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The ‘CAREN Act’ Could Be A New Law in San Francisco

July 08, 2020

Today we’re talking about a San Francisco lawmaker who had some fun on the job while making a law that surely will benefit everyone. He wants to make 911 calls based racist and false accusations illegal, and he definitely had a target audience in mind when writing it.

Shamann Walton, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, introduced the act on Tuesday and it would essentially make it illegal for anyone to make a 911 call that is based on racist or false situations. He is calling it the Caution Against Racially Exploitative Non-Emergencies Act—or the CAREN Act.

Racist 911 calls are unacceptable that's why I'm introducing the CAREN Act at today’s SF Board of Supervisors meeting. This is the CAREN we need. Caution Against Racially Exploitative Non-Emergencies. #CARENact #sanfrancisco

— Shamann Walton (@shamannwalton) July 7, 2020

Yeah, Karen, as in those people who have taken over the Internet for calling the police on people of color for no reason and causing a scene.

The CAREN Act’s press release directly cites Lisa Alexander, the woman who called the cops on a Filipino man for stenciling “Black Lives Matter” on the front wall of his home, and Amy Cooper, the woman who called the police on a Black man bird watching in Central Park, as reasons for this new legislation.

It reads, “With the rise of smartphones, there has been an increase of racial profiling and discriminatory incidents recorded and shared on social media and subsequently broadcasted on the news nationwide,” and continues to say, “These are only a few examples that have been publicized recently and there are countless others that do not get news coverage or are not recorded” after mentioning the cases of these two women.

In every situation involving viral Karens, we have seen the Internet tell it like it is and this time was no expectation. Bring on the memes Twitter.

https://twitter.com/margaritanadiya/status/1280762125598601218

*The CAREN Act passes*

*Karen's collectively demand to speak to their representative* pic.twitter.com/GxzCAXt9dF

— Fitz (@fitzzmagic) July 8, 2020

And even this one who calls out the people who are against the act,

https://twitter.com/Purify_toast17/status/1280843058976829442

Making a false police report is already a crime but this bill would amend the San Francisco Police Code to make it unlawful for someone to fabricate a report based on someone’s race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, gender or sexual orientation.

And just last month, California lawmaker Rob Bonta introduced a bill to make calling 911 based on someone’s race a hate crime, and it still has to be determined whether this bill and The CAREN Act will actually be passed.

Here’s hoping Karens will think twice about calling 911 next time they see a Black person!