San Francisco’s CAREN Act will ‘criminalize reporting minorities,’ conservatives say
San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton is outraged at white women calling the police on minorities. His creatively named CAREN Act would put an end to this, but conservatives claim it’s just more discrimination.
Walton introduced the Caution Against Racially Exploitative Non-Emergencies (CAREN) Act on Tuesday. Its name is a nod to ‘Karen’, which has become internet slang for a white woman who demeans store assistants, demands to speak to the manager, or, crucially here, feels unduly threatened by minorities.
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
Walton was spurred into action by the case of Amy Cooper in New York. Cooper, who called the police on a black man in Central Park earlier this summer, has been criminally charged with making a false police report, despite her claims that she felt threatened by the man. Cooper is mentioned in a press release accompanying the bill, yet the statement also mentions the person who called the Minneapolis Police Department on George Floyd for allegedly buying cigarettes with a counterfeit bill.
Knowingly passing off counterfeit currency is a federal crime, carrying a punishment of up to 20 years in prison. Given its mention of George Floyd, conservatives are wondering whether Walton’s bill would criminalize reporting minorities to the police, even if an actual crime was taking place.
San Francisco is going to criminalize reporting minorities. That's just fantastic.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 8, 2020
The CAREN Act introduced at San Francisco Board of Supervisers to stop supposedly racially discriminatory 911 calls. They want to criminalize people calling the police. The agenda is obvious. The Left has subverted "Karen," who is actually a progressive who watches "Ellen"
— Patrick Howley (@HowleyReporter) July 8, 2020
This sounds pretty evil if you think of the likely outcomes of it.
— Michael Fasher (@FasherMichael) July 8, 2020
Making a false police report is already illegal, but in the wake of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ riots, lawmakers around the country are pushing to doubly punish offenders if the call is deemed to have been racially motivated. California Assemblyman Rob Bonta introduced a bill last month that would make “discriminatory 911 calls” a hate crime. Meanwhile, in New York, state lawmakers passed a bill last month that would give minorities the right to take legal action against anyone who they felt called the police on them due to their race, gender, or nationality.
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