{"id":22648,"date":"2020-05-27T23:17:22","date_gmt":"2020-05-28T06:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/?p=22648"},"modified":"2020-05-27T23:59:11","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T06:59:11","slug":"white-nyc-drama-queen-attempts-to-frame-black-birder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/white-nyc-drama-queen-attempts-to-frame-black-birder\/","title":{"rendered":"White NYC Drama Queen Attempts to Frame Black Birder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"642\" height=\"361\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4F3xkfMDvIo\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/AmyCooper.jpg?fit=640%2C427\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22651\" width=\"608\" height=\"405\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/AmyCooper.jpg 1478w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/AmyCooper-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/AmyCooper-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/AmyCooper-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px\" \/>\n\n<figcaption>Christian Cooper posted a video of a white woman, Amy Cooper, calling police on him after he asked her to leash her dog in Central Park.<\/figcaption>\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nShe is just the latest in a long line of white people calling the police on black Americans.  By&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/authors\/anna-north\">Anna North<\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;May 26, 2020.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nChristian Cooper was bird-watching in New York\u2019s Central Park on Monday when he saw a woman with an unleashed dog.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nLeashes are required in the Ramble, the part of the park where the two were walking. \u201cThat\u2019s important to us birders because we know that dogs won\u2019t be off leash at all and we can go there to see the ground-dwelling birds,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/05\/26\/us\/central-park-video-dog-video-african-american-trnd\/index.html\">Cooper told CNN<\/a>.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nSo Cooper decided to say something. What happened next was captured in a video that\u2019s now been seen by millions of Americans.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nThe woman, Amy Cooper, refused to put her dog on a leash or move to another area. So Christian took out some dog treats he carries for situations like this. At that point, according to Christian, she began to panic \u2014 and he started filming.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nIn the video, posted to Facebook and shared thousands of times, Amy approaches Christian, potentially violating social distancing guidelines. Then she threatens to call the police, saying, \u201cI\u2019m going to tell them there\u2019s an African American man threatening my life.\u201d Finally, she actually calls the authorities, saying that an \u201cAfrican American\u201d man \u201cis recording me and threatening me and my dog.\u201d Cooper says very little on the video, and certainly nothing threatening.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nWhen police arrived, both Christian and Amy had already left the park. And after the video went viral, Amy issued an apology and was fired from her job. But for many, the incident is a reminder of larger ills in American society: the willingness of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/first-person\/2018\/5\/17\/17362100\/starbucks-racial-profiling-yale-airbnb-911\">white people to call the police on black people<\/a>, and the epidemic of violence against black Americans by both police and white civilians, including the recent killings of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/identities\/2020\/5\/6\/21249202\/ahmaud-arbery-jogger-killed-in-georgia-video-shooting-grand-jury\">Ahmaud Arbery<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2020\/5\/13\/21257457\/breonna-taylor-louisville-shooting-ahmaud-arbery-justiceforbre\">Breonna Taylor<\/a>.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n\u201cWe live in an era with things like Ahmaud Arbery, where black men are seen as targets,\u201d Christian Cooper told CNN. \u201cThis woman thought she could exploit that to her advantage, and I wasn\u2019t having it.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"CZ5ZIG\">Amy Cooper called the police after a dispute about her dog<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nChristian Cooper told CNN he was \u201cpretty calm\u201d when he asked Amy Cooper to abide by the park\u2019s leash rules. But Amy claims he was screaming at her. \u201cHe was running in an open field,\u201d she told CNN. \u201cHe came out of the bush.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nWhen she refused to leash her dog, he says he told her, \u201cif you\u2019re going to do what you want, I\u2019m going to do what I want, but you\u2019re not going to like it.\u201d He meant he was going to film her, but Amy says, \u201cI didn\u2019t know what that meant. When you\u2019re alone in a wooded area, that\u2019s absolutely terrifying, right?\u201d\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nShe now claims that fear is the reason she decided to call the police. \u201cI think I was just scared,\u201d she told CNN. \u201cWhen you\u2019re alone in the Ramble, you don\u2019t know what\u2019s happening. It\u2019s not excusable, it\u2019s not defensible.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nAmy also says she wants to \u201cpublicly apologize to everyone.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not a racist,\u201d she told CNN. \u201cI did not mean to harm that man in any way.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nAmy also told CNN that her \u201centire life is being destroyed right now\u201d \u2014 after&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/fireamycooper?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Ehashtag\">calls on social media<\/a>&nbsp;for her employer to fire her, she has been&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FTI_US\/status\/1265348185201008641\">let go by Franklin Templeton<\/a>, the investment company where she worked.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n\u201cFollowing our internal review of the incident in Central Park yesterday, we have made the decision to terminate the employee involved, effective immediately,\u201d the company&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FTI_US\/status\/1265348185201008641\">said on Twitter<\/a>. \u201cWe do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin Templeton.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nAmy Cooper has also surrendered her dog to the shelter where she adopted him, after&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/morganapple\/status\/1265313377305288705?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet\">some people noted<\/a>&nbsp;that she appeared to be choking him with his collar in the video.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n\u201cThe dog is now in our rescue\u2019s care and he is safe and in good health,\u201d shelter staff said in a Facebook post, according to CNN.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"epgWcc\">The incident was part of a long history of white people calling the police on black Americans<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nIn this particular case, no arrests were made and Christian was not physically harmed. But there\u2019s a long history of such 911 calls by white people resulting in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/identities\/2018\/5\/11\/17340908\/racial-profiling-starbucks-yale-police-violence-911-bias\">arrests, interrogation, and violence<\/a>&nbsp;against black people.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nThis dangerous pattern received greater national attention in 2018 when<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/identities\/2018\/5\/11\/17340908\/racial-profiling-starbucks-yale-police-violence-911-bias\">two black men<\/a>, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, were&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/identities\/2018\/4\/14\/17238494\/what-happened-at-starbucks-black-men-arrested-philadelphia\">arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks<\/a>&nbsp;while doing nothing more than waiting for a business partner to arrive. Soon after, a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/woman-calls-police-oakland-barbecue_n_5af50125e4b00d7e4c18f741\">white Oakland woman<\/a>&nbsp;became the subject of countless&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/first-person\/2018\/5\/30\/17406092\/racial-profiling-911-bbq-becky-living-while-black-babysitting-while-black\">\u201cBBQ Becky\u201d memes<\/a>&nbsp;after she called the police on a black family who were barbecuing in a park \u2014 the family were detained and questioned for an hour. Also in 2018,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/identities\/2018\/4\/23\/17271296\/waffle-house-video-police-racism\">Chikesia Clemons<\/a>&nbsp;was arrested and thrown to the ground by police at an Alabama Waffle House after restaurant staff called over a dispute with the bill. The officers exposed Clemons\u2019 breasts and threatened to break her arm.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nAs&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/identities\/2018\/5\/11\/17340908\/racial-profiling-starbucks-yale-police-violence-911-bias\">P.R. Lockhart wrote at Vox<\/a>&nbsp;in 2018, \u201cif \u2018shopping while black\u2019 and \u2018driving while black\u2019 have been long used to describe a tendency for people and police to treat black people with suspicion, recent incidents have provided an&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/lake-merritt-bbq-barbecue-video-oakland-racist-charcoal-east-bay-black-family-919355\"><strong>increasing<\/strong><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theroot.com\/nj-gym-boots-black-customers-because-umm-im-sur-1825370020#ignr7ojmw6svyf2f.qcftuqc4k2qg\"><strong>&nbsp;number&nbsp;<\/strong><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/post-nation\/wp\/2018\/05\/01\/a-black-former-white-house-staffer-was-moving-into-a-new-apartment-someone-reported-a-burglary\/?utm_term=.002ded8e5ae7\"><strong>of<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/identities\/2018\/5\/10\/17340008\/anthony-wall-police-waffle-house-video\"><strong>scenarios<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;to add to the list.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nIndeed, black bird-watchers have long spoken out about the dangers of \u201cbirding while black.\u201d In&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/lithub.com\/birding-while-black\/\">a 2016 essay<\/a>&nbsp;by that name, J. Drew Lanham wrote about encountering Confederate flags and KKK graffiti while out looking for birds, and having to give up a promising research project because a white supremacist group became active in the mountainous area he was supposed to study.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n\u201cIn remote places, fear has always accompanied binoculars, scopes, and field guides as baggage,\u201d he wrote.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nMany in the birding community have&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JasonWardNY\/status\/1265064005737078784\">voiced support<\/a>&nbsp;for Christian Cooper since the incident became public.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n\u201cBlack Americans often face terrible daily dangers in outdoor spaces, where they are subjected to unwarranted suspicion, confrontation, and violence,\u201d Rebeccah Sanders,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.audubon.org\/news\/audubon-statement-incident-central-parks-ramble\">senior vice president for state programs at the Audubon Society<\/a>, said in a statement. \u201cWe are grateful Christian Cooper is safe. He takes great delight in sharing New York City\u2019s birds with others and serves as a board member of the New York City Audubon Society, where he promotes conservation of New York City\u2019s outdoor spaces and inclusion of all people.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nFor his part,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2020\/05\/26\/amy-cooper-central-park\/\">Christian Cooper told the Washington Post<\/a>, \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s an African American person in America who hasn\u2019t experienced something like this at some point.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nBut, he said, \u201cI don\u2019t shy away from confronting the scofflaw when I see it. Otherwise, the park would be unusable \u2014 not just to us birders but to anybody who enjoys the beauty.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n<strong>The Toxic Intersection of Racism and Public Space<\/strong>\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/BrentinMock.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22657\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/BrentinMock.jpg 400w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/BrentinMock-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/BrentinMock-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/>\n\n<figcaption>Brentin Mock<\/figcaption>\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nby Breentin Mock  (MAY 26, 2020)\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nFor black men like Christian Cooper, the threat of a call to police casts a cloud of fear over parks and public spaces that othersassociate with safety.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nThat Christian Cooper is still alive should not be taken for granted. His encounter with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/AmyCooper?src=hashtag_click\">Amy Cooper<\/a>&nbsp;in Central Park could have ended in any number of ways. Arrest. Injury. Gunfire. We don\u2019t know whether Amy Cooper, a white woman, considered any of those outcomeswhen she called the police on Christian after he admonished her for refusing to leash her dog in a bird garden, per park rules. But in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/melodyMcooper\/status\/1264965252866641920?s=20\">the viral video of the encounter<\/a>, we can hear malice in her voice.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nThe way she says, \u201cI\u2019m going to tell them an African American man is threatening my life,\u201d \u2014 when Christian was armed with nothing but dog treats \u2014 gives a clear indication thatat the very least, she believed referencing his race would matter in the police response. By identifying Christian as an African American man when calling 911, she was dialing it up to mark her call urgent.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nFortunately, neither of the Coopers were still in the park when police arrived on the scene. Hadthey remained, the situation had high potential for escalation, especially given that Christian Cooper visits the Ramble bird garden frequently. He is a birdwatcher and invested in protecting&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.centralparknyc.org\/attractions\/the-ramble\">the Ramble bird habitat<\/a>&nbsp;from an influx of dog-walkers spurred by Covid-19 social distancing guidelines, even though the habitat is clearly marked as prohibiting unleashed dogs.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nAftera heavy dose of Twitter-shaming, Amy Cooper&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnewyork.com\/on-air\/as-seen-on\/white-woman-in-viral-central-park-video-issues-apology\/2431912\/\">apologized for her actions<\/a>.(She also gave up her dog and was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2020-05-26\/franklin-templeton-places-employee-on-leave-after-confrontation\">fired from her finance job<\/a>&nbsp;amid the backlash.) But the casual encounter between the white and black Coopers raises questions about who and what are considered to be deserving of protection when it comes to public spaces. Urbanists have been calling for more green spaces and open streets where cars are limited or prohibited, to encourage walking and biking. Many cities have&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citylab.com\/transportation\/2020\/04\/coronavirus-city-street-public-transit-bike-lanes-covid-19\/609190\/\">answered this call<\/a>&nbsp;at least temporarily during coronavirus lockdowns.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citylab.com\/solutions\/2016\/04\/vacant-lots-green-space-crime-research-statistics\/476040\/\">Study<\/a>&nbsp;after&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.org\/en-us\/what-we-do\/our-insights\/perspectives\/greener-cities-healthier-cities\/\">study<\/a>&nbsp;shows that more parks and green spaces in cities can yield&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citylab.com\/environment\/2015\/10\/the-pretty-much-totally-complete-health-case-for-urban-nature\/411331\/\">positive mental health benefits<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 something&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citylab.com\/perspective\/2020\/04\/coronavirus-nature-city-park-funding-accessibility-location\/609697\/\">especially useful in the current pandemic<\/a>.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nBut policies intended to foster feelings of safety and liberationcan also invite more anxiety for black people so longas they are viewed as threatening, or, at best,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citylab.com\/equity\/2018\/04\/suspiciously-black-in-starbucks\/558257\/\">with suspicion<\/a>&nbsp;in public spaces. This becomes more magnified under the mandate of wearing masks, which under any other circumstance would invite an even more prejudiced view of black people.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n\u201cContact with nature reduces precursors to crime like stress and aggression, making people feel happier, and less inclined to engage in criminal acts,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citylab.com\/life\/2019\/06\/parks-crime-safety-green-space\/592648\/\">wrote researchers Lincoln Larson and S. Scott Ogletree<\/a>. \u201cAnd when people gather in parks and other green spaces, it puts more \u2018eyes on the streets,\u2019 exposing criminals to constant community surveillance.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nThose kinds of observations must be tempered by the day-to-day realities of those who don\u2019t have the cheat codes of whiteness to help them avoid racial harassment, especially from police.The Jane Jacobian idea of\u201ceyes on the street\u201d very easily becomes \u201ceyes on the black people\u201d \u2014 which is why some African Americans&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citylab.com\/equity\/2019\/12\/queen-slim-movie-black-spaces-police-violence-gentrification\/603016\/\">disengage from public spaces like parks altogether<\/a>. These peaceful green spaces just as easily induce&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citylab.com\/equity\/2019\/03\/inequality-parks-and-green-space-income-race-research\/585166\/\">anxiety<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citylab.com\/environment\/2019\/01\/detroit-tree-planting-programs-white-environmentalism-research\/579937\/\">trauma<\/a>&nbsp;for black and brown people, especially when they know the cops can be unleashed at any moment.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nWhite people can weaponize the police against people who aren\u2019t white, and that power only flows in one direction. The way Amy Cooper reacted in the video shows that she was aware of that power dynamic. All it took was for a white person to send a bat signal \u2014 or in Amy Cooper\u2019s case, a racial dog whistle \u2014 to make a garden unsafe for a black person. So long as people of color, and black men in particular, are seen as a potential danger, the issue of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citylab.com\/design\/2016\/03\/why-race-matters-in-planning-public-parks-houston-texas\/474966\/\">racial equity in parks<\/a>&nbsp;and other open and public spaces goes unresolved.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nAcknowledging Christian Cooper\u2019s bird-watching mission in this, the National Audubon Society released a statement:\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n\u201cBlack Americans often face terrible daily dangers in outdoor spaces, where they are subjected to unwarranted suspicion, confrontation, and violence,\u201d said&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/audubonsociety\/status\/1265305093353717760?s=20\">Audubon SVP for State Programs Rebeccah Sanders<\/a>. \u201cThe outdoors \u2014 and the joy of birds \u2014 should be safe and welcoming for all people.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nBut it doesn\u2019t really matter that Christian Cooper is a card-carrying Audubon Society member, or that he is a Harvard grad. Here he is discussing birds:\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/i\/status\/1265338098256424973\">Audubon Audio<\/a>\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nThese titles have no sentinel function for black people if they have no reasonable expectation of equal protection under the law. With just one sentence and a phone, Amy Cooper was able to unfurl a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citylab.com\/equity\/2018\/07\/why-we-should-stop-calling-it-the-great-migration\/564419\/\">whole U.S. history<\/a>&nbsp;of police \u2014 and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citylab.com\/perspective\/2020\/05\/ahmaud-arbery-racial-violence-neighborhood-safety-ptsd\/611479\/\">police<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citylab.com\/equity\/2013\/07\/its-not-just-zimmerman-race-matters-lot-stand-your-ground-verdicts\/6195\/\">wannabes<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 apprehending, hunting, and killing black people in open parks and streets to remind him that this was a space that he was not entitled to be in, unlike herself. The park rules? Those were for the birds.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nChristian Cooper did not run when she unholstered this history; he stood his ground.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n\u201cI am not going to participate in my own dehumanization,\u201d he&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2020\/05\/26\/amy-cooper-central-park\/\">told&nbsp;<em>The Washington Post<\/em><\/a>.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nHad he run, there was no guarantee that he wouldn\u2019t have been chased down by anyone in the park who believed their whiteness deputizes them by birthright to police black people out of any public space. There was no guarantee that if police showed up that they wouldn\u2019t have acted just as they did with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citylab.com\/equity\/2016\/07\/how-environmental-injustice-connects-to-police-violence\/492053\/\">Eric Garner<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 or with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/minnesota.cbslocal.com\/2020\/05\/26\/george-floyd-man-dies-after-being-arrested-by-minneapolis-police-fbi-called-to-investigate\/\">George Floyd, the latest unarmed African American man to die while being restrained by police in Minneapolis on Memorial Day<\/a>.\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\nJust as with Garner, Floyd was killed by police on a public street with dozens of people watching \u2014 \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citylab.com\/life\/2018\/03\/want-to-fight-crime-plant-some-flowers-with-your-neighbor\/556271\/\">eyes on the street<\/a>\u201d were of no help to them.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>She is just the latest in a long line of white people calling the police on black Americans. By&nbsp;Anna North&nbsp;&nbsp;May 26, 2020. Christian Cooper was bird-watching in New York\u2019s Central Park on Monday when he saw a woman with an &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/white-nyc-drama-queen-attempts-to-frame-black-birder\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22648"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22661,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22648\/revisions\/22661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}