We have to challenge people who say "I'm not racist". That's never really true. Like it or not, we all have internal biases that we have to confront daily. I know that statement pisses a lot of people off, but it's true. And if we don't acknowledge it, we'll never get past it. https://twitter.com/DrIbram/status/1265275571107397633

We let people get away with "I'm a good person" argument. Good people still have biases. But they do the work to try to get past them. They listen when others point them out, they apologize when they are wrong WITHOUT using defensive language.

We have to somehow get the Amy Coopers to see that the first step here is to actually take responsibility. Say I did the wrong thing for the wrong reasons. My actions were wrong and I clearly have a bias. I'm going to do the work to do and be better.

Just saying "I'm sorry, I'm not racist" isn't good enough. You're either lying to yourself, or us, or both. And the statement "I think I was just scared" is VERY telling.

If she wasn't scared (likely the case), that's just more defensive language, and she's not really sorry. You don't get to be the aggressor and the victim. If she was even remotely scared, then she needs to acknowledge the real reason why. Either way, she has a lot of work to do.