TOPLINE
Amy Cooper was terminated “effective immediately” on Tuesday from her job at investment firm Franklin Templeton, following a storm of criticism over a video posted online that showed Cooper calling the police on a black man who asked her to keep her dog leashed in Central Park and filmed her reaction to his politely phrased request.
KEY FACTS
“We have made the decision to terminate the employee involved,” Franklin Templeton wrote on its official Twitter account, adding, “We do not tolerate racism of any kind.”
Christian Cooper, who is African American, spotted Amy Cooper (the two are unrelated) Monday in a part of Central Park called the Ramble.
Christian Cooper was bird-watching, and asked Amy Cooper to leash her dog, which is also a clearly posted Central Park rule.
The two began to argue, and Christian Cooper filmed part of the dispute using his smartphone; the video shows Amy Cooper asking him to stop, and then she takes out her phone to dial 911: “I’m calling the cops. I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.”
Christian Cooper posted the video of their encounter on Facebook and it quickly went viral, following a string of widely publicized incidents in which whites have called the police on blacks engaged in everyday activities, while #AmyCooper and #CentralParkKaren became Twitter trending topics for much of Tuesday.
Amy Cooper apologized in an interview with CNN, saying, “I'm not a racist. I did not mean to harm that man in any way.”
Crucial quotes
“We must, first and foremost, be willing to admit the times we are being racist, which #AmyCooper failed to do, which many Amy Coopers fail to do,” said Ibram X. Kendi, director of the Antiracism Center and bestselling author.
“Tired of waking up to new racist nonsense,” bestselling author Roxane Gay wrote on Twitter.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the incident was “racism, plain and simple.”
“Black Americans often face terrible daily dangers in outdoor spaces, where they are subjected to unwarranted suspicion, confrontation and violence,” the Audubon Society said in a statement, adding, “The outdoors—and the joy of birds—should be safe and welcoming for all people.”
Key background
The Central Park video comes at a moment when two racially charged deaths of African American men have come to wide attention thanks to cellphone video footage. The shooting of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia in February is being investigated by the Department of Justice as a hate crime. George Floyd died Monday night after a Minneapolis police officer was filmed kneeling on his neck during an arrest, while his fellow officers stood by, silent and expressionless; the FBI is now investigating. #BlackLivesMatter, #PoliceBrutality and #icantbreathe (referencing some of Eric Garner’s last words before he was killed by police during a 2014 arrest) also trended on Twitter on Tuesday.
Further reading
Investment Fund Suspends White Woman Who Called Police On Black Man In Central Park (Forbes)
