From Permit Patty to Karen: Black Online Humor as Play and Resistance

Traditionally, Black communities have used humor to talk back to those in power while avoiding what the author calls "the dominant gaze." She argues that Black humor acts as a resistance, especially when considered through the lens of play. Drawing from cultural play literature, critical race studies, and the literature about Black humor, she considers two related case studies based on the hashtags #PermitPatty and #Karen to explore the response of Black people to white femininity. The first case concerns the circulation of the phrase "Permit Patty" in response to a white woman who called the police against a young Black girl for selling water on the sidewalk. The second details the use of the name "Karen" online, highlighting how white women align themselves with police to oppress African Americans. The author concludes that Black online users deploy elements of humor, such as the omniscient narrator and inverse stereotyping, to call attention to this reliance of white womanhood on the police state, often at the expense of Black and Brown people, and children in particular.