Life is filled with nuance, with complexity. Take, for example, the case of Amy Cooper. Cooper is a 41-year-old white woman who worked at Franklin Templeton, an asset management firm. She was walking her dog without a leash in the Ramble section of Central Park when she was confronted by a black man named Christian Cooper (no relation). He told her to leash her dog; she refused. According to Christian, he then stated, “Look, if you’re going to do what you want, I’m going to do what I want, but you’re not going to like it.” She asked what he meant. He then summoned her dog, planning to give the dog treats. “I pull out the dog treats I carry for just such intransigence,” he explained.
At that point, he began filming the exchange. She told him to stop taping; he refused. While grabbing her dog by its collar, she informed him she would call the cops. “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life,” she said. He responded, “Please tell them whatever you like.” She did, in fact, call the police, and said: “I’m in the Ramble, and there’s a man, African American. He has a bicycle helmet, and he is recording me and threatening me and my dog.”
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