Terrell Owens finds out the hard way that white women have perfected weaponizing their tears against Black men
OPINION: Every time you don’t respond to a Karen in the way she sees fit, the likelihood of the cops being called increases 100 percent.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Who was the first white woman to lie on a Black man? Who was the first white woman to use her tears to try and get a Black man in trouble, or worse—killed? Who was the first white woman who realized if she put out her best crocodile tears, it could gain her the results she was looking for?
Whoever she was, I hope she is rotting in the depths of hell for setting this tradition in motion. Whoever she is, her legacy has lasted through slavery, Jim Crow, the civil rights movement and the entirety of the 20th century, and it is well on its way to burning through the 21st century.
The white damsel in distress and the weaponization of white women’s tears has been written about over and over and over again. Emmett Till was murdered because of a white woman’s lies and tears—lies that the woman in question, Carolyn Bryant, has since admitted to (why has she not been arrested and charged?!). It is a sentient trope that is likely never going away as long as white supremacy rules the land.
The latest person to experience this is none other than former NFL player Terrell Owens.
Owens was driving to the mailbox in his Deerfield Beach, Fla., neighborhood when his white woman neighbor, who was on a bike, accused him of speeding and “almost hitting” her with his car. When Owens parked his car and got out to discuss the issue, the woman immediately switched into white-lady-victim mode and called the police.
Owens went live on his Instagram account to record the incident. In the video, the woman can be heard talking to police through her “tears,” saying she was scared because Owens was “a Black man coming towards a white woman,” and honestly that was all I needed to hear to know what her motivation was.
There is a certain type of white woman that likes to police the behavior of Black people, whether they are doing anything wrong or not. It’s like they cannot stop themselves from commenting on things that do not concern them. Then, if the Black person in the scenario dares to call them out on it or even speak up for themselves, the white woman immediately becomes the victim in some weirdo “throw a rock/hide your hand” type of scenario.
In his video, Owens mentions that prior to police arriving, the woman was chastising him and telling him how everyone in their Home Owners’ Association talks about him and how he allegedly doesn’t pay his bills and has liens on his home. Girl, what? What does that have to do with you claiming he almost hit you?
Her story gets confused when the police start asking questions and Owens keeps interjecting his truth. The video is a little over 10 minutes long, and throughout the video, Owens reveals more of what the woman said to him, including telling him he lives in “a low-budget neighborhood,” which is hilarious because she lives in the same neighborhood. Pot? Kettle?
The bottom line is, this was likely a white woman who recognized Owens, knew who he was and figured she would take the opportunity to try and “humble” him or “take him down a peg” because there is nothing certain white people love more than feeling like they are putting a Black person in their place.
When that didn’t work out for her, she called the cops. Her husband was also on the scene, and Owens says the husband tried to get her to just go in the house multiple times because clearly even he saw through the bull.
I’m glad Terrell Owens kept his head, filmed the encounter and spoke out. This Karen should be exposed because what she did was dangerous, and it could’ve ended in an entirely different way.
White women: Stop weaponizing your tears against Black people. Stop using the police as your personal enforcement squad whenever you don’t get your way. Stop being so entitled.
Bottom line: STOP BEING KARENS.
Monique Judge is a storyteller, content creator and writer living in Los Angeles. She is a word nerd who is a fan of the Oxford comma, spends way too much time on Twitter, and has more graphic t-shirts than you. Follow her on Twitter @thejournalista or check her out at moniquejudge.com.
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