As beautiful and powerful as forgiveness can be, I happen to believe that in some circumstances, “fuck you forever” can be just as virtuous. And in the case of a White woman knowingly calling the police to falsely accuse a Black man of threatening her life, completely aware of the potential consequences, then yes, fuck Amy Cooper forever.
Unfortunately, Christian Cooper feels differently. “Any of us can make — not necessarily a racist mistake, but a mistake,” he told The New York Times last week of the incident, which plausibly could have led to his untimely death. “And to get that kind of tidal wave in such a compressed period of time, it’s got to hurt. It’s got to hurt.”
“I’m not excusing the racism,” he continued, before he did exactly that: “But I don’t know if her life needed to be torn apart.”
Let me acknowledge that I am not Christian Cooper. I was not in his situation. Christian Cooper has every right to react to a situation involving Christian Cooper however he sees fit. I’m not trying to take anything more from that man, nor am I attacking the notion of graciousness.
We all make mistakes. But how often are yours rooted in an irrational contempt of Black people? How often do you use your privilege to sic the police on people — over any reason, let alone the pettiest ones possible?
What I am arguing, though, is that forgiveness must be earned. Moreover, there’s something to be said about making examples out of people. So in the case of Amy Cooper, I’m not ready to move along. I refuse to lean into some kind of forgive-and-forget narrative. That is far too great an appeasement to the Amy Coopers of the world.
They do not deserve that and my Black ass will not give it to them. I encourage anyone of decency to do the same. These people are a danger to the lives of Black people. Forgive her? Fuck that and fuck her.
Amy Cooper knowingly exploited a racist caste system simply because a bird watcher kindly asked her to follow the rules of the park and put a leash on her dog. She was not only the aggressor in the situation, but she gleefully waved her privilege in his face with total understanding that it could lead to Christian Cooper’s death.
Yes, we all make mistakes. Some of us make them daily.
But how often are your mistakes rooted in an irrational contempt of Black people? How often do you use your privilege to sic the police on people — over any reason, let alone the pettiest ones possible — potentially getting them killed?
I remain unconvinced that Amy Cooper has not done this before. She was far too comfortable being that flippant with her use of racism. And based on what’s since been revealed about Amy, there’s even more reason to think she’s lied on others to God knows what results. (There’s also something fucked up about filing a false police report, but that’s her lawyer’s problem, not mine.)
When it comes to her receiving a Scarlet Letter, not only do I advocate for it, I have a few letters for her to pick from: F, U, K, K, or K.
Why? Because racist pieces of shit like Amy Cooper who engage in behavior that leads to Black pain, suffering, and loss of life deserve it — especially when she tries to use her White-girl witchery by way of the state. She needs to be made an example of. If not, they will never stop.
Over the weekend on Instagram, I stumbled along this post from user @ _brownsugarbaby chronicling yet another white woman lying to the police in order to rile them up and attack someone Black — in this case, her. Mind you, this happened literally the same week the Amy Cooper and Christian Cooper incident happened. The same week Minneapolis had erupted in grief over the police killing of George Floyd.
The bigot in question here happens to be Svitlana Flom, described in some circles of the internet as “a staple on the well-to-do social circuit in the city and the Hamptons.” So a fancy bigot.
Great: She can afford to have her life rightfully ruined.
She also apparently came to the states in 2007 from Ukraine and earned a master’s degree in political science here, which suggests she absolutely knew what she was doing.
I don’t say anything to the White people who stormed Harlem and refuse to pick up their dog shit, but this lying-ass idiot almost got a Black woman killed because she felt like she didn’t belong — while sitting on a public bench on the Upper West Side. Worse, when Flom’s Amy Coopering was exposed, she told dispatchers that the woman was “playing the black card” and “attacking her.” This all took place over an hour, during which Flom called the police multiple times. (The police eventually arrived, but fortunately, Svitlana Flom the fucking racist liar was unsuccessful.)
Do I think Svitlana Flom should be forgiven?
No.
Her life should be ruined because she tried to get a Black woman killed for sitting on a public bench.
I don’t give a fuck about what’s in her heart or bones. I could care less who she has donated to or voted for. I know everything I need to know about Svitlana Flom just like I know everything I need to know about Amy Cooper.
So. Fuck them and fuck everyone like them.
Fuck every racist mothefucker that has done this.
When White people call the police on us like this, they know what they are doing.
If I could spare every Black person the time in trying to find any redeemable quality in barbarians like this, I would bippity boppity boo every Negro in need. Don’t save any of them. They don’t want to be saved — and why would you want to save anyone that wants to kill our own?
Please explain to me why in 2020 I need to be spending any amount of energy on redeeming these people who use the police as their personal hitmen because they know they can? At the very least, these people deserve to be ostracized and made to feel less than human. They are less than human.
On any given day, I could face an Amy Cooper or Svitlana Flom and the police might not be as kind to me.
And my mother would have to bury her son.
And then my family would be subjected to what so many other Black families have been subjected to.
Only for that shit to happen again to someone else — and for the cycle to repeat. Again. Again. Again.
I would like to believe this evil practice will not be so commonplace in the future, but I don’t see how such a future ever takes shape if we don’t stop being kind to these people.
“We” isn’t limited to Black folks, but all people who are anti-racist and are actively invested in trying to help Black people get more peace from the Amy Coopers and Svitlana Floms — let alone from police officers like Derek Chauvin.