Amy Cooper

The only threat to Amy Cooper’s dog was Amy Cooper.

“I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.”

Just as Carolyn Bryant Donham knew what she was doing with Emmett Till, Amy Cooper knew exactly what she was doing when she made that phone call to police. She made that call with faith that she could wield the power of the state to seriously harm, or erase this Black man’s life from existence.

Did yall hear how she altered her voice though? At what point in their socialization process do white people, or white women in this example learn that they can expect to be able to wield the power of the state on their behalf in this very specific way?

It is a very peculiar thing for groups who are never truly seen as being fully human by their oppressors to so readily toe the line for access and proximity to power when the idea of (in this case) racial hierarchy and the false belief in the sovereignty of whiteness is threatened by something as small as leashing one’s dog in the park.

It looks like her company has moved to fire her. I am not sure if it’s because they really thought it was the right thing to do, or if they did it purely out of concern for their own future financial interests, but there it is.

And in other news, another one of us is dead today. There is a video of that too, as there have been so many others.

Some time ago I attended an event that was said to have been designed to build trust between police officers and community members, particularly communities of color. My first red flag came when it became apparent that the officers involved would remain armed, and in uniform during the discussion. A total non-starter when it comes to establishing feelings of physical and psychological safety for POC. Another demoralizing aspect of that event, was the total disconnect in understanding police brutality, as the officers were united in blaming the people who filmed other officers with their cell phones; asserting that it’s the cameras and the media that incite tension and find racism where it doesn’t exist.

It was a stark contrast to the lived experiences of many of the POC in the room who shared how the cell phone recordings, the Facebook lives, activism on twitter, etc brought to the surface injustice that was already happening but was often ignored or skewed to blame the victims of police brutality until people at the grassroots level decided to report and record.

I hear a lot of discussion around whether or not we should share the videos of these extrajudicial killings, and I am willing to engage with any Black person who is most likely to be directly impacted by this targeted violence and the messaging that the violence is intended to send about what what you feel is the best thing to do, or not do in these instances. I haven’t yet figured out what I’d want for myself if it was me.

I’m tired, and I know that many of you are too.

Ubuntu,

From Aspiring Humanitarian, Relando Thompkins-Jones

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