Recalling ‘Central Park Karen’: Never Forget How A White Woman Tried To Criminalize An Innocent Black Birdwatcher On Memorial Day

Source: Screenshot / @melodyMcooper

While much of the focus on Saturday will rightfully go to commemorating George Floyd and the horrific police murder that shockingly stole his life four years ago in Minneapolis, there is also a different kind of travesty of justice that took place on that same Memorial Day holiday in 2020 that history has shown easily could have similarly resulted in yet another Black man being killed at the hands of police.

Central Park Karen

Both Floyd and Christian Cooper were accused of committing crimes, but there is video proof that the latter didn’t do anything wrong and instead was falsely accused of “threatening” a white woman’s life at a time when there was a hyperfocus on the phenomenon of “Karens” – white women who weaponize the inherit privileges they enjoy simply because of the color of their skin.

The attention backfired on Amy Cooper (no relation, obviously) in spectacular fashion and she appears to have retreated underground since her racially tinged false tirade got caught on camera threatening to weaponize the police against an innocent bird-watcher who simply demanded that she abide by the law and leash her dog.

What happened?

In case you forgot, Amy Cooper appeared to be feigning mortal fear from Christian Cooper, who asked her to comply with New York City law and put her dog on a leash in a portion of Central Park where bird-watching is popular.

Amy Cooper responded to the request fby calling the police while clumsily putting a leash on her dog, which the video showed was being dragged, lifted and possibly choked by the tether.

Amy Cooper appeared to be more concerned with putting an innocent Black man in the criminal justice system than she did with following the law, let alone her dog’s welfare. It was a moment of racist irony at its worst.

“Will you please stop? Sir, I’m asking you to stop,” Amy Cooper told Christian Cooper while dragging her dog, whose paws are lifted off the ground briefly.

“Pease don’t come close to me,” Christian Cooper says urgently as Amy Cooper — who was at least wearing a mask while advancing and pointing aggressively — threatened to violate social distancing pandemic guidelines in addition to possibly abusing her pet and ignoring signs posted that dogs must be on a leash.

Amy Cooper then, of course, resorted to the familiar go-to move for distressed white women in the presence of Black men and said she would “call the cops,” something that Christian Cooper quickly encouraged her to do.

“I’m gonna tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life,” Karen says almost triumphantly in a moment where she apparently realizes she still may have the upper hand in a situation she was to blame for but refused to be put in her place by a Black man. She seemed to emit an aura of pride when she went to make the call.

Watch the video below of the unfortunate encounter on the Memorial Day holiday.

This woman called the police on a Black birdwatcher after he asked her to leash her dog in NYC’s Central Park, claiming that ‘an African American man is threatening my life’ pic.twitter.com/m41NhFD7No

— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) May 27, 2020

Past racist incidents informed Christian Cooper’s response

Christian Cooper said that he was aware enough to begin recording in part because of the high profile case of Ahmaud Arbery, the Black jogger in Georgia who was killed by vigilante white men who racially profiled him as a criminal. Central Park also served as the backdrop of the infamous Central Park jogger case decades earlier that resulted in delayed justice for a group of Black and brown teenagers who would ultimately emerge as the Exonerated Five.

“We live in an age of Ahmaud Arbery where black men are gunned down because of assumptions people make about black men, black people, and I’m just not going to participate in that,” Christian Cooper said at the time.

The beginning of the end for Amy Cooper

Amy Cooper, on the other hand, apologized, but it was too late. The internet had already done its thing and the viral incident quickly led to her employer suspending her before ultimately firing her.

You know you’re on the wrong side of history when the likes of Candace Owens defend you, and that’s exactly what happened as Amy Cooper became the newfound darling of anti-Black pundits.

The domino effect was already underway, though, as Amy Cooper was charged with the crime of falsifying a police report for lying during a 911 call that Christian Cooper was threatening her life in Central Park.

Amy Cooper also “voluntarily surrendered” her dog to The Abandoned Angels Cocker Spaniel Rescue, Inc., after her questionable treatment of her pet in the video.

The charges were eventually dropped after Amy Cooper completed “racial equality” therapy and, in classic Karen form, she ended up suing her former employer for racial discrimination.

Of course, Amy Cooper quickly lost that lawsuit because, as mentioned earlier, the entire world saw her trying to criminalize Christian Cooper’s Blackness when she called 911 under false pretenses because he asked her to obey the law.

Turning tragedy to triumph

Christian Cooper, for his part, went on to turn tragedy to triumph as he released a memoir and is now hosting a birding show on the National Geographic network.

“Extraordinary Birder with Christian Cooper” takes viewers “on a journey to dive into and discover the wild, wonderful and unpredictable world of birds,” according to the show’s website.

This is America.

SEE ALSO:

Here’s A List Of All The Repercussions Amy ‘Central Park Karen’ Is Facing

Christian Cooper: Everything To Know About Man Who Exposed ‘Central Park Karen’

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