What "Soho Karen" and "Arlo Chad" Can Teach Us All About Racial Dynamics

But while most of the ensuing media attention has been placed on the perpetrator of the assault dubbed quotSoho Karenquot with CNN even granting her a platform to speak I39d like to take a moment to zero in on the hotel manager Chad NathanFor starters it39s important to recognize that Chad while looking young and overwhelmed in the video is a seasoned professional He began working in the hotel industry in 2010 as a housekeeping manager at Double Tree Guest Suites then steadily rose up the ranks from frontofficeamp160manager to director of rooms at Highgate Hotels Over the next five years Chad would work at five hotels Renaissance Westchester Tryp by Wyndham Times Square South Hotel Hayden Hotel Henriamp160and then finally at Arlo SoHo Hotel where he is currently director of operationsChad39s career trajectory matters for two reasons First by using his authority to subject his hotel guests to racial profiling and an unwarranted search by a hysterical nonguest Chad clearly demonstrated that he lacks the good judgment and people skills required of his position And yet this apparent weakness hasn39t inhibited his ability to job hop and ladder climb on such a frequent basis that at this point Ad Age probably owes him a profileIronically the phenomenon of mediocre white guys stumbling up the corporate ladder by way of unbridled ambition the DunningKruger effect and a willingness to cash in their race and gender privileges through undeserved promotions and disproportionate raises has already been recognized and converted into some clever career advice by Vivian Kaye Whenever women or people of color might start doubting their selfworth or qualifications for advancement Ms Kaye encourages them to simply ask themselves quotWhat would Chad doquotWhich brings me to the second reason for taking a closer look at Chad Nathan In short there are quotChadsquot like him everywhere And while quotKarensquot are surely just as common in this case quotSoho Karenquot did not have the power quotArlo Chadquot did And he chose to use it on her behalf In the video Miya actually stands behind Chad even putting her hand on his shoulder as though he was her protector and she wasn39t wrong It has long been the system of Chads holding positions of institutional power that continue to enable Karen behavior towards Black bodies from Emmet Till to Christian CooperDr Kevin D Thomas pictured at top lead editor of the Journal of Marketing Management39s recent special issue on Racial Dynamics tells a similar story of how Black people are surveilled as suspects in both historical and personal terms In the introduction he and his coauthors begin by chronicling how the roots of publicly funded policing in the United States stem from affluent merchants seeking to outsource the private expense of protecting their private property and paramilitary slave patrols that chased down and returned runaway slaves to their owners as stolen assets Is it any wonder that today merchants continue to suspect Black consumers of theftOn a more bittersweet note Thomas who is Black recounts a memory from his childhood when he and his friend Jacob would hack the quotshopping while Blackquot phenomenon Knowing that the clerk at their neighborhood Thrifty Drug would racially profile Kevin they would send him in first as a diversion to lure the suspicious clerk to follow and question him while Jacob who as a secondgeneration KoreanAmerican with glasses and a bowl cut came across as a harmless quotmodel minorityquot would be left alone to raid the snack aisle and then later meet up with Kevin to share the lootBut of course as poetic as such a quotracist taxquot might be free junk food was paltry compensation for a lifetime living under the glare of white fear and suspicion Indeed as the authors point out the stakes for the racialization of markets remain high whether it be global capitalism39s indifference to starving populations of color or the racial asymmetry of COVID19 hospitalizations and quotessential workerquot exposureSo if marketers are sincere in their expressed intent to support Black lives and fight systemic racism both in society and within their own organizations they need to recognize that it39s not enough to confront the Karen in their midst They must also reckon with how the history of policing Black bodies have given rise to the professional institutions that trained Chad to be so ready and willing to believe herAboutamp160Dr Thomasamp160amp160Kevin D Thomas brings a decade of industry experience as a market researcher to his role as Assistant Professor of Multicultural Branding at Marquette University where he uses policyrelevant and community participatory action research methods to critically examine the relationship between marketing consumption practicesamp160and notions of self and community He is cofounder of Food for Black Thought the Black Media Councilamp160and the Race in the Marketplace Research Network Dr Thomas39 recently coedited book Race in the Marketplace Crossing Critical Boundaries Palgrave Macmillan 2019 is now freely available online as part of Springer39s initiative to amplify Black voicesClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNetamp160

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What "Soho Karen" and "Arlo Chad" Can Teach Us All About Racial Dynamics

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