California 'Karen' who called cops on man stenciling #BLM on his own house 'deeply sorry' for 'racist' actions
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: A California woman who had confronted and chided a Filipino man for stenciling Black Lives Matter on his own property has apologized for her "racist" actions and said she will take a "hard look at the meaning behind white privilege."
MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) previously reported how San Francisco resident James Juanillo had posted a video on Twitter of a white couple, later identified as Lisa Alexander and Robert Alexander, condescendingly questioning him as he was writing the sign with chalk on the retaining wall of his house. As Lisa's husband filmed her, she asked Juanillo if the house belonged to him before telling him that it was okay to express one's opinions and they did not have anything against him, but that it was illegal to do so on someone else's property.
When Juanillo tells them they don't know who owns the property, Lisa claims that she does know and that's why she was questioning him. He suggests they call the police on him if they were sure he was committing a crime, at which point they walk away. In the caption of the now-viral clip, which has been viewed close to 15 million times, Juanillo wrote, "A white couple call the police on me, a person of color, for stenciling a #BLM chalk message on my own front retaining wall. 'Karen' lies and says she knows that I don’t live in my own house, because she knows the person who lives here."
"Karen" is a term that is now being popularly used to describe primarily white women who are perceived to be entitled or demanding beyond what is usually seen as reasonable. You can watch the clip below:
A white couple call the police on me, a person of color, for stencilling a #BLM chalk message on my own front retaining wall. “Karen” lies and says she knows that I don’t live in my own house, because she knows the person who lives here. #blacklivesmatter pic.twitter.com/rOpHvKVwgP
— Jaimetoons (@jaimetoons) June 12, 2020
After the clip caught the attention of social media, Alexander's Facebook page for her store, Laface Skincare, was bombarded with negative reviews and was eventually taken down. On Monday, June 15, she released a statement where she said she was "deeply sorry" for her behavior and that she wanted to personally apologize to Juanillo over a coffee.
"There are not enough words to describe how truly sorry I am for being disrespectful to him last Tuesday when I made the decision to question him about what he was doing in front of his home," she said. "I should have minded my own business."
"The last 48 hours have taught me that my actions were those of someone who is not aware of damage caused by being ignorant and naive to racial inequalities. When I watch the video I'm shocked I behaved the way I did. It was disrespectful to Mr Juanillo and I am deeply sorry for that," she continued. "I did not realize at the time that my actions were racist and have learned a painful lesson. I am taking a hard look at the meaning behind white privilege and am committed to growing from this experience. I would love to have coffee with Mr. Juanillo in our neighborhood so I can apologize in person."
However, SFGate reported that the damage had been done. Birchbox, a distributor of her La Face line, announced on Twitter that it has "officially cut ties with" Alexander. "We condemn the actions of Lisa Alexander," they tweeted. "We have not worked with LA FACE for several years & as a result of the CEO's actions, today have officially cut ties with them. We've removed their products from our website & will not be working with them in the future."