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The Amy Cooper case was one I’ve been following closely since it started last year. The case between a white woman who was walking her dog unleashed at the New York Central Park, she was called to order by a black man to leash her dog. She however, called the cops on the man and have a false report.
I honestly don’t think what happened to the woman was justified. She wandered into an area where lease laws were in affect that is clear, but we immediately see her seeming in hysterics, Why? Everyone is focused on the African American part, but no one is pointing out this man harrassed her. As a woman, I can safely say nothing good comes from someone pointing a phone at you videoing especially in Central Park. She mentioned threatened her life and everyone took that as “He’s not hurting you wtf?” But she had no idea all she knew was some guy who in no instance during this video shows any effort to deesculate the situation. No “Ma’am I will put the phone away if you calm down”, no “I am sorry you feel uneasy, but so do I and this calms me down”. He never on video mentions why he filmed her (it’s implied before it, but never on camera) and for all she knew he could have been a sex trafficker. And the dog was excited and she was scared so she pulled the dog back and the dog tried to break her grasp (which meant the dog shouldn’t have been off leash anyway). He also allegedly said “I’m going to do something you won’t like” then tries to give the dog a treat! Seriously who would accept a treat for their dog from a guy just bitching about them, filming them while alone, in Central Park? Why would a birdwatcher have treats anyway? He surely must have had the passing thought of the issue as other dog walkers complained about him doing the same to them!
Having watched the video a couple of times I feel Amy Cooper acted rashly in a moment of emotional upset and did something which she regrets and which she wouldn’t normally do. She wasn’t thinking clearly, she was thinking with a little too much anger and emotion.
I hate when people use their social class and privileges as a weapon, but I have a hard time vilifying Ms. Cooper. When I watch that video I see someone who did something because she was muddle-headed and not because she was malicious. I think Amy Cooper did not prove that she is a racist in the video. There is lack of evidence to show that she could have acted differently if it was a white person who told her to leash her dog. There is lack of evidence to show that she had an unfair discriminated view of black people. What she did wrong was the inaccurate usage of the word threaten instead of harrass, not leashing her dog in the beginning, and the intention to cause harm on a person by using the police, which can be worse than being racist.
I think she should have used the word harass instead of threatening, in her police phone call.
It is not against the law to film another person in public, not is it to tell another people to follow park rules. I think Amy has lived a life where she felt that she did not have to follow the rules around her, and that she could get away with matters such as this. She tried to punish Chris for telling her off but she went overboard.