Posted on 05/29/2020 4:54:08 AM PDT by Kaslin
A lifelong bird-watcher ventured into a section of New York's Central Park, the "Ramble," at 7:30 a.m., hoping to catch a glimpse of waterfowl. In previous days, he had spied scarlet tanagers, ovenbirds and mourning warblers. On Memorial Day, as he waited quietly, an unleashed spaniel scurried into the area -- as happens frequently in the park during quarantine -- though a posted sign notifies owners that all dogs must be leashed.
The bird-watcher asked the owner to please leash her dog. She was less than cooperative. According to the birder, Christian Cooper, the conversation went like this: "ME: Ma'am, dogs in the Ramble have to be on the leash at all times. The sign is right there. HER: The dog runs are closed. He needs his exercise." After more refusals from her to leash the pet, he said, "Look, if you're going to do what you want, I'm going to do what I want, but you're not going to like it" and reached for dog treats that he keeps for such situations. Alarmed, she yelled, "Don't you touch my dog!"
That's when Mr. Cooper began to record the encounter. The dog owner, whose name, coincidentally, is Amy Cooper, demanded that he stop recording her, and when he refused, threatened to call the police. "Please call the police," Mr. Cooper responded. Dialing her phone, she warned Cooper, saying, "I'm going to tell them there's an African American man threatening my life."
Wait, it gets worse. She reaches the police and twice recounts that she is in the Ramble and that "an African American man" is threatening her and her dog. Apparently dissatisfied by the response this gets from the dispatcher, she ramps up the panic in her voice and cries: "I'm being threatened by a man in the Ramble. Please send the cops immediately!"
The poor cocker spaniel, all this while, was struggling and twisting and being forced to rise to his hind legs as Ms. Cooper kept an iron grip on his collar.
Since the release of the video, Amy Cooper has been fired by Franklin Templeton where she had been an insurance portfolio manager, lost her dog to the rescue group from whom she adopted him, and become an overnight symbol of racism.
Frankly, I had heard about the consequences before I watched the video and my anti-vigilante antennae were quivering. But the video is jaw-dropping.
It's possible that Ms. Cooper was overwrought because she misinterpreted Mr. Cooper's comment that "you're not going to like" what he would do next. But he reached into his pocket and produced what? A gun? A knife? No. Dog treats. Maybe her imagination ran wild and she feared that he was planning to poison the pooch. But even if that's the case, she could have picked up her dog and gone home. Instead, she played upon racial stereotypes of "scary black men" to make a false claim to police and, it's safe to assume, to intimidate him. He merely asked her to respect the park rules. There was zero reason to call the police. There was zero reason to tell the dispatcher that the man was African American.
As someone who has written about false accusations of racism (though I've never denied that racism is real), these cellphone videos are grim reminders that old-fashioned white racism continues to have deadly consequences. Eric Garner. Ahmaud Arbery. George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis this week after an officer held him down with a knee on his neck. They and others are evidence of what actor Will Smith said in 2016: "Racism isn't getting worse. It's getting filmed." (The four officers who were involved in Floyd's case have been fired and the FBI is investigating.)
Amy Cooper told CNN that her "entire life" is being destroyed by this. She has apologized and claimed not to be a racist. Does anyone ever admit to racism? I think even David Duke claims that he's merely standing up for white people.
Still, Amy Cooper can salvage some grace from this awful fall from it. She can start by confessing that, yes, she is a racist, and vowing to change. She can volunteer for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America or the Success Academy or some other organization that works to make life better for African American kids. She can study up on the history of slavery and Jim Crow. And she can send a check to the ASPCA while she's at it. She understandably feels that her life is being "destroyed," but if she handles this right, it could be vastly improved. She could become a symbol of redemption instead of sin.
Cooper got her fired. He escalated the situation rather than deescalating it and then committed his true crime, he made her behavior a public issue, it is all on him. He should be ashamed of himself.
Thank you for that post. It looks like good work to show that she is an an unliked ass, and it’s probably true. I have no doubt that she became unhinged in this confrontation.
I have trouble finding his “goodness” in baiting her dog to him with treats he brought along for that purpose, while telling her she “wasn’t going to like what he did” or whatever he said that he made sure was not recorded. The best I can come up with is that he came up with not a very good way to deal with a problem he saw with unleashed dogs.
Neither party, here, seems “good” so no good is going to come of this.
I have difficulty with the “race” angle, here, since he appears to have initiated the confrontation. But, race is obviously the only story here, according to the press.
You have good points. I know the extremism of a lot of dog people.
But, I think this event appears entirely initiated by him. He provoked it and publicized her meltdown. She’s fired now and facing possible charges, so he certainly got his pound of flesh for her wrongs.
I don’t think Freepers are binging up race any more than the subject is being forced on this by the media. I do think that the man involved in this incident was selecting people he thought he could intimidate with his routine. There might have been a racial component on his part.
I don’t think so...I think he was protecting himself, because he knew that she was going to complain that a black man had attacked or threatened her. A video is at least some protection against that. As I said, that’s why the cops are also afraid to engage with these women (who always seem to “rescue” completely out of control dogs that have probably been turned back to the shelter several times before they got it).
My feeling is video everything, because you never know when you might need it to prove your innocence.
You know, I think you may be on to something. I think posting the video of her meltdown, initiated by him, stinks. But it does occur to me that he may have protected himself from charges from her by doing so.
It’s a crappy hole to have to dig yourself out of, but he chose it and false charges from her wouldn’t have been any better.
Maybe next time, he’ll leave the dog treats at home.
We have just had a couple of weeks that show, I think, that video is NOTHING. Everyone has a camera, nowadays. Despite belief otherwise, film LIES, and now everyone is filming their own distorted reality. From the Georgia Jogger to the Kneeling Cop, to this. The camera is used to tell only what someone wants to tell. There may be more Truth without it.
For him to say “I’m going to do what I want, but you’re not going to like it”, and then lure the dog with a treat, was a threat. For her to report that she was being threatened, was legitimate. It was incumbent on him to refrain from making threats.
I’m going by the information in the article. I have no indication that she charged him. She was reportedly trying to hold her dog. That would prevent her from charging him (but not screaming at him). Screaming at someone is not a threat, though.
The only indication of racism on her part was when she said that she was being threatened by a black man, that that’s very weak.
If you are working from other information, that could show a different picture, but it’s information I don’t have.
Arbery had gone past the McMichaels, and their truck, then turned to charge and attack them. It was in the recording. The wrestling was before the first time he was shot—and may have been how he was shot. A gun is most standardly fired by someone pulling on the trigger—but can also be fired by someone pulling on the barrel of the gun, pulling the trigger against something (which can be someone’s finger). Pulling on the barrel of a gun, when your hand is in front of the muzzle, is not smart—but it looks like Arbery did. Did he shoot himself? I don’t know the answer.
Defending himself would require a specific threat. People (legally) carrying guns isn’t one. If one had pointed a gun at him, that would be assault (I think), but there’s no evidence that one did. Calling people “thugs”, or other names, does not confer any right to attack them. Since we now know that Arbery was a violent criminal, bordering on crazy, we now know that if they were going even to ask him a question, carrying guns was not only legal, but the right thing to do.
“The wrestling was before the first time he was shot”
No it wasn’t. You clearly have not watched the video.
Reply to: “The stress of the fight he started triggered a fatal heart attack. His death was entirely his own fault.”
“Entirely? At some point he was restrained, but struggling because he couldn’t breathe. The police should have recognized that.”
- - -
Entirely. Once the police realized that he was in trouble, it was their duty to first subdue and capture him, then get him to medical care as soon as practicable—which was about what happened. But it was too late. The heart attack he brought on by attacking the police, killed him. That was his own fault.
Reply to: “Eric Garner brought his situation on himself, and it was tragic, and she is flatly wrong.
The Arbery issue is a very muddled mess, and akin to what the left *claimed* happened in the Zimmerman case.”
If your main point is that there could still be a lot of information I don’t have, you’re absolutely right. Of all the historical cases, that’s the one I know least about. I would be surprised if there isn’t important information that I’m missing. In all of them, my conclusions are tentative, based only on the information I do have. Your point is an important one.
I have posted a lot of information & links in the thread as have several others. Your assessment ignores that she only had to put on the lead or walk away. Not much of a threat. IMO no threat at all.
Apparently it is SOP, several freepers have said their postman does it, UPS, repair men etc.
I agree it’s not something I would have thought of because it’s subtle. Offer treat, dog owner reflexively puts the dog on a lead, situation solved. In some of the birdwatcher society articles I read they referenced dogs off leash tearing up the ground shrubbery being a recurring problem and this as a common solution.
For my part I cannot conceive of the solecism of disturbing people who were birding in a posted special birding site with my running dog and then upon being asked to leash my dog or leave telling the birder to go to hell. I would be so ashamed to have broken the rules & disturbed them. I would have apologized & walked a different direction. That is what I think the birder had a right to expect.
Some horse people have a similar egocentric world view. When we first built our house I was gardening one day and a woman on a horse came up from the back of the property rapidly. I had 3 young children at the time & they could easily have been bowled over as she came over the rise. I was speechless when she said “we always ride here. Many people put up signs to show which path they want us to take, horses yes, horses no.”
I can’t even remember what I said but we had 8ft deer fence around an acre which included the house so fast your head would have spun. The rest of our plot is left for the animals, if she rode there I don’t know.
I got caught up in old horse tales.
I think people are cuing on the race angle because it’s the tale of the times.
It is only important to me because I think she used the fact that he was black to try and intimidate him and to make him feel that she had the upper hand because she would be believed and he would not be. She knew he was no threat but she wanted to make him pay for having rebuked her.
That is one version. The medical examiner and the Civilian Complaint Review Board came to a different conclusion.
Kaffee: You think I can't subpoena Markinson?
Lt. Weinberg: [in Danny's apartment, refering to their new strategy] Alright, what do you suggest we do?
Galloway: I say we hit Jessup with the phony transfer order.
Lt. Weinberg: A transfer order without a witness.
Kaffee: We have a witness.
Lt. Weinberg: A dead witness.
Kaffee: And in the hands of a lesser attorney that'd be a problem.
Kaffee: Commander?
Galloway: You can call me Joanne.
Kaffee: Joanne?
Galloway: Or Jo.
Kaffee: Jo?
Galloway: Yes?
Kaffee: If you speak to a client of mine again without my permission, I'll have you disbarred. Friends?
Galloway: I had authorization.
Since when does one NEED 'consent' of folks being videoed in a public place?
Now if he were going to USE their image for profit; then there are laws; but AFAIK in this case... I don't know.
A 'fact' that was generated ONLY in Amy's mind; as there was NO 'poison' in evidence.
"Look, if you're going to do what you want, I'm going to do what I want, but you're not going to like it" and reached for dog treats...
Sounds a bit 'eye for an eye'; doesn't it?
Likewise:
NO video can be, and often is, one-sided as well.
Perhaps the lessons learned from this encounter is that we ALL should start wearing body cams to be able to document what is going on in our lives.
Just in case...
Let's get real here...
I pay high taxes so the police can babysit the black community?
Then when WE need the cops to stop our cities from burning they play stupid and roll over for the thugs?
Gimme a break.
Ninety percent of most police budgets are allocated to 'black community' concerns.
So I pay all this damn money and when the mob starts burning down cities the cops ARE NOT THERE TO PROTECT THE CITIZENS WHO PAY THEIR DAMN SALARIES.
What the hell am I paying for? Nothing. Let the black community protect themselves. I'm sick of paying for nothing. If my city burns, my home is attacked, the stores I shop at are destroyed, the damn 'cops' will be afraid to arrest the thugs because they're more afraid of being called 'racist'? They let my city burn because they're afraid to arrest thugs? I'm NOT paying for that crap.
Disband the cops...
Decent people already have home security systems because the cops don't protect us. We pay for court systems that exists to be soft on criminals. And now the effing system we pay for allows our cities to burn?
NO MORE COPS. TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY.
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