Video of birdwatcher Christian Cooper goes viral after Central Park incident

The new video shows Mr Cooper - an avid birdwatcher - discussing his love of nature
Kit Heren27 May 2020

A new video of the birdwatching black man who was unfairly threatened with the police by a white woman in New York's Central Park this week has gone viral.

Christian Cooper originally hit the headlines after Amy Cooper, an unrelated woman, called the police after he asked her to put a leash on her dog in a birdwatching section of the park.

Mr Cooper filmed the incident in which Ms Cooper said she would tell officers that "there's an African-American man threatening my life," before dialling 911.

Footage of the incident was posted online by Mr Cooper's sister and sparked anger after being widely shared.

The woman has also now lost her job at investment firm Franklin Templeton because of the incident.

The new video, which has been viewed nearly seven million times on Twitter alone since being posted on Tuesday evening, shows Mr Cooper demonstrating his knowledge and enthusiasm for birds.

Describing his passion, he says in the short video: "You hear about birds and you see them in a book, and you're like 'oh wow, that's an amazing bird, I'd love to see that one day'.

"And then one day you're walking through the woods or through a swamp... and suddenly 'flap, flap flap, flap flap'".

Joshua Potash, who posted the clip to Twitter, warned against singling Mr Cooper out just because he seemed friendly and unthreatening.

He wrote: "If this man had 7 tattoos on his face she still could’ve leashed her dog, let alone everything that followed.

"I share this more [because] we see the narrative “she called the police on a black man” like the man is some faceless, nameless idea, rather than a living breathing person."

Ms Cooper was fired from her job at investment firm Franklin Templeton, the company said on Tuesday.

"Following our internal review of the incident in Central Park yesterday, we have made the decision to terminate the employee involved, effective immediately. We do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin Templeton," the firm said in a statement.

Ms Cooper has apologised for the incident.

In a phone interview with NBC New York, she said: “I sincerely and humbly apologise to everyone, especially to that man, his family.

“It was unacceptable and I humbly and fully apologise to everyone who’s seen that video, everyone that’s been offended… everyone who thinks of me in a lower light and I understand why they do.”

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