As a former resident of NYC, i birded the park for nearly one decade as i
walked to work and afterwards, as i walked back to my flat. The Ramble was
always a highlight; peaceful, serene and often filled with amazing birds if
one just sat still long enough to allow them to come to you or to sing.
After my postdoc ended and i was contemplating a terrifying future of what
turned out to be chronic unemployment and underemployment, CP saved me,
provided "birdie" friends and colleagues and, as always, provided lots of
amazing birds for me to contemplate.

this woman is an exception. in all my many many hours birding in the park
over the years, i never ran across anyone who would bring their dog
off-leash into the Ramble, and never was i molested by anyone, male or
female, despite always being there alone. that said, i am truly outraged
and heartbroken on behalf of this birder, who was only doing what i or
anyone else would have done under the circumstances by asking this arrogant
woman to leash her dog in compliance with the law. but more than that, i am
absolutely horrified that this unhinged woman insisted to the police that
this african-american man was attacking her and that she was in need of
immediate police assistance when he was only doing as i, or many of my
fellow birders, would have done.

the birder, christopher cooper, has stated publicly that he is
"uncomfortable" that this woman has been banned from CP, has surrendered
her recently adopted dog to the spaniel rescue where she got it, and that
she was fired from her job. whilst i sympathise and empathise with mr
cooper, i also recognise that this one incident could have had a very
serious outcome -- murder by police for birding whilst black. also an open
question: if mr cooper was not the victim of a police assault, the next
african-american that this woman runs across very well could be.

it is outrageous that african-americans (men, especially), are unable to be
outdoors -- to go for a walk or a run, or to go birding, or hell, to even
go shopping for a TV -- without being molested by anxious guilt-ridden
white citizenry, or worse by overzealous police. As Penny stated, it is
outrageous that this woman was not arrested for committing a hate crime.
she demonstrates that she poses a clear danger to the community.

the Audubon Society has released a formal statement about their policies in
light of this event and has published some articles by black birders, all
of which are linked in this must-read twitter thread:


https://twitter.com/audubonsociety/status/1265305093353717760


I think it is incredibly important that we take a moment to reflect on our
white privilege and how it affects absolutely *everything* in our daily
lives.



On Wed, May 27, 2020 at 7:50 AM <plkoyama at comcast.net> wrote:


> Chris Cooper is one of the enthusiastic birders who appeared in the

> documentary, "Birders, the Central Park Effect." And this woman has now

> been banned from Central Park, in addition to losing her job and her dog.

> I'm don't know why she wasn't arrested for the false (and racist) reporting.

>

> On a couple of occasions David and I laid over in NYC, once during spring

> migration, and once in the fall. Birding in Central Park was such a

> highlight. Everyone was friendly and helpful, walking us to "where the owl

> is." and sharing excitement over the many warblers. I laugh when I think

> of the NY local who hugged me after I pointed out a Wilson's Warbler. I

> highly recommend this amazing place, and it's not likely that you'll run

> into such an awful person.

> Penny Koyama, Bothell

>

> *From:* Nadine Drisseq

> *Sent:* Tuesday, May 26, 2020 5:49 PM

> *To:* tweeters at u.washington.edu

> *Subject:* [Tweeters] NY Birder threatened by dog-walker

>

> In case some of you have not heard this news...

>

>

> https://www.cbsnews.com/news/central-park-karen-white-woman-calls-cops-black-man-leash-dog/

>

> Thankfully for the birder, it all turned out OK. The woman was later fired

> from her job as a VP at Franklin-Templeton, and also had to give up her dog

> to the rescue. IMO, the birder did a spankingly-admirable job remaining

> calm and in control.

>

> Plus, this older article throws some light on perhaps why this demographic

> is under-represented in our community:

>

>

> https://orionmagazine.org/article/9-rules-for-the-black-birdwatcher/?fbclid=IwAR1Yjv5AV26eEBY5E64IoaWabhLRIwp5D0SpHKiKgy9M_JeN41jhl31dxeU

>

> Nadine

> Issaquah-Renton

>

> ------------------------------

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