While Melody Cooper loves and understands where her brother Christian is coming from in not wanting to cooperate with the prosecution against Amy Cooper, she just doesn’t agree with his decision. She wants an example made out of the woman who weaponized her whiteness against him.
Read More: Christian Cooper refuses to cooperate in case against Amy Cooper
Melody took to social media and shared her frustration that Christian wouldn’t be cooperating with the investigation in the incident that took place in New York’s Central Park.
She wants to see the humanity of Black people recognized and says Amy, no relation to Christian and Melody, needs to be held accountable to help that happen.
“I’ve seen the reactions to my brother’s statements and I’ve thought long and hard about this. I love my brother but my heart aches and I must speak my truth. While #christiancooper wanted the Manhattan DA to be the one to press charges, there’s a larger picture. #MondayMotivation,” Melody captioned her post.
She went on to share a statement that highlighted the complexity of the issue at hand. Christian has never had any police run-ins, especially not violet ones. However, other Black men can’t say the same.
“He can afford to be compassionate but that is not the case for most Black men in this country. Not by a long shot. And false claims are made by women like Amy Cooper because they know this,” the statement read.
“So while he’s absolutely right that policing should change, the fact is it hasn’t happened fast enough and it is likely to take a long time. People are getting hurt and killed in the meantime. False calls have increased.”
Melody firmly believes that Amy’s actions needed to have consequences. It could be the difference in the next Black person’s life being saved.
“If there’s a chance to send a message to other white women that they shouldn’t put Black people at risk in this way, it should be done,” the statement continued.
“I understand that in this situation, my brother intellectually sees Amy’s humanity who didn’t see his. I emotionally see Emmitt Till and logically worry for the humanity of our own.”
Melody’s post in May helped create the national firestorm. She shared the clip on Twitter of Amy calling the cops on Christian, falsely claiming the birdwatcher had threatened her on Memorial Day. Christian had shared the video on Facebook first where it was going viral.
Last week, Amy was indicted with filing a false report in the third degree against Christian. The charge is punishable by one year in jail or community service, The New York Times reported. She was issued a desk appearance ticket on the misdemeanor charge and will be arraigned on October 14.
Christian has said that he won’t cooperate in the case.
Read More: Amy Cooper charged with filing false police report on Black bird watcher
“On the one hand, she’s already paid a steep price,” Christian said, referring to Amy, “That’s not enough of a deterrent to others? Bringing her more misery just seems like piling on.”
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