Amy Cooper Demonizing Christian Cooper in Central Park
Channel: I Can't Breathe Movement
Date: 2020-05-30

Amy Cooper called the police on a black man who asked her to leash her dog in New York City’s Central Park over the Memorial Day holiday, the incident became the latest chapter in the fraught legacy of a gendered and racial dynamic dating back to slavery in America, one that persists in the nation’s imagination today.

It is rooted in an idea, backed by generations of violence, that white womanhood is to be protected and that black men are inherently criminal. The phenomenon is a specific strain of American racism, said Robin DiAngelo, author of “White Fragility.”

“Who doesn’t know that calling the police on black people risks them being shot?” she said. “This invokes a history of terror. When a white woman says, ‘I’m going to call the police,’ she’s basically saying, ‘You might die.’ ”

The incident involving Amy Cooper and Christian Cooper — a Harvard graduate and birdwatching enthusiast who is a board member of the Audubon Society — was captured by Christian Cooper on cellphone video. Amy Cooper can be seen approaching Christian Cooper in an on-leash area of the park.

Amy Cooper asked him to “please stop” recording to which Christian Cooper responds: “Please don’t come close to me.”

“She knows she’s wrong,” DiAngelo said. “She’s not supposed to have her dog off the leash, but by making herself the victim, she doesn't have to take responsibility for what she’s actually doing.”

Moments later, Amy Cooper warns Christian Cooper that she is about to call the police to “tell them that there’s an African American man threatening my life.” Christian Cooper continues recording the incident, which lasts for more than a minute and includes images of the dog, Henry, straining against his collar, which she is clutching.

Amy Cooper’s voice becomes increasingly pitched on the phone with the police, where she repeats that Christian Cooper is “an African American man” who is threatening her. “Please send the cops immediately!” she screams.

Christian Cooper can be heard at the end of the video saying, “Thank you,” as she clips her dog’s leash onto his collar.

“White fragility is not rational,” DiAngelo said. “He doesn’t defer, he doesn’t back down, he’s dignified, he’s competent and calm. The more he is those things, the more unraveled she becomes.”

“Birdwatching while black” became the latest potentially dangerous infraction, particularly for a black man, shocking thousands who viewed the exchange on social media and prompting outrage and action from many Americans.

Within hours of the incident surfacing online, Amy Cooper, a senior vice president at Franklin Templeton Investments, surrendered her dog and was placed on administrative leave at work. A day later, she was fired.

A century ago, the solution could have been a lynch mob, but today it is more often law enforcement that arrives, killing unarmed black people with alarming frequency. Technology has been both a tool and a weapon in this era, used to both activate the police and to record proof that the black person in the exchange was not the aggressor or perpetrator.

SOURCE: The Washington Post

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