theFeed Jews and many gypsies and Catholics and gays and lesbians and Russians and so many others.” Speaking to the Post after Polis made his comments, Neville refused to apologize, instead saying, “I should have said authoritarian, not Gestapo. And I think authoritarian is still accurate.”
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he was “offended” and noting that not only is he Jewish, but he lost family members during the Holocaust, the Denver Post reported. “As a Jewish American who lost family in the Holocaust, I’m offended by any comparison to Nazism,” Polis said. “We act to save lives — the exact opposite of the slaughter of 6 million
False Accusation
Cooper
Christian Cooper, the victim in racist Central Park video, is a trailblazing gay editor. By Rhuaridh Marr
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HRISTIAN COOPER, A HISTORY-MAKING GAY EDItor, went viral for all the wrong reasons this week after he was the victim of a racist tirade in New York City’s Central Park. A senior biomedical editor and keen birdwatcher, Cooper was in the Ramble in Central Park on Monday when he spotted a woman, Amy Cooper (no relation), walking her dog without a leash. Park rules require dogs to be leashed, and Cooper — who also sits on the board of bird conservation organization the National Audubon Society — informed the woman of the rules and asked her to leash her dog to protect ground-dwelling birds in the area, he told CNN. In a video of the incident recorded by Cooper, who is black, the white woman responds by running towards him, demanding he cease filming and telling him she will phone police, claiming that an “African-American man is threatening” her. “I’m taking a picture and calling the cops,” Amy Cooper said. “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.” Christian Cooper remained calm throughout, telling her to call police and continuing to film her. The woman proceeds to 20
MAY 28, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM
call 9-1-1 while dragging her dog around by its collar. In the video, the dog can be heard choking and yelping for her to let go. “I’m sorry, I’m in the Ramble,” Amy Cooper said during the 9-1-1 call. “There’s a man, African American, he has a bicycle helmet. He is recording me and threatening me and my dog.” Her voice continues to rise as she says, “I’m being threatened by a man in the Ramble, please send the cops immediately!” While on the phone, she eventually let go of her dog’s collar and reattached the leash, at which point Christian Cooper said, “Thank you,” and ended his video. Cooper posted the incident to his Facebook page, and it was subsequently shared to Twitter by his sister, Melody Cooper, where it quickly racked up millions of views. “Oh, when Karens take a walk with their dogs off leash in the famous Bramble in NY’s Central Park,” Melody Cooper wrote in her tweet, “where it is clearly posted on signs that dogs MUST be leashed at all times, and someone like my brother (an avid birder) politely asks her to put her dog on the leash.” The exchange caused outrage on social media, with many
