A month ago, two racist crimes happened within 48 hours. One was the Central Park Karen story, where a white woman named Amy Cooper calling the cops on a black man named Christian Cooper and said that he was “threatening” her when he told her to leash her dog. The second was the cops murdering George Floyd. The murder of George Floyd became the massive, global tipping point for social justice, combatting police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement. The Central Park Karen story had a happy ending, because Amy Cooper was fired and the world got to know Christian Cooper, the lovely bird-watcher. But make no mistake: Amy Cooper 100% wanted the cops to murder Christian Cooper (like the cops would do to George Floyd) simply because he told her to leash her dog.
After that incident, Christian Cooper did press, he spoke about racism and social justice and bird-watching, and basically everyone fell in love with this gorgeous, gay bird-watcher. Well, it looks like Joe Biden’s campaign was paying attention too. They reached out to Christian and they won his coveted endorsement! Christian recorded videos for the Biden campaign which dropped this weekend.
Christian Cooper’s encounter in Central Park was another wake-up call for our nation and a reminder of the work that remains to root out hate and intolerance. I'm grateful for Christian's support and know with folks like him leading the way, we'll get the job done. pic.twitter.com/XWhcTjbo0t
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 20, 2020
Cooper also wrote a really beautiful column for NBC News about why he’s endorsing Biden and why his experience with Amy Cooper made him understand that unhinged the Amy Coopers of the world are merely “taking her cue from the highest office in the land.” He writes about how we’ve watched Trump “erode our vital institutions, such as a free press and strong labor unions, and undermine science and the basic concept of truth. He has dismantled environmental protections, retreated on civil rights and LGBTQ rights, betrayed our nation’s immigrant tradition and coarsened our public discourse.” Cooper writes that Trump gives “a wink and a nod to white nationalists” whenever black and brown people want healing and justice. He acknowledges Biden’s gaffes, but also Biden’s ability to grow and change with the times:
There’s a lot of work to do to address deep-seated racial bias in our country. It’s the kind of bias that leads white residents to gun down a black man for the audacity of going jogging and to call it self-defense, or that leaves a white police officer thinking it’s OK to kneel on a black man’s neck for more than eight minutes or that brings an irate white owner of a dog to presume she could summon the law down on a black man’s head with special vengeance. We all have a role in that work to address racial bias, but the president of the United States sets the tone. That’s why I’m supporting Joe Biden.
It’s not Biden’s years of experience that make him my choice — though his readiness for the job would be a refreshing change. And to all those who say we need an outsider to shake things up, I say only, “How’s that working out for you so far?” It’s not that I agree with every position Biden has taken over his long and storied career; I don’t think there’s a candidate alive with whom I agree 100 percent of the time. If you dig back far enough in the past of anyone who has dedicated their life to public service, you’ll always find gaffes, missteps or something to make you wince.
It’s not even the complete confidence I have that Biden will surround himself with competence — no more hacks, shilling for the same industries they’re meant to regulate. A Biden administration would be packed with smart people of all colors and kinds, as dedicated to serving the country as the man at the top. But while all of that is true, it’s not why I’m backing Biden.
What makes Biden special, and uniquely suited to this moment, is his capacity for growth. I’ve seen his understanding of our country evolve over the years to meet new challenges. His own personal story of tragedy and then triumph in his family life wouldn’t be possible for someone who couldn’t take pain and forge something new from it. It shows a capacity to heal, to learn, to evolve, to overcome. And that’s what our country is so badly crying out for today; that’s what we have to do as a nation.
Honestly, this endorsement makes me feel so good about Biden and about his team. The fact that they would reach out to Cooper and that everyone involved understood that Cooper would be a great voice for their campaign, and that Cooper understood that his endorsement had weight. I love all of this.
Folks credit me for speaking out on marriage equality in 2012 — but I'm not the one who took a real risk. Countless others did the hard work and paid a price just for being themselves. Christian Cooper and I discussed the trailblazers who came before us and the work that remains: pic.twitter.com/bEPmsRgZDo
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 20, 2020
I've found that the way to overcome enormous tragedy in your life is to turn that grief and pain into purpose. Christian Cooper and I discussed how we can take our collective pain in this moment and turn it into a catalyst for change: pic.twitter.com/uPtszYLXxN
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 21, 2020
Photos courtesy of the NYT, screencaps from video.
Smart thinking in the Biden camp
Hillary supporter demands that Hillary Clinton be Biden’s VP
https://youtu.be/wgTcALAeqb0
This emphasizes the most positive things about Biden: he has empathy and compassion and he is willing to grow, to change, and to admit his mistakes. He has been this way throughout his entire career.
He also has exceptional ad people.
Precisely, and this goes right to the heart of the purists who insist on candidates (well, everyone but Trump apparently) to have a perfect track record, never had made a mistake in judgment, never said something they wish they could take back or do over. That unicorn doesn’t exist, and our system, the world even, would be paralyzed in chaos is it were a prerequisite.
It also takes incredibly strength, integrity, and good character to be willing to listen to those who say you are wrong, learn from them, admit you were wrong, and work with them to address the problem. He has been doing that his entire life.
Also, Trump has conned the evangelicals into believing he was chosen by God, that he is a man of faith. While Biden truly IS a man of faith and he doesn’t just proclaim that faith, he tries to live it every single day.
👍🏼👍🏼👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼
@ C-Shell
yup, yup, yup……10,000%! **That unicorn does not exist.** Thank you for saying that. The day the Democrats recognise this is the day you’ll see them consistently winning and making a real difference.
“While Biden truly IS a man of faith and he doesn’t just proclaim that faith, he tries to live it every single day.”
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. if you have to tell people constantly that you’re a Christian (“well, AS a Christian…” “Well, I AM a Christian, so…” etc.) then you likely DON’T ACT LIKE ONE.
people who are TRULY Christ-like or WANT to be Christ-like demonstrate their Christianity and faith by ACTING Christ-like. They don’t have to mention every five minutes that THEY’RE A CHRISTIAN!!!!!!!111!!1!!
Exactly.
The Evangelicals are beneath contempt. They went for Ronald Reagan, a man who never attended church until he started running, over Jimmy Carter who is practically a modern day saint.
Yes to everything you said. Which is why it sickened me when the MAGAts trashed this interview on Twitter. What’s the word for them? Oh right. Deplorable.
This is brilliant, and I’m not even going to speculate about how sincere or opportunistic this may be. I don’t care. Christian Cooper is such a phenomenal spokesperson for the times we’re in, not to mention just a beautiful man. Biden is smart to sit quietly and let Christian put it all into eloquent words.
I hear you but if we want to defeat Trump we could stand to be more opportunistic, not less. And anyway, we shouldn’t let the cynicism of the Trump era get in the way of believing that Biden is genuine. There’s nothing in his past to indicate he’s not.
I agree! I didn’t mean to imply that Biden wasn’t genuine, I think these videos are opportune in the best way possible. Im pretty cynical as a rule, but these days I love having something to feel good about and don’t want to question or closely examine the process to get there.
My biggest and really only problem with Biden is he’s an old white man of no particular distinction politically. And we all want someone to inspire us again the way Obama did. And for that hope I continue to hold onto these three words: Madame.Vice.President.
@BettyRose: we cannot afford to wait to be inspired. Most politicians are not particularly inspirational. (Rabble rousing is not the same as inspiring.) Check out what Michelle Obama (Forever First Lady) has to say about this.
The Obamas are special – and, being black, have had to work twice as hard and be twice as perfect to be accepted. They are unicorns. We were incredibly fortunate to have them. It may be quite some time before we see that again. (AOC being an exception.)
We must all vote, even tho it is for another old white man. Biden actually cares about the country and the citizens and would-be citizens.
Look at the refugee fiasco, with the children in cages and families torn apart. I have faith that Biden would move swiftly to fix that. That is plenty of hope and inspiration as far as I’m concerned. Not to even mention the supreme court, environmental protections, other human rights – health care springs to mind! Etc etc etc.
He is far and away the better choice. Please let’s not sandbag this chance by a desire for perfection. That got us here to begin with!
SomeChick –
ITA with all of that, and when I start back up with my GOTV efforts by phone before the election, I will be passionate as all hell about it. But in private conversations I think it’s okay for us to admit we’re not starry eyed about Biden.
“The capacity for growth” is so so important. Just having a president who is willing to listen to experts, learn, change, will be such a relief. If the last few months has taught me anything it’s that we all have an awful lot of changing to do if we want to survive as country.
Capacity for growth is the phrase that stuck with me from that also. I think it’s incredibly important, and at this moment, we can see the people who are embracing that idea, and working to move forward, versus those who are resistant and doubling down on their mistakes.
I didn’t think it was possible for me to crush any harder on Mr. Cooper… then I saw this.
Me too! Just adore him. Would love to go for a walk and talk with him.
Mr. Cooper is Pure Class. Beautiful soul & human being.
I’m not Biden’s biggest fan, but he does seem able to evolve and grow. Listen, all white people have to, we’re raised in a viciously racist culture. Without that capacity, we’d all be lost. I was always a democrat but I had a lot of racist beliefs, that I didn’t know were racist. I credit two things, I met and lived with a professor of African American studies in my 30’s, which exposed me to readings I never would have stumbled across, and that formed a base of important historic knowledge. Then, I found twitter and reading black twitter has really kept me abreast of modern microaggressions, but also what I would call some really major ones! But when I think of some of the crap I believed when I was in my 20’s (and again, voting dem and in fact, working for the local dems, going door to door), I shudder and cringe.
Joe Biden does have the capacity to evolve at 77 years old. If he can..we all can . Good points you make. Black Twitter does point out stuff you don’t even realize you do.
Ok, at the risk of sounding like an absolute twit, how exactly do you get on black twitter? (Any help to this dim witted commenter would be immensely appreciated!)
LOL Bella, people use those phrases, but there’s not like a link. There are all kinds of twitter, for instance, there’s “soap twitter”. About daytime soaps. You just kind of stumble across it if what’s where your interests are. Black twitter just means, black tweeters, who post about race, civil rights, politics, etc. One of my favorites is @blackwomenviews Maybe if you start with her you’ll begin to see a larger section of black twitter and can follow as you wish. You may already be following! and it’s just the phrase, black twitter, that is causing confusion.
@ Darla
You know, I’ve been confused about this (types of twitter) for a while, but never asked . I’m not actually on twitter (or any social media for that matter), I just kind of dip my toe in here and there if/when I come across a direct link, hence my glaring ignorance.
Still, I really appreciate you explaining it in such a sweet, non-snarky way. I’ll check out the pages you suggested, even if I can’t follow them. 😘😘
Thanks Bella and Darla, I was wondering too!
to be fair to trump (gag gag gag, omg bleeeechhhhh, never thought I would hear myself say that), republicans have been eroding labor unions for years now. If you are in a “Right to Work State”, then unions in your state have like no voice and very little pull
Hopefully we can get some of that back
I’m still mad at Biden for Anita Hill, but obviously he has my vote. He has the ability to admit mistakes and apologize. He can empathize. I’m still mad and he’s not my fave, but he’s the one we have to pick
Yes, one of my biggest issue with people demonizing Trump (which he deserves, entirely) is that it lets the GOP nearly off the hook. Donnie is merely a symptom of the GOP disease, just the next natural endpoint in their de-evolution. He is the publicly worst so far, but that doesn’t mean less visible goopers aren’t worse.
Yes! McConnell is responsible for so much of all of this, and then all of the ones who are complicit in trashing the constitution
Exactly. He is their Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. They created the space and wanted the space for someone like him. Every single Republican politician bears the brunt of this catastrophe. And when it’s over and they begin to speak out, I want every single moment of complicitness and cowardice brought up, and every photo op shoved in their faces.
It’s so poignant when Mr Cooper says, “I’m not going to participate in my own dehumanization.” I love that he has emerged as an important voice for change. He is the opposite of the negative image of a “scary black man” that racists have been pushing for decades (if you haven’t seen 13th on Netflix, consider watching it ASAP for more context, and a breakdown of what was essentially a negative rebranding of black men in order to justify incarcerations). I’m
glad Biden has pulled him in, and I look forward to a US where smart people are at the helm again.
I watched the 13th maybe a year ago? It was incredibly eye opening. I’m not American, and so it helped me understand just a bit more about some of the deep seated issues facing black people in your country that I had no idea about. Educational, and perspective widening for sure.
This is great! I basically clicked on this post for the hot eye candy but this warmed my heart to Biden even more. Americans want our politicians to be actors and entertain us and be 100 percent pure and perfect but that’s not realistic. Biden is a decent person who evolves like the rest of us are hopefully doing!
Yes, a good man voting for another good man. He has my respect for life. He handled himself in the exact right way (not that that always makes a difference, but this time it did).
Smart move from Biden’s camp & on a superficial note, Mr Cooper is so dang cute.
I love Christian Cooper and I thank him for putting his voice and words behind the Biden campaign. I am not a Biden fan by any measure but by God we have to get him to win the election this year, I really fear for our nation if we don’t throw the current treasonous regime out the door. So much damage has been done already, we can’t take any more and we have to start unwinding ICE and get kids out of cages, and we have to start putting the CDC and the EPA back together, and we have to defund the police and put that money into community infrastructures like education, universal health care including mental health care and drug treatment, and other social services.
I’m sad that Christian Cooper experienced that woman in the Park when all he wanted was to watch some birds. But I am glad that he’s leveraging that experience to try to promote civic engagement in others.
And the good thing about Biden is that he is typically where the center of the Democrative Party is at any point in time. I think the Cooper-Cooper experience and the increased awareness around the unilateral extrajudicial murder of Black numerous Black people by the Police means the center of the party is willing to move leftward with regards to racial justice and criminal justice reform. It may not be left enough for some folks, myself included, but I hope that 1) Biden wins and 2) there is enough pressure to continue the dialogue into his administration because there are some serious changes that need to be made at the federal level that are absolutely not addressed in the Justice in Policing Act introduced by Dems in the House so there’s going to be a lot of work left to do even if that bill somehow does ultimately become law.
You look at the polls and think “he can’t win.” But Trump’s path to victory doesn’t depend on persuading Americans. It depends on voter suppression, mass disinformation, foreign interference, and unabashed use of executive branch power to shape events, and perceptions, this fall.
https://tinyurl.com/ybba8euc
Please watch “The Great Hack” available on Netflix on how Cambridge Analytica stole the election for Trump, Brexit and many more. CA may have declared bankruptcy, but those same people are now working on Trump’s re-election campaign.
Do Amy Cooper’s actions reek of racism and white privilege? Yes, absolutely. Did she call the cops with the full intention that they would come and arrest Christian Cooper, a black man, for daring to call out her behavior? Yes, absolutely. Could her actions have resulted in another George Floyd incident? Tragically, yes. But the statement “Amy Cooper 100% wanted the cops to murder Christian Cooper”… that is a leap that I can’t make. It was another sign of her white privilege and ignorance that she didn’t stop and question that a call to the police could have those tragic consequences. Systemic racism is real. We can be outraged. We can call out racist behavior when we see it. We can demand real change. We can VOTE. We can painfully search our own thoughts and actions and root out our own shortcomings. But attributing murderous intent to acts of racism doesn’t help our argument; it dilutes it. Because then people no longer see themselves as part of the very real problem.
Calling the cops on black folks 100% could be a death sentence. Don’t forget she lied and said he was assaulting her (all the while she choked her dog). She’s garbage and she absolutely wanted him to be brutalized (at least) by the cops.
This makes me teary eyed. You’re right, this makes me enthusiastic for the Biden campaign. The more he can tap into that empathetic, level headed Uncle Joe energy, the happier I am.
I would love suggestions, or even a post, on good voices to follow on Twitter. I just joined but I don’t know who to follow. So far I’m following Michelle and Barak. I learn SO MUCH from the commenters on this site!! You’ve all been a safe haven these excruciatingly long 4 years. ❤️
I don’t belong to twitter. I do read a lot of twitter posts. I have online subscriptions to the Washington Post and New York Times What I will say is that every Democrat or Independent should be reading daily The Lincoln Project’s twitter feed. They are a Republican group (including Kellyanne’s husband) dedicated to defeating Trump at all costs. They are releasing ads, sometimes daily. mocking Trump. All of the ads are on their twitter account.
They are supporting Biden for president. Their what I will call mission statement released to the New York Times was damning regarding Trump and congressional Republicans defending him and aiding in his corruption. They don’t care if the senate majority is lost. They aren’t just calling out Trump but all of the elected officials supporting Trump. Their goal is to “persuade enough disaffected conservatives, Republicans, and Republican-leaning independents in swing states and districts to help ensure a victory in the Electoral College and majorities that don’t enable and abet Trump’s violation of the constitution; even if that means Democrat control of the Senate and expansion of the Democratic majority House.”
They are going hard, running many of these ads on Fox even, and going all out against him on Twitter. Trump must be having massive meltdowns. Democrats are donating because right now it is a unified cause, the defeat of Trump.
He really is a stunning man.
I join the legion of humans crushing hard on Christian Cooper. This man is such a fully actualized being. Can we have him formally attached to the campaign, offered a cabinet post that is concentrated on civil rights change? Is that a thing? Can you make it a thing? I want to watch this man help to change the world.
And I would vote Joe X100 if I could.
I read his article and he didn’t mention one of Biden’s policies. Yet you people gush about how great his endorsement is. Your shallowness is breathtaking.