Another year, another reminder that white privilege still exists in America.
Amy Cooper, the infamous dog owner who used her white fragility to terrorize a Black man bird-watching in New York’s Central Park last year, had her misdemeanor charge dismissed on Tuesday by the Manhattan District Attorney after completing some classes on racial equity. She had been charged with falsely reporting an incident to police after she’d been caught lying on camera to a 911 operator that Christian Cooper, a Black, gay bird watcher who isn’t related to her, threatened her and her dog in Central Park.
Although Christian Cooper declined to press charges, the District Attorney’s office had gone ahead with their case against Amy Cooper because they found her actions to not be just about him but also “a threat to the community if allowed to go unchecked.” But then it let the threat that Cooper was far from the first white woman to make once again go unchecked.
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“Given the issues at hand and Ms. Cooper's lack of criminal background, we offered her, consistent with our position on many misdemeanor cases involving a first arrest, an alternative, restorative justice resolution,” Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi told a Manhattan judge, in a statement that was sent to the press. The only legal consequence Cooper faced for her racism was entering a program that was “designed not just to punish but to educate and promote community healing.”
Cooper, who took five racial bias sessions, is getting away with weaponizing her white fragility against an innocent Black man. No plea bargain or trial, no probation or jail time — just a couple of courses. Our criminal justice system still doesn’t believe that white women like Amy Cooper can be actual racist criminals, that their words really can and do harm Black people, but still sees them as at worst uninformed individuals who just need to learn how to do better.
Cooper is a grown woman who made a deliberate choice. She knew what she was doing when she pretended to be a victim of violence as a white woman in Central Park, where five innocent Black teens grew into men over decades in prison after they had been falsely accused of endangering a white woman. Cooper’s behavior was inexcusable, and evil. To treat it as a matter of mere ignorance is to slap white supremacy on its wrist and then give it a second chance, again and again and again.
People like Amy Cooper don’t deserve a second chance in a society that would have not given Christian Cooper one if he hadn’t filmed the entire lie on his cell phone. If Amy Cooper actually learned anything from those sessions, she could have demanded a legal penalty for her racist actions. She would have considered the system to be unjust in giving her a break for what was truly a violent act of white supremacy.
All of this seems like a rushed return to normalcy rather than real change. What are we saying to the rest of the white people out here who will break the law to spew racism? Do we just pretend they are dumb and need an anti-racism book to read? Fun fact: You can still read anti-racism books in jail while still being accountable for your wrongdoing as a white person.
Cooper should have been a prime example to all of the people who have wielded and would wield whiteness to threaten the lives of Black and brown people that this is no longer tolerated.
But alas, this is America and the Amy Coopers of the world are still reigning supreme.
