Is 2023 Over Yet? White Karens Pushed Black Workers to Their Limits

After weeks of holiday cheer–and what feels like endless plays of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You”–the world has entered that gray period between wrapping up the old year and beginning the new. But no one seems to want the year to be over more than Black retail and service workers.

This year has truly been the year of the terrorizing White Karen, and recent viral videos show that they plan to finish the year with a bang.

In one clip shared widely on X, formerly known as Twitter, Amazon driver JaMaiya Miller is harassed by two elderly white women while attempting to deliver a package in Houston, Texas. Entering an apartment building, Miller was on her way to deliver a package to someone’s door—per requested instructions. But the neighborhood Karens weren’t having it and attempted to physically stop Miller from doing her job.

“We’ve had thieves here, and you’re a thief,” one of the white women can be heard telling Miller.

Miller has reportedly filed a police report and plans to press charges against the women. But the Karen craziness doesn’t stop there. Black workers are also getting harassed at airports.

In another viral clip, transgender activist and actor Tommy Dorfman allegedly filmed themself going completely off on a Black Delta Airlines worker for “intentionally” misgendering them.

As reported by the Page Six, Dorfman accused the Black worker of committing a “human rights violation” by misgendering her.

The Delta employee calmly responded, “It wasn’t intentional, but if you want to take it personal, that’s also OK.”

Presumably Dorfman filmed the incident thinking that the public would come down in her favor. But Black Twitter and LGBTQ folks mostly felt that she needed to chill.

“As part of the #LGBTQIA community even I’m confused at times. So #TommyDorfman pick and choose your battles. A info desk at a busy airline is not the time for a teaching moment,” commented one social media user.

Let us not forget the white woman who went postal on a Black woman working at the post office in Kirkwood, Missouri. When the Black postal worker began recording the Karen’s antics, she became even more unhinged.

In a viral clip, the Karen tells the Black woman to “get the hell away from me” as she is being recorded from a distance. Then the Karen starts walking toward the Black woman and begins recording her, saying, “I could do the same thing, lady!”

Everyone, it seems, is just trying to make it to 2024 in one piece. Early this month, an 86-year-old Black woman was killed while working at a FedEx World Hub in Memphis, Tennessee. Never mind being 86 years old and still having to work, but the woman being a package handler and the fifth person to die at the facility adds an extra layer of absurdity to the story.

The new year is almost here. But many Black workers might be wondering, are we there yet?