Christian Cooper

This piece was one of nine created for my exhibit Regarding Privilege, on display from September 23rd to November 2nd, 2023.

American writer, editor, and birdwatcher

b. 1963

Quote is from p. 246 of Cooper’s autobiography, Better Living Through Birding, published in 2023.

On the same day that George Floyd was attacked and killed by police officers in Minneapolis, MN, avid birdwatcher Cooper was in Central Park, in New York City. When he asked Amy Cooper (no relation), who was letting her dog run amok in a sensitive bird habitat, to please leash her pet she called 911 and told the operator that “an African American man was threatening” her. The incident ended when Amy Cooper leashed her dog, but the video Christian Cooper recorded to protect himself went viral, in part because of the Floyd killing. Cooper has since become the host of the National Geographic television program, Extraordinary Birder. He was also responsible for creating some of the first gay characters for Marvel Comics.

Please contact me if you’re interested in acquiring this piece for your collection.

The text of this piece reads:

I can’t say whether it was a conscious choice or the product of unconscious bias when she grabbed that bloody, blunt object of the White Damsel in Distress Threatened by the Black Menace. …Her intent was to use the long history of Fear the Black Man, and the resulting unjust police violence against us, to intimidate me into submission.