On Tuesday, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office dropped misdemeanor charges against Amy Cooper, the white woman who called the police on a Black birdwatcher in Central Park last year.
Amy Cooper was facing a third-degree charge for calling the police on Christian Cooper, a Black birdwatcher. The confrontation occurred on May 25 of last year and started after Christian Cooper asked Amy to put a leash on her dog in an area of the park where dogs were not allowed to run freely. Amy called 911 and, in an increasingly panic-stricken tone, insisted that Christian was threatening her. A video shows her telling Christian that she was, “taking a picture and calling the cops” and that she was going to “tell them there’s an African-American man threatening [her] life.” According to a press release from the DA’s office, once officers arrived at the scene, Amy admitted that Cooper had not tried to assault her.
After the video went viral, Amy was charged and convicted of a Class A misdemeanor, in which she could have faced up to one year in jail accompanied by a fine.
Instead of jail time, Amy was asked to complete five education and therapy classes on racial equity. Assistant DA Joan Illuzzi said in a statement that given Cooper’s lack of criminal background, she was offered an “alternative, restorative justice resolution: designed not just to punish but to educate and promote community healing.” Cooper’s therapist reported that it was a “moving experience” for Amy in which she had learned a lot.
People on social media criticized Cooper’s acquittal. Many thought that she deserved harsher punishment, and that the dropped charges were yet another example of white privilege.
As someone who teaches racial bias courses, I am confident in stating that it was ignorant to believe Amy Cooper needed such training.
Her malicious weaponization of racial bias proves that she’s well-aware of it and knows how it works.
She needed punishment, not coddling. https://t.co/DTGvynZHsm
— Adrienne Lawrence (@AdrienneLaw) February 16, 2021
Amy Cooper was performing her role within white supremacist patriarchy – to assert her white femininity as under attack by Blackness, specifically Black men.
Carolyn Bryant Donham accused Emmett Till and decades later said she lied.
No punishment for playing your part. https://t.co/OlM8Mnb6Tz
— machine gun Kele (@kelechnekoff) February 16, 2021
While the majority of people were disappointed with the ruling, others were quick to point out Christian Cooper’s ambivalence; he sat out the prosecution and refused to press charges against Amy. In an opinion piece he wrote in The Washington Post in July, Christian explained why he didn’t press charges.
“I think it’s a mistake to focus on this one individual,” he wrote. “The important thing the incident highlights is the long-standing, deep-seated racial bias against us Black and brown folk that permeates the United States.”
Some twitter users deemed her punishment severe enough and supported Christian’s choice to “err on the side of compassion.”
She’ll likely never have meaningful employment again. I think she has been sufficiently punished. Should she be thrown into a hole and given a crust of bread to eat every day? By the way, the guy she called the cops on DIDN’T want to press charges
— Everyone is stupid except me (@Mr______Snrub) February 16, 2021
Her “malicious weaponization of racial bias deserves punishment?” She already received “punishment” in the form of racial bias education. Seriously, after she went to those classes and claims to be a new person, you still want her to what? Go to jail? Justice was met in this case
— Frank (@fr_sanii) February 16, 2021
After the decision to dismiss all charges against her was announced, Amy Cooper’s lawyer, Robert Barnes, tweeted a statement in which he hinted at further legal action over the incident.
“Others rushed to the wrong conclusion based on inadequate investigation & they may yet face legal consequences,” he wrote.
The equivocal tweet, for many, was an example of the leniency and forgiveness granted to white people by the criminal justice system, even after instances of blatant racism occur. It is clear that the dismissal of everyday racism will continue, even if the price could be as high as a human life.
