Anti-Black Police Academy
*sensitive content for all Karens & Kevins*
In the dictionary, Karens & Kevins are pejorative slang terms for obnoxious, angry, and entitled white woman & white man who use their privilege to get their way or police other people’s behaviours.
“Blacks are criminals. Blacks are trouble makers. Blacks are cheaters. Blacks are con-artists. Blacks are illegal.”
As a member of this vilified group, let me tell you a bit about the Edinburgh Anti-Black Police Academy.
The Anti-Black Police Academy is everywhere, on their toes to ruin a day of any Black person living a normal life. Their stations spread across the city, in supermarkets, charity shops, Edinburgh University Library, cafés, and even in your own accommodation. Their uniforms come in a different shade of whiteness: white fragility, white saviour, white denial, or simply anti-blackness. They are ready to use their invisible but yet powerful weapon: white privilege. They are always quick to notice something wrong with us and police us. It is almost like an instinct. In their daily work and positions of power, they are always looking for an occasion to apply the rules only on Black people. In the end, their actions towards us tell us a lot about how they think and their implicit racism. Here is a snippet of real-life scenarios:
“Look at these thieves-looking people entering the shop. Let me instruct them to keep the clothes where I can see them, just in case!”
“In this entire loud library café, I must definitely request silence only from the two women of colour.”
“Why ask a group of 7 white students (clearly here to party) for their flat keys when clearly there are two Black students I can check on whether they actually live here. ”
“ My white saviour ancestors will not rest if I do not I disturb this Black girl and teach her how to eat in the library. I will not bother the other white girl in front because I am sure she knows how to eat.”
“Let me stop this Black lad riding an Ubereat bike. For sure, he did not pay his fee. Worse, he probably stole the bike! Why can’t they all be legal like all the white Ubereat riders?”*racist sigh*
The list of these encounters can go on. There is an entire page, called EdiBamefess for similar racist experiences. So, why am I writing this now? Well, yesterday I had another argument with the security at my student accommodation over racist treatments of Black students. After confronting him, the Kevin in the story, Nicholas Michael O’something, dared to tell us that we do not know what racism is, but he does. He has a Black sister from Jamaica! Aha. End of argument. He won. Seriously, after that brilliant counterargument, we could not go any further because he epitomises the classic staunch white male, unwaveringly and proudly racist.
That incident encapsulated all my semester of incessant racial policing. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I wanted to pour all my exhaustion down, hence this article. I’d usually ignore these Karens and Kevins because the anti-Blackness in ourselves has taught us to bend and accept quietly these racist attacks. In a world where our skin is a crime, a weapon, a danger, the survivor mode is to strive to be “the right Black”.
(For more information on this, you can read about the Respectability Politics).
In the end, one main lesson from this experience is how power dynamics work. If white employees at stores, security stands, libraries use their power to abuse us, now imagine what people in leading institutions can do. A scary thought to sleep on. Or not!
