This video of Amy Cooper trying to SWAT a Black man in NYC is a great opportunity to talk about how whiteness operates. Not at an individual level, but a society-wide one. https://twitter.com/melodyMcooper/status/1264965252866641920

From what we can see, Cooper has a choice of a fight or flight. She can apologize for breaking the law, she can leash the dog, she can even yell at him while leaving. But she chooses the fight response. Why? She fights because she needs to put him in his place.

Christian Cooper, the man filmed and threatened, says he told her to leash the dog. She choose to confront him and immediately make it about the fact he is a Black man and she would wield the ultimate weapon as a white woman ag him: police violence. https://heavy.com/news/2020/05/christian-cooper-ramble-central-park-video/

She is clearly upset. So her brain goes into fight mode. She is being irrational, exposing her identity and clearly lying about Christian threatening her life. But she assumes she can get away with it. And she is correct.

What upsets her is an uppity Black man doesn't know his place. So he needs 2b smacked down. This is not about individual racism. In 60 seconds she unleashes her ultimate power: I can summon the structure of racist state violence on you. She knows and he knows it.

Amy Cooper is so at ease w/ racist state power to protect her, she tells Christian the lie she'll tell cops: "African-American man is threatening my life." She says that twice to 9/11. Then she goes into hysterical white woman mode.