A woman from Montclair, New Jersey, was caught on video calling the police on a pair of Black lawyers minding their own business in their own yard.
The woman, identified as "Susan" in the video, approaches the homeowners and demanded they show her their permit to build a patio on their property (it turns out they didn't need one).
When the Black homeowners refused to do what she wanted, Susan called the police and claimed she'd been physically assaulted.
You can watch the video here:
One of the homeowners, Fareed Nassor Hayat, said this "Karen" works for the Environmental Protection Agency.
He also wrote online:
"She invoked centuries of brutality in her call to the police and sought to put her black neighbors back in their place. But to her surprise, her efforts were met by two proudly black human beings, parents, lawyers, law professors, activist, community members, neighbors and fighters, who refused to submit."
Hayat also thanked his White neighbors for standing up to the neighbor's blatant racism.
"Their efforts were antiracist ideology at work. Each neighbor declared to her and the police that she summoned, that she was a lie and no such assault occurred. She left our home rejected and unfulfilled, yet still empowered to do future harm."
Many protests were quickly organized in the neighborhood of the video, though Susan did not show her face again.
The incident encouraged many in Montclair to closer examine their lifestyles and how the community may contribute to systemic racism.
The entire country has been experiencing a racial reckoning as communities come to terms with the ways minorities continue to be oppressed.
In the meantime, Twitter made sure this "Karen" was denounced for her racist behavior.
The world is rapidly moving forward and those who are willing to weaponize systemic racism for their own convenience are finding no place in it.
