Considering Race and Memes

In my previous post, I mentioned some areas regarding memes that can be problematic. Yet, as Apryl Williams points out in her examination of the BBQ Becky and Karen memes, Internet memes, particularly political and activist memes, "can produce alternative narrative, new meaning, political groupings, and have demonstrated power to influence social movements." In particular, Williams notes that these two memes bring attention to the "surveillance and regulation of Black bodies in public spaces" by White women, framing the Beckys and Karens as racist, which disrupts "White supremacy and performative racial ignorance," centers discussions of consequences - both social and legal - for these individuals, and promotes "conversation on the state of race relations" around the world.

However, she also writes that, while racialized memes like BBQ Becky and Karen can cause social change and engage in activism and advocacy, they can also "be used as microaggressions or express overt racism, extend colorblind ideologies, [... and] convey racialized collective identities," pointing back to the concerns I expressed in my previous post. It is worth noting that although the Karen and Becky images began as ways to call out White women's policing of Black individuals, they have evolved to include instances of entitlement beyond the race relations sphere. This is especially true for Karen. Even the Urban dictionary definitions Williams references point to a diluting of the original intent of the memes:

"A 'Becky' has been defined by Urban Dictionary as 'a stereotypical, basic White girl; obsessed with Starbucks [and] Ugg boots,' A 'Karen' is described as a 'middle aged woman, typically blonde, [who] makes solutions to others' problems an inconvenience to her although she isn't even remotely affected'."

This phenomenon reminds me of Arola's critique of remix culture, where she argues that individuals who compose - or remix ideas - without acknowledging the histories and texts those remixed ideas originate from "run the risk of appropriation". So, even in our creation of, enjoyment in, and diffusion of memes, we need to act as reflective practitioners who "make in active and conscious relation to the ecologies both past and present" (Arola 281). In other words, one does not simply create a meme.