excellent analysis of the Central Park confrontation over unleashed dog

[Demovictory9]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/26/opinions/amy-cooper-central-park-ramble-confrontation-filipovic/index.html

----

I don't know what was in Amy Cooper's heart, but even if she didn't intend to get Christian Cooper arrested, her actions were those of someone intending to leverage the power of law enforcement in her favor.

She appears to have understood the dynamics at play: She, a white woman (and she didn't have to even say that explicitly; she knew it would be grasped by whoever had answered the phone) would be seen as vulnerable and in need of protection, and her story would be believed on its face; he, a black man, would be seen as menacing and potentially dangerous, and his version of events would be doubted or disregarded.

Christian Cooper, for his part, certainly realized how this could all play out. Ahmaud Arbery, a black man in Georgia, was just out for a run last February when, authorities say, Gregory and Travis McMichael, two white men (one of them a former police officer, as it happened), grabbed their guns, chased him down, and shot him to death. They faced no criminal penalties and were simply let off the hook until a video emerged of their attack, and public outcry forced law enforcement to act. (The two have not been asked by a judge for a plea, and attorneys for the men have told reporters they committed no crimes, according to CNN reporting.) Without the video, the wheels of justice would likely never have even begun to turn.


And so Christian Cooper raised his phone and hit "record."
And that's the other problem here: We see again and again that African Americans who are victims of serious crimes need unimpeachable video evidence to be believed. Overwhelmingly, though, crimes are not caught on video. And even when they are, we have seen repeatedly that law enforcement often doesn't act until they are compelled by a huge public outcry. Without reliably fair law enforcement, there are simply few avenues for justice.

Social media has become one of them. But it is -- to make a radical understatement --imperfect. In this case, the benefits of publicizing this story are enormous. Christian Cooper was protected, while Amy Cooper was rightly made an example of after she threatened his safety and fabricated a crime to a 911 dispatcher. This is, hopefully, the kind of story that will make other entitled white people pause before exploiting their racial privilege at the expense of a person of color.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/26/opinions/amy-cooper-central-park-ramble-confrontation-filipovic/index.html

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Very true.

I'm a WM and I did another WTF after watching this. Thought she was a little nuts, like in emotional breakdown territory. Now, no job, no dog, no love. Sucks to be her...she's going to have to figure this out...

[Corgigal]

2. No..

911 has to send someone. We can’t decide over the phone if someone is lying.

Don’t blame them. Blame the woman lying and abusing the 911 system.

[TreadSoftly]

3. Does she get fined for fake 911 call? Does she get fined for cruelty to the dog?

Not trying to heap more...just want to know if these actions are underway.