'Park Ranger Karen' Fired For Harassing Black Fisherman

At some point, they’re just going to have to start making special Karen unemployment lines for white people who lost their job because they thought their actual job was minding Black people’s business.

Source: Kmatta / Getty

Of course, I’m sure many of these people long for the day when they could harass Black folks they don’t believe belong in their neighborhoods in peace without cameras coming out and viral videos publicly shaming them and causing them to have to update their work resumes because it turns out companies would rather not be publicly associated with racial profilers. (Unless they’re a police department, in which case it’s damn near part of their job description.)

A white woman in Georgia has recently been dubbed “Park Ranger Karen” because she felt compelled to pull her vehicle over to question Black people for fishing in a lake in a neighborhood one of them said he lives in.

NewsOne reports that an on-screen caption on the video reads “Black man fishing problems.” When the video begins, the Black man is visibly annoyed at the white woman approaching him from her car. When she reaches the Black fisherman, the white woman says “hello,” and the man politely replies with a “hello.” Not even a second later Park Ranger Karen activates Karen mode, turning it up to full max.

“Are you guys residents here?” the woman asks.

“Are we bothering anyone,” a woman accompanying the Black fisherman asks.

Karen responds by telling them, “This lake is for residents only.”

She also plays the victim, telling the man she did not permit him to film her, and threatens to copy his license plate and forward it to the authorities, NewsOne adds.

“So y’all hear what I go through, right?” The Black fisherman asks his TikTok audience with a smile on his face. “This is third person. … I’m in my own neighborhood, and a white person came and bothered me while I’m fishing.”

These encounters often start with a fake-friendly “hello” before they immediately devolve into an impromptu Karen-terrogation by white neighbors who appear to think HOA guidelines require them to perform random address checks on Black people they assume are trespassing (*gestures widely toward every Black face in their direct line of sight*).

Why TF does this woman even think it’s her job to enforce rules she didn’t make on property she doesn’t own against people who are not bothering her or anyone else? They’re fishing for fish while she’s fishing for excuses to call the police. Why?

Anyway, once the video went viral exposing the actions of Park Ranger Karen aka Fishing Police Patty aka Lakeside Lydia aka Flounder Fiona aka Troutless Trisha (I made most of those up), the woman was identified as Tanya Petty, who worked as a contractor for a Sea Glass Therapy, which released a statement on Facebook announcing that it “terminated our business relationship with the independent contractor,

“Sea Glass Therapy is a place of acceptance, healing, and inclusion of all people regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or background,” the business wrote.

(At this point, it feels like companies have a standard statement ready for when they have to release another Karen into the unemployment wilds.)

Just a friendly reminder, Karen and Ken-folk: Harassing random Black people may cost you your livelihood, but minding your business is 100% free!