3 Things Amy Cooper Did In Central Park To Damage Her Reputation And Career

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Amy Cooper falsely accuses Christian Cooper of attacking her in Central Park. Franklin Templeton ... [+] later fires her.NowThis Video Image

During a recent CNN interview, Amy Cooper said that her “entire life is being destroyed right now” after Christian Cooper posted a Facebook video of their encounter in Central Park. The video arguably shows Amy Cooper threatening the very freedom and life of Christian Cooper while claiming that he was the one threatening her life and safety. It arguably shows her having no problem lying even though that lie could wreak havoc on the life of another. And the video shows Amy Cooper changing the pitch, tone and inflection of her voice while on with a 911 operator so as to send the message that she was being physically assaulted though no one was assaulting her at all. Every single one of these actions is wrong, and Amy Cooper needs to own all of it before she can rebuild her reputation and career.

On Monday, Amy Cooper called police on Christian Cooper (no relation) after he asked her to put a leash on her dog and then refused to stop recording her. Amy is a white woman and Christian is a black man, and they had an encounter in the Ramble woodlands area of Central Park. Two days later, investment firm Franklin Templeton fired Amy Cooper for what it described as racism.

Also on Monday, the same day that Amy Cooper made a false report, police officers in Minnesota were killing a fully restrained and handcuffed 46-year-old black man named George Floyd. For several days now we have watched the outcry, anger, fires, riots and protests on the streets of Minneapolis, St. Paul and various other U.S. cities in response to this unjustifiable killing at the hands of Derek Chauvin and three other police officers, and it is tragic. But let us not forget Amy Cooper. Let us not allow the sheer amount of suffering and the Covid-19 pandemic to erase or overshadow what Amy Cooper did when she feigned being attacked by Christian Cooper in Central Park on the same day that George Floyd was killed. Let’s look more closely at how Amy Cooper damaged her reputation and career on that fateful Monday in Central Park.

Three Things Amy Cooper did to Damage Her Reputation and Career

Though Amy Cooper has since apologized for her behavior and actions in Central Park, she still describes herself in victim terms. She has stated that her life is being “destroyed” by others since Christian Cooper’s Facebook video went viral. In apologizing, Amy says that “words are just words and I can’t undo what I did, but I sincerely and humbly apologize to everyone.” Oh—will someone help me tell Amy Cooper that it was about so much more than words?

What happened in Central Park has far reaching consequences and was about so much more than words. That apology apparently wasn’t enough for her to hold on to her job with Franklin Templeton, and it won’t be enough for her to rebuild her reputation and career either because you first have to own what you did before you can successfully repair it.

1. Amy Cooper leaned on white privilege and demonstrated blatant racism.

Amy Cooper was the one breaking the rules in Central Park that day. She was walking her dog in an area that explicitly calls for dogs to be put on a leash. Yet upon being asked to follow this rule, Amy responded with the kind of superiority and indignation that could only be read as white privilege. Her next move was to put race smack dab in the middle of the episode by emphasizing Christian Cooper’s race and placing heavy importance on him being an “African American man.” She wasn’t just calling the police to claim that a man was threatening her. She went out of her way to let Christian know that if he didn’t stop recording her, she could get back at him by using her privilege to cry out that an “African American man” was the one doing the deed.

Before actually calling the police, Amy Cooper first threatened to do so. In doing this, she was letting Christian Cooper know in the most pressing way she could that she had power over him; that she could use her race and gender to get over on him; that she could truly hurt—even destroy—him with one phone call. Then she followed through on the threat and set things in motion for him to suffer for even daring to request that she put a leash on her dog. Amy Cooper decided that Christian Cooper would indeed suffer for having the audacity to challenge her power and her privilege.

The behavior displayed on the video is arguably racism. I don’t know if Amy Cooper is racist or not, but her behavior on the Monday in question was indistinguishable from what most people expect from racists. Using nothing but the color of his skin, Amy sent the message that she was superior to Christian and that he needed to step back in his place because he was a black man. That is racist, and that kind of behavior can damage reputations and careers. It also damages a leader’s credibility. And based on these messages, Franklin Templeton seems to think so as well.