Where I’m from, plenty of people like to just cruise around in their cars. It’s mostly woods and numerous backroads, so each one always feels scenic. There’s nothing suspicious about that, right? Well, when a Black man in Florida did the same, you can believe he wasn’t expecting a Karen in the neighborhood to have a problem with that. She insisted on becoming a player in his life. He stood his ground, and what transpired was awkward.
TikToker Rojah (TikTok/rojahlarue) posted a video of himself having a back-and-forth with a woman from the surrounding area. “Nah, I ain’t scanning the neighborhood, I live here,” says Rojah, after being accused of being suspicious. According to Rojah, he wasn’t doing anything other than driving around.
“I’m trying to rob something, huh?” Rojah says, playing into the Karen’s ridiculous fear. She agrees and argues people don’t usually drive around “in a big Tesla.” Rojah lets it slide after she tries to apologize.
His neighbor asks if he just moved here, and, playing it up further, Rojah says, “Nah, I’m just scanning,” with a big smirk on his face. “I’m trying to find a victim,” which gets the Karen doing a double-take. Rojah pretends he didn’t say anything.
After she yet again says Rojah looks suspicious driving around, he drops the teasing and asks several serious questions: “I don’t have the free will to just drive? Like, I can’t just drive around? That’s legal. I ain’t breaking no law. How it look like I’m scanning the neighborhood?” He tells her then that he uses those rides to listen to music, write, or just the day’s events.
“So you’re just releasing your mind?” the woman says, and Rojah agrees, then apologizes. She admitted it freaked her out. In the comment section, people had zero sympathy for the Karen. They called her out for racism and hypocrisy and argued that Rojah didn’t have to apologize at all.
“Meanwhile she’s the one scanning,” a TikTok user posted in the comments. She really told on herself. Clocking someone in the neighborhood as suddenly suspicious for being POC is unambiguous racism.
“I love that you played in her face,” said one commenter. She went to 11 after falling for the bit. Honestly, a Karen like that isn’t going to believe you one way or another. You might as well have fun with it, right?
Another commenter suggested to “normalize not explaining and never apologizing for existing.” What is her business of cruising around, anyway? People do that all the time.
“Who robs anything in a Tesla,” one commenter asked, which is a very good question. If you can afford a Tesla, you aren’t hurting for cash.
Two lessons I hope this woman learns are that she was being pretty ridiculous. It seemed like she caught on that he was teasing her because she ended up letting it go. What an awkward encounter.
