(Pinch, MN) Along with derisive references to the Baby Boomer generation, contemporary slang has adopted the term, "Karen," as an epithet for privileged white women, caricatured as having bleached blonde inverted bob cuts and excessive indignation over trivial matters, among other things.
"It's the modern n-word is what it is," said Karen O'Conner. "I didn't pick my name, and you know what? It's a pretty name. My gran was named Karen. Karen Gould. She worked so hard, and to think, these people are just- they just don't understand how wonderful a woman she was. They just don't, and they just don't care. That woman gave birth to nine children, and she worked hard to make sure that their lives were as good as possible. She's my namesake, and these people - you know who I mean - they're just... Well, they're just crapping all over her legacy. It's disgusting."
O'Conner moderates the online forum, Karens Are People Too (KAPT). With four thousand members, the group has grown to the point where some disambiguation is necessary.
"Why are there are all these pictures of white women crying?" asked Saw Nee Bo. "What person gets this upset when service industry people are not ingratiating to the point of having no dignity?"
Saw, who was part of the Karen uprising in 1976 and subsequently had to flee his homeland for fear of reprisals by the Burmese junta, has seen his fair share of hardship. A respected elder in his community, he continues to fight for the rights of the Karen people in the United States and for international recognition of their plight in southeast Asia. At seventy-four, he still works as a tool and die maker and boasts not having missed a single day since he began work in Minnesota back in 1990.
The Big Tobacco was able to sit down with both Mr. Saw and Mrs. O'Conner last week.
"Is he Mexican?" asked O'Conner,
"No, I am not," replied Saw. "I am Kayin. It's what your people call 'Karen.'"
"Do we have a translator?" asked Mrs. O'Conner, "I don't speak Spanish."
After being informed that the man was speaking English and being assured that his documentation for being in the United States was in order, O'Conner listened to Saw's story. He explained his flight from an oppressive military regime, conditions in Thai refugee camps, dangers at sea in a small boat bound for part of Malaysia, and his circuitous route to refugee status in the United States, after losing his young son and his brother en route.
"We're the same," said O'Conner. "I don't get to take sick days as a mom. I took Magnus to football practice last week, and I think I had COVID. Can you believe that? And people want to put me down because of my name. It's shameful. That's exactly what it is."
"People do not understand what we go through. Some day, I hope that there will be a country for my people where we can be safe," responded Saw.
O'Conner fought back tears as she readjusted her Fendi bag so that she could take Saw's hand.
"He gets it," she said. "He really does understand. It's just so good to be understood, to be seen."
After finding out that the Big Tobacco correspondent did not intend to pay for coffee at the appointed meeting spot, Mrs. O'Conner began explain that she needed the beverage to be "comped" because she had not expected to pay. Meanwhile, Saw had this to say, "Who is this woman? Why did you bring me here? Why does she think that she has anything in common with me? My son drowned off the coast of Malaysia. She is getting furious over having to pay eight dollars for a cup of coffee that she ordered. This is disgusting. I can't sit here any longer."
O'Conner later asked for his phone number to see if he would be interested in "helping out" with a church fundraiser that she was organizing. Similarly, she did not tip the wait staff, but did leave encouraging words that she imagined were from the book of "Psalm."
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