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San Francisco, California has introduced a proposal that would cut back on unnecessary emergency calls. The proposed act is named the CAREN Act (Caution Against Racially Exploitative Non-Emergencies) and is a play on the term “Karen” which has become popular amid a surge of racially-charged incidents involving middle-aged white woman calling the police on black men and women for mundane activities like bird-watching in Central Park or barbecuing in the park.
The proposal would require punishment for anyone who called the police or made an emergency call based on racial bias.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Shamann Walton introduced the act this week.
“Racist 911 calls are unacceptable that’s why I’m introducing the CAREN Act at today’s SF Board of Supervisors meeting,” Shamann Walton, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. “This is the CAREN we need. Caution Against Racially Exploitative Non-Emergencies.”
San Francisco District Supervisor Matt Haney co-authored the proposed act.
“Today I joined as co-author of @shamannwalton’s CAREN Act (Caution Against Racially Exploitative Non-Emergencies Act),” he wrote on Twitter. “The CAREN Act makes it unlawful to fabricate false racially-biased emergency reports. Racist false reports put people in danger and waste resources.”
According to NBC Bay Area, State Assemblymember Rob Banta announced a similar bill to the CAREN Act, Assembly Bill 1550, that he wants to be part of the “larger nationwide movement to address racial biases and implement consequences for weaponizing emergency resources with racist intentions.”
In recent months, we have seen multiple incidents of overt racism that surfaced on social media since quarantine which includes a woman breaking down over an egg McMuffin, cops being called on a black man birdwatching in Central Park, a woman getting slapped for telling a customer to ‘go back to Mexico’, and so much more which you can check out below.
