Racial Obsession Has Hardened Our Hearts

The case of Hospital Karen and how anti-racism makes compassion impossible

This month has been a whirlwind for me. I spent most of it on the east coast, tending to my father’s funeral arrangements and estate. It’s been a huge emotional lift, as you can imagine. Naturally, I haven’t been keeping up much with the news or with my work, but there was one story that managed to poke through my haze of grief and make me pay attention.

Hospital Karen.

Most of you know what I’m talking about, but in case you don’t, click here to read the story at The New York Post. In a nutshell, a white nurse left her job at Bellevue Hospital in NYC one afternoon and headed to the bike-share rack to rent a bike for her ride home. Unfortunately for her (and everyone who has to endure the ensuing drama) a young black man standing near the bike claimed he had already rented it, and that she was taking what he’d paid for. Five of his friends surrounded the pregnant nurse and demanded she return the bike. She refused, claiming she’d paid already, words were exchanged, tears were shed and (naturally) cell phone videos were recorded. The nurse eventually opted for another bike on the rack, but the damage was done. The video went viral, earning her the nickname “Hospital Karen” and ending up in her being placed on leave for her supposed racial insensitivity.

In the interest of making things a bit easier, I have decided to call the young man “Bicycle Brian,” as a Brian is a male Karen. Moving forward these two shall be referred to as Brian and Karen.

The VERY ONLINE™ people have reacted exactly as you would expect them to and the entire incident has turned into yet another adjudication of America’s racist culture.

I’ve watched the video and heard the woman’s lawyer, as well as a video response from the young man’s sister, who claims her brother did nothing wrong. This is the conclusion I came to: