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A woman from Houston, TX, was called a "Karen" for calling the cops on a Black census worker who was minding his own business but was apparently too close for her comfort.
When he asked if the reason why she was calling the police was because he was Black, the woman replied:
"No, because you're in front of my neighbor's house, and you need to leave."
The encounter was caught on video and posted to the F*ckYouKaren subReddit—where people share videos and incidents of interactions with privileged White women dubbed "Karens." Karens often resort to calling the police when they feel threatened by the existence of people of color or in any way inconvenienced.
As he continued to film her, he continued asking why it was necessary for him to leave, she said:
"Because you don't have a reason to be here."
The census worker quipped back:
"Do you know? Who are you? Karen? Is your name Karen?"
He told her as she appeared to be dialing for help on her cellphone:
"Go ahead, call the cops. I'll wait for the cops, actually. Just 'cause I'm Black and I ain't bothering you, you think I'm a threat. 'Cause if I was White, you probably wouldn't call the cops."
When she presumably connected with an operator, the census worker even volunteered a humble description of himself and said:
"I'm a Black male, 5 foot 7, heavyset, brown eyes, if you need a description."
When the woman told the operator that the man who was bothering her looked to be around 45 - 50 years of age, he corrected her and said, "No, I'm 37," before continuing to describe what he was wearing.
She maintained that the man was approaching her, but it is evident in the video that he is mostly stationary at a reasonable enough distance.
The woman told the operator:
"He's trying to be obnoxious. He's talking towards me. He's definitely trying to make an issue."
After ending the phone call and authorities were allegedly on their way, she told him once more:
"You don't need to be here."
The census worker said in response:
"You don't need to be here. Matter of fact, if your ancestors didn't bring my ancestors over here, I wouldn't be here. Blame your ancestors."
Redditors could not understand why similar racially-motivated incidences like this continue.
"I just don't understand how these women exist. They're clearly broken and permanently damaged."
"Did you ask her who hurt her?" – RedFlag5000
"As a person from Texas, I don't understand where these people have been hiding. I have never witnessed anything like this before and now it's become a common occurrence."
"I mean I have to wonder if these people were like closet racists and Trump just gave them the okay to come out into the open." – ne0ndistraction
"Just imagine the person taking her EMERGENCY CALL and they get a description of a black man standing on the sidewalk and 'approaching' her."
"She should be arrested wasting the time of emergency responders. No weapon. No inappropriate behavior. No threats. Absolutely ridiculous." – jennana100
"I cannot get over these people thinking that they're the street police whenever they see a black person." – Jijibaby
Because it took too long for the police to arrive, the census worker himself called the police, who eventually arrived two hours later.
They told him they responded to his call and confirmed that the woman he mentioned never did call the police.
Here is the second video that was posted to Instagram.
One of the responding officers in the video informed him that what happened was not grounds for harassment because "no crime was committed" and because she never called the police.
The census worker said the only reason why he waited so long for the police to arrive was to show the woman that she needed to mind her own business, just as he was doing when she first noticed him.
While the officers were never able to get the woman to come out of her home, they did mention after speaking with a neighbor that the woman has "psychiatric problems" and that she is always "paranoid."