SoHo Karen
If we don’t acknowledge certain identities, we could be doing harm by not properly crediting or giving a pass. We might assume that there is a race issue in our school, but really it is race and gender. Perhaps something is presented as a challenge to one’s ability, but it is in juxtaposition with sexual orientation. Intersectionality, a term from Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw (civil rights activist, lawyer, professor, and more), illustrates how different identities overlap rather than exist independently with each other. So, as we interact with members of our communities, and knowing that we all have different biases, we want to strive to better understand and recognize the complexity of identities each of us possesses.
Some of you may have recently heard about Miya Ponsetto and Keyon Harrold Jr. Those names don’t ring a bell? How about ‘SoHo Karen’? On December 26th, Ponsetto wrongly accused Harrold Jr., a Black teenager, of stealing her cellphone. She accosted the teenager to get her cellphone back from him, which was actually misplaced in a taxi. The event was recorded by Harrold Jr.’s father and that video has spread. Ponsetto, who is of Puerto Rican and multiple other ethnic identities, claimed that her actions were not racially focused since she is a woman of color and therefore incapable of being racist. Ponsetto was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted assault, attempted robbery, grand larceny, and endangering the welfare of a child.
Other people passed through the lobby and while they were asked, no one was challenged like Harrold Jr. The District Attorney did not refer to Harrold Jr. as Black, possibly because he did not see Ponsetto’s actions as racially motivated. If the District Attorney did include ‘Black’ in the charges, the case would be considered a hate crime. But its absence means that the jury will not see Ponsetto’s actions as racially motivated. The verdict and sentencing will be different than what it could be. By not acknowledging Harrold Jr.’s identities, the legal response fits with Dr. Crenshaw’s work that by not naming or seeing the issues that are present, it implies that violent attacks on persons of color are permissible by the law, no matter who commits the act.
Despite Ponsetto’s multiethnic background and her lawyer’s insistence of her emotional challenges (which deserves its own response), the intersection of Harrold Jr.’s age, race, and perceived socioeconomic status likely factored into his attacker’s decision to confront him. The District Attorney’s decision to not consider this perpetuates such offenses from continuing without naming what is at the root; racism. Acknowledging that racism played a role would allow for our collective abilities to address how this problem fits into the Cycle of Oppression regarding race and age and any other identifiers that motivated Ponsetto’s decision.
Monday is celebrated as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. So what? Is this the only day that we think about his “I Have a Dream” speech; the only day that schools have a Diversity Day; the only time institutions formally recognize societal inequities? Dr. King’s words and work were about more than racial inequity in the country. Monday is not the only day to recognize his importance.
We must find ways to remember and practice his messages throughout the year. We must be aware of racism, ageism, sexism, ableism, and other biased actions when we see them and be willing to name them. Seeing them in their individual and collective states is one of the initial steps needed for our communities and world to get better. This will help us to step up when accusations and a lack of justice are demonstrated against people like Keyon Harrold Jr. Dr. King likely didn’t want such incidents to continue and to honor him, we can do everything we can to ensure we don’t practice such behaviors and we intervene when others do.