. One must ask, does "Karen" only complain to/about the black customer service workers? Or are white workers also subject to her ire? In any case the black community coined the name and now here we are, all of us Karens, regardless of color for daring to speak our minds about almost anything.
We are told that "Karen" is responsible for much of the racism against black people in the US. She need only snap her fingers or shed a few tears and hordes of her menfolk appear to kill and maim. Is this really true?
Here are the leading causes of death of black males: https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/lcod/men/2017/nonhispanic-black/index.htm
5% of all deaths of black males in the US are caused by homicide.
Who is killing them: https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded-homicide/expanded_homicide_data_table_6_murder_race_and_sex_of_vicitm_by_race_and_sex_of_offender_2013.xls
By a very large margin it's other black men.
This is not to say racism is not a real and very serious problem in this country. What I am saying is that middle aged white women are not the catalyst, not by a long shot. In fact the largest danger to black women is black men - not Karen, or any other white woman.
I would posit that the vast majority of liberal, college educated white women have bent over backwards and tied themselves in knots to be intersectional and inclusive. They have self flagellated over their whiteness and privilege to their own detriment for at least two decades if not much longer. We can see examples of this cowering obsequiousness all over the internet in multiple spheres. They want to be good girls and get the proverbial pat on the head for being an ally while obediently admitting to the internalized racism they are told they have. And still they are blamed for violence against MOC and election losses. Who knew soccer moms had so much sinister influence?
Has any one movement handled itself perfectly when it comes to race and class? No.
However, middle class white women, more than any other group I can think of, have made every effort within their power to rectify the sins of the past and try to do right. Now we are being told to sit down and shut up because we are Karens. When we do keep quiet and cede the floor to other voices we are told that our silence means we don't care. I'm not going to blame all black women for this because, just like white women, they are not a monolith and not responsible for what anyone of their same color and sex chooses to say or do.
At the end of the day as women, no man, not even one of your own community, will hold you in higher esteem than another man. You will always be not quite human in his eyes. This is why women need to align with one another first and always. If we could do that we could enact major change based on our numbers alone. But sadly that does not seem to be in the cards.
there doesn't seem to be anything here