Thread: #AmyCooper has apparently apologized but let's not pretend that she isn't racist. Her kneejerk reaction was to call the cops & she made clear she would tell them an African American man was threatening her. 1/ https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/26/us/central-park-video-dog-video-african-american-trnd/index.html

The problem with this apology is that she STILL claims she isn't racist. Racism in ingrained in us & in every part of society. That's what structural racism is. #AmyCooper was going to use that to her advantage & never realized she'd be putting a Black man's life in danger. 2/

#AmyCooper's life has been turned upside-down but that was because she made a conscious decision to lie on camera. Her apology centers herself. Thankfully Christian was recording. For all those wyte ppl in my mentions telling me he wasn't afraid & this wasn't abt race, you all 3/

are wrong. Wyte ppl excuse this sort of racism & gaslight us ALL the time. No amount of evidence is enough &you're blindness to casual racism harms Black & Brown men & women constantly. Black & Brown ppl are expendable. In Christian's own words, he had #AhmaudArbery & other
4/

Blck men & women who became death stats on his mind. #AmyCooper IS racist & knew better. Can she change? Yes. Will she? Who knows, but make no mistake that Amy is your teacher, your friend, your sister, your mother. Amy is even in academia. #academictwitter #antiracism 5/

Owning your racism isn't bad. That's part of growing & important in #antiracism. She should have owned that & said she'd do better, not excuse her behavior. There was no excuse. Too many wyte ppl excuse their racism instead of owning it &center themselves as victims. #Amy is a 6/

victim of her own stupidity. She allowed her racism to almost put Christian Cooper's life in danger. This is not about the dog. I'm glad it is safe now but this truly is not about the dog & ppl making it so have missed the point. #AmyCooper weaponized her tears & words 7/

to threaten a black man's life. She knew that her [fake] hysterical call to the police would immediately paint Christian Cooper as an aggressor & the cops would respond accordingly. There are countless wyte ppl arguing in my mentions that she was right & this wasn't abt race. 8/

This continuous battle to prove racism is in our every day lives when it's plain as day is exhausting. We can ask what-ifs all day long abt Christian Cooper, but one we should be asking is what if #AmyCooper just hadn't been racist? Racism doesn't always wear a wyte hood 9/9

Addendum: If you don't know who Emmett Till is, here's his story: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till

and if you think he's still not a target of racism even in death see here from 6 months ago: