A woman known as the “Central Park Karen” garnered attention online after calling the police on a Black birdwatcher. She claims to still be in “hiding” over three years after the incident.
Amy Cooper stated that she faced “an avalanche of hate and death threats” following the incident in May 2020, and still feels “scared to be in public” and has difficulty finding employment.
A video of the incident depicted Ms. Cooper on the phone with police, claiming to be “threatened” by an “African American man” while walking her dog in New York’s Central Park.
The footage quickly went viral after being posted by the man, – no relation. Ms. Cooper was then given the online nickname “Central Park Karen”.
“Karen” is a term used to describe outspoken white women.
In an op-ed for Newsweek, Ms. Cooper recounted the incident, stating that “my life, as I knew it, was over” after the video was posted online.
“My employer fired me the day after the incident without bothering to learn the facts. In survival mode, my company released a statement distancing itself from me, effectively blacklisting my career,” she wrote.
“In a desperate attempt to stop the avalanche of hate and death threats, I issued a public apology at the recommendation of a PR company. But it did nothing. I was forced into hiding.
“Over three years later, I am still in hiding. I am scared to be in public. I still can’t find suitable employment, leading to periods of unemployment and thoughts of self-harm.”
The incident occurred the same day George Floyd – a black man – was murdered by police officers in Minneapolis, sparking a national reckoning on racism in the US.
Ms. Cooper insisted that there were “never any racial implications to my words” and that she “only reported exactly what happened to me that day” to the police. She also claimed to have been contacted by others in Central Park who had also felt “threatened” by Mr. Cooper.
“I was terrified and traumatised,” she wrote. “Even now, when I think about it three years later, the fear quickly wells up in me again.
“I also don’t know why the whole truth was never printed or reported. I can only assume that no one—not even the top-tier media outlets—felt safe from the unrelenting, unforgiving weight of cancel culture. I know that’s why I feared telling my own story for so many years.
“There is no such thing as a ‘Karen.’ We are all just people. Each of us deserving grace and forgiveness. In the end, silencing the truth, the full story, hurts all of us.”
Ms. Cooper also disclosed that she had tried to reach out to Mr. Cooper directly but had not received a response.
“Despite what I’ve endured, I would always be open to an honest, productive conversation,” she wrote.
A footnote to Ms. Cooper’s op-ed notes that she currently resides “in an undisclosed location after being at the center of a media firestorm after being dubbed the ‘Central Park Karen’.”
