Member-only story
Central Park’s Black Birdwatcher Betrays All Five Centuries of the Black Freedom Struggle
Black Lives Matter is the Last Chance White Americans Have to Get Right with Black People, the World…and with Themselves
Christian Cooper, the 57-year-old black birdwatcher who filmed white female dog walker Amy Cooper as she tried to sic, not her dog, but the NYPD on him for daring to challenge her refusal to leash the dog — that Christian Cooper has now refused to press charges against her for, among other things, making a false police report.
Christian Cooper explained himself in the New York Times. He allowed that Amy Cooper (no “relation”), 41, has suffered enough since the May incident, in that, so far, she has lost her career, her — presumably — good reputation, and even the damn dog, which unintentionally served as the flashpoint for this whole imbroglio.
“On the one hand, she’s already paid a steep price,” Christian told the Times. “That’s not enough of a deterrent to others?”
Cooper went deeper, though, much deeper:
“Bringing her more misery just seems like piling on. So if the DA feels the need to pursue charges, he should pursue charges. But he can do that without me.”
