NEW YORK: A video of a white woman calling the police about a black birdwatcher in New York’s Central Park has gone viral, sparking anger about African-Americans being falsely reported to cops.
The clip, posted on Twitter and viewed 30 million times, was filmed by the man, Christian Cooper, who said he had asked the woman to leash her dog.
She was walking the pooch on Monday in a wooded area of the park popular with birdwatchers where dogs are meant to be kept on leads.
As the woman struggles to control the dog, she approaches Cooper and is then seen making a phone call.
“I’m going to tell them there’s an African-American man threatening my life,” she tells Cooper while appearing to dial 911.
“There is an African-American man, I’m in Central Park. He’s recording me and threatening me and threatening my dog,” she then tells the operator.
The exchange prompted outrage on social media, with users calling the woman a “Karen,” a term popular online to describe an entitled white woman.
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio condemned her actions as “racism, plain and simple.”
“She called the police BECAUSE he was a Black man. Even though she was the one breaking the rules. She decided he was the criminal and we know why. This kind of hatred has no place in our city,” he tweeted.
The woman was identified as Amy Cooper, no relation to the man she argued with. She worked in insurance at investment management company Franklin Templeton.
She apologized during an interview with NBC but denied that she was racist, saying she had overreacted after feeling threatened.
“I sincerely and humbly apologize to everyone, especially to that man, his family,” she said.
In a statement posted on Twitter Tuesday, Franklin Templeton said it had fired an employee with immediate effect following an investigation.
“We do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin Templeton,” the company said.
On Facebook, Christian Cooper said he had offered the dog a treat after the woman refused his request to leash the dog.
“That’s when I started video recording with my iPhone, and when her inner Karen fully emerged and took a dark turn,” he wrote.
Anger as white woman reports black birdwatcher in Central Park to police
https://arab.news/janf9
Anger as white woman reports black birdwatcher in Central Park to police
- Amy Cooper: There is an African-American man, I’m in Central Park. He’s recording me and threatening me and threatening my dog
- New York City mayor Bill de Blasio condemned her actions as racism, plain and simple
Guinea dissolves top opposition
- Political opponents have been arrested, put on trial or driven into exile, while enforced disappearances and kidnappings have multiplied
CONAKRY: Guinea has dissolved 40 political parties, including its three main opposition groups, via a late-night decree, fewer than two months after former junta leader Mamady Doumbouya was sworn in as president.
Doumbouya, who has ruled Guinea with an iron fist, was elected in late December in a vote in which all major opposition leaders were barred.
Guinea’s minister of territorial administration and decentralization ordered the dissolution of the parties late on Friday for “failure to fulfil their obligations.” The decree also stripped them of control of their assets.
Since coming to power in a 2021 coup, Doumbouya has cracked down on civil liberties and banned protests.
Political opponents have been arrested, put on trial or driven into exile, while enforced disappearances and kidnappings have multiplied.
Included among the dissolved groups are Guinea’s three main political parties: the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea led by its exiled leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, the Rally of the People of Guinea, led by ex-president Alpha Conde, and the Union of Republican Forces.
“This dissolution entails the immediate loss of the legal personality and status of the parties concerned,” the order said.
That includes “all political activities” as well as the use of “acronyms, logos, emblems and other distinctive symbols” associated with the groups, it said.
The parties’ assets have been placed under “sequestration” with a curator appointed to oversee their transfer, the decree said, without specifying to whom or to what entity.
Civil society movements condemned the parties’ dissolution on Saturday, calling it a power grab.
Ibrahima Diallo, a leader in the pro-democracy National Front for the Defense of the Constitution said “the country is sinking into profound uncertainty.”
Two well-known FNDC activists, Oumar Sylla, better known as Fonike Mengue, and Mamadou Billo Bah, have been missing since July 2024.
