Racism at its finest was recorded in the heart of New York City over Memorial Day weekend after a woman called the police on a Black man who asked her to put her dog on a leash in Central Park
Amy Cooper, who is white, was politely asked by Christian Cooper, a Black man, to put her dog on a leash in an area where it is marked that all dogs must be on a leash. The white, female Cooper engaged in some sort of verbal altercation with the Black male Cooper, which prompted him to begin recording the incident.
His sister posted the footage on Twitter, which can be seen below.
Christian says he continued recording because he wasn’t going to be intimidated by racism. “I’m not going to participate in my own dehumanization. I’m not going to feed into this,” he said to NBC New York.
“We live in an age of Ahmaud Arbery where Black men are gunned down because of assumptions people make about Black men, Black people, and I’m just not going to participate in that,” Cooper said.
Mayor Bill DeBlasio even echoed the cries of racism when he saw the footage as he described on Twitter.
Since the footage has gone viral, Amy has been put on administrative leave by her employer Franklin Templeton, an investment management company.
And if you think things can’t get any worse in Amy’s life, she was accused of animal cruelty for what appeared to be her choking the dog in the video. As a result, Amy “voluntarily surrendered” the dog to Abandoned Angels Cocker Spaniel Rescue.
“The dog is now in our rescue’s care and he is safe and in good health,” the rescue said.
