I think this is the right take of Christian Cooper. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/nyregion/amy-cooper-christian-central-park-video.html?smid=ig-nytimes&utm_source=curalate_like2buy&utm_medium=curalate_like2buy_3euQ1BMQ__530aaabb-ad8c-46c3-bd5d-dac2449765f5&crl8_id=530aaabb-ad8c-46c3-bd5d-dac2449765f5 thread/

While I agree that #AmyCooper should be held responsible for holding up white supremacist patriarchy, the blowback has been swift and, perhaps, disproportionate in holding her individually accountable for a systemic and mythological problem.

I understand the place for catharsis, but some of the performances holding her (overly) individually responsible for a cultural problem that we all participate in and that all white people derive benefit from have approached if not demonstrated misogyny.

Take the (again, understandable) catharsis of this VSB post. Not only is forgiveness laughable, but he then orders her to fetch him some cough drops not just because LOLOLOL but so she can be an actual good, servicing woman worthy of forgiveness. https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/thoughts-on-forgiving-amy-cooper-aka-darth-karen-who-1843701476?fbclid=IwAR1RtPrAHKRZFtfD39dkL6s1m-cBmNha8oW5ctvr04yBeVEYEHAReXSQoh4

We can’t destroy white supremacy without destroying the heteropatriarchy it stands so firmly upon. And that means we should be pretty damn careful about reproducing oppression in our revolutionary demands for justice. /end

Almost done. I wanted to include a brief reading list.

— @mburkephd, When_Time_Warps
—Angela Davis, “Rape, Racism, and the Myth of the Black Rapist”
— @kate_manne, Down_Girl
—Andrea Smith, “Heteropatriarchy & the 3 Pillars of White Supremacy” & “Sexual Violence as a Tool of Genocide”
—George Yancy, “Elevators, Social Spaces and Racism”

And...the more I think about all of this, including this thread itself, I keep thinking about the respectability politics wrapped up in all of this in many ways, perhaps *including* the NYTimes article I posted in the OP. Going to stop Tweeting this out and start writing instead.

Thanks for listening!