Violence continues to beget violence in a highly covered incident where a white woman falsely accused a Black birdwatcher of assaulting her, resulting in numerous think pieces and critical discussions around race in America.
On Tuesday Amy Cooper, the woman dubbed “Central Park Karen,” filed a lawsuit against her former employer accusing them of moving prematurely in firing her after she was publicly ridiculed over her racist action in May 2020.
According to the New York Daily News, Cooper claims the asset management company Franklin Templeton gave into pressure without conducting a formal investigation once the video of her accosting Christian Cooper, a science writer and editor who enjoys birdwatching, went viral. In a twist of irony and what surely exemplifies how slavery marked Africans and their descendants, both Amy and Christian have the same last name.
“Franklin Templeton perpetuated and legitimized the story of ‘Karen’ vs. an innocent African American to its perceived advantage, with reckless disregard for the destruction of Plaintiff’s life in the process,” her attorney Matthew Litt states in the suit.
While the company did announce it would launch a probe into the incident, Cooper claims that she was never contacted and believes that she was discriminated against because of her gender and race. It claims the fallout from the moment
And while Christian attempted to back away from the public frenzy around the case, initially stating he would not join the criminal investigation by pressing charges, the former Cooper is taking aims at him in her suit.
The suit describes him as “an overzealous birdwatcher engaged in Central Park’s ongoing feud between birdwatchers and dog owners.”
In the infamous video Amy Cooper descends into a ridiculous meltdown after Cooper asks her to leash her dog in the midst of a pandemic to enforce park rules.
“I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life,” she frantically states while choking her dog with its leash during her frenzy.
Cooper may have endured public shame for a few weeks, but in totality she was given a slap on the hand over her action which as we know, could have resulted in far worse outcomes especially after falsely accusing Cooper of assault. Cooper was charged with falsely reporting an incident but the charges were dropped in February of this year after she completed court ordered therapy sessions.
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