Central Park birdwatching incident
On May 25, 2020, a confrontation occurred between Christian Cooper, a Black birder, and Amy Cooper (unrelated), a white dogwalker, in a section of New York City's Central Park known as the Ramble.
The Ramble where the encounter between Amy Cooper and Christian Cooper occurred. | |
| Date | May 25, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Location | Central Park, New York City |
| Filmed by | Christian Cooper |
| Participants | Amy Cooper Christian Cooper |
| Charges | Amy Cooper: filing a false police report (dismissed Feb 2021) |
Amy's dog was unleashed in the Ramble, an area where leashing is required for the safety of the wildlife; she allegedly declined Christian's request that she leash her dog. When Christian beckoned the dog toward him with a dog treat, Amy yelled "Don't you touch my dog!". Christian then recorded Amy, who called 9-1-1 and said, "There is an African American man—I am in Central Park—he is recording me and threatening myself and my dog. Please, send the cops immediately!" By the time New York City Police Department officers responded, both parties had left.
The incident happened the same day as the arrest and murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Both incidents gained nearly instant media coverage due to video recordings being shared across social media. The month after, the New York state legislature passed a law classifying false police reports against protected groups of people—including race, gender, and religion—as a hate crime.
Shortly after the incident Amy's employer, investment firm Franklin Templeton, fired her and said in a statement that they "do not tolerate racism of any kind". Her suit against them for wrongful termination was dismissed. On July 6, 2020, the Manhattan District Attorney announced that Amy Cooper had been charged with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor with a penalty of up to one year in jail. The charges against her were dropped in February 2021 after she completed an educational course on racial identity. Death threats and doxxing left her suicidal and drove her to leave the United States.
Christian cautioned against focusing on one individual and emphasized the wider problem of institutional racism in the United States. He wrote about the incident, his experiences birding, and the activity in general in his book Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World. In an effort to make the birdwatching community more inclusive, he also hosted a National Geographic TV show Extraordinary Birder with Christian Cooper.