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.
Karens gotta Karen!
Agreed. Cooper should be ashamed of himself. His offense is magnitudes worse than anything the woman did.
Another explanation? — She was not racist, but, like the typical Manhattanite, she believed the police are racist. So she thought she’d get back at that black guy who was supposedly threatening her dog by calling the cops on him.
I’m glad somebody gets it.
This is this guy’s “schtick”. He carries around dog treats and is practiced at videoing what he wants of an encounter he can arrange. He carries binoculars as an excuse for stalking white women. He doesn’t record his own threatening behavior.
He does all this because he knows she can’t be carrying anything more threatening than a phone to defend herself.
I have read elsewhere that Amy Cooper was a Dem based on political contributions.
He was angry that the dog was going to disturb the pink-crested kneeling knob-gobblers...
If she called the police for help and didn’t identify his race, all would be okay? Simply adding a fact not in dispute caused her firing?
I tend to side with the bird-watcher in this because I do not like seeing dogs off the leash when they are supposed to be on it. I have a dog that is always on the leash when I walk him. He has been attacked by bigger dogs a couple of times (I had to shoot one of them). I do not take him to dog parks because I don't want him to be attacked again by unleashed dogs (dogs are allowed off leash in dog parks).
That said, I don't think this woman's life should be ruined over her Karen-ish outburst. Society forgives people who have committed crimes of violence and this woman's "crime" seems pretty darned trivial to me. She deserves to be embarrassed, but she should not be permanently unemployable because she made a mistake. The way a lot of people are talking, I guess she should hang herself.
I was with you until Mr Cooper. Your analysis there is outrageous. It is not incumbent on him or anyone else to allow someone to wantonly break the rules, rules absolutely necessary for a bird sanctuary, simply because it suits the rule breaker. She said the dog needed exercise so she was planning to let it run in the refuge.
If he had bellowed at her, charged her, actually threatened her instead of implying he would offer her dog a treat & she wouldn’t like it then it would have been threatening behavior.
Instead she screamed at him, charged him, on video, and did a great imitation of a 2 year old temper tantrum while he calmly said, great call the police, thank you and please don’t come any closer.
This puts the lie to your construction. He wanted the police to deescalate the situation and remove the unleashed dog that could have disturbed the ground nesting birds. His sister posted the video and he said that he was sorry Ms Cooper lost her job, that it was an over reaction.
In short her behavior was exposed and she was judged as a liability to the company. You need a better class of victim. This lady was a bully & a spoiled brat. I do not think she was racist. She never would have charged him if she truly thought he was a threat. If she was intimidated she would have put the leash on & kept walking.
I think she just knew that racism was a tool she could use to intimidate Mr Cooper, along with the fact that she was a woman (victim). How many black men, how many men have been arrested and imprisoned by a woman who wanted to exert power over a man, for revenge, for fun, to get something she wanted? If it is an uneven playing field I think the civilized person is handicapped while people like MS Cooper have the edge because of their ruthlessness and willingness to lie and put on an act.
He’s an ass for saying “you’re not going to like what I will do next” which can be perceived as a threat and for posting the video on you tube.”
**************
America’s leftist white women — mostly young, childless, and professional — need to realize that they are getting knocked from their place at the top of the food chain. Welcome to the world that straight, white, decent family men have had to live in for decades.
He didn’t upload the video.
I have seen nothing that suggests he has time on his hands, this incident was in the early morning before work. Her behavior and attitude earned her a correction, administered by her firm either because they were waiting for an excuse or because as the company spokesman said keeping someone who has said racist things makes a company vulnerable to suits that the company fosters an unsafe working department.
You use liberal tactics and denigrate the birdwatcher rather than addressing Ms Cooper’s actions & behavior.
“Ahmaud Arbery had gone past the McMichaels, turned, charged them, punched one, and tried to wrestle his shotgun away from him. This was all recorded. Punching people and taking their stuff are crimes, unless there is a positive reason for them.”
Arbery had not gone past the McMichaels
The punching and wrestling occurred after the first shot was fired.
There was a positive reason for Arbery’s actions, he was defending himself against two armed thugs.
He had his sister upload the video! He ruined his victims life!
Screw the birdwatcher and the cream puff he rode in on!
Excellent point!
yep
My guy is a UPS driver and he carries dog treats all the time to treat the good doggies but it helps wi the not so dog doggies too.
That woman was a nut job and a fraud. Actions have consequences.
What was his offense exactly?
Wanting to enjoy an area that was created for bird watching, one of the most famous & visited bird refuges in the USA?
Or was it politely asking her to leash her dog and encouraging her to follow the rules by taking out a bag of dog treats?
If the dog was under Ms Cooper’s control she had nothing to fear from a man with a bag of dog treats 20 or more feet away from her. Mr Cooper did not cause Ms Cooper to lose her job her actions did.
The ramble
Central Park also attracts a goodly number of birders. On a warm Sunday in May, over 500 birders have been counted birding in the Ramble. Birding enthusiasts include visiting bird groups from other parts of New York State and neighboring states as well as visitors from distant states and abroad. On a spring weekday morning, you will see the business-suited folk catching a little birding on their way to work.
http://www.nycaudubon.org/manhattan-birding/central-park
Thanks! Freepers are seriously deluded on this racial incident. They hate the liberal white woman so she is to blame.
This black Harvard Grad/Idiot spends his free time trolling Central Park dog owners with his bag of doggie treats. What a head case!
So Mr Cooper took this stalking so far that he became an officer of the local Audubon society?
Pull the other leg; it’s got bells on.
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