For April, I set an intention to read two books I had TBR by Black men who became the centres of viral news stories in 2020; I read both during the month but have a slight review lag at the moment. I reviewed Patrick Hutchinson’s “Everyone Versus Racism” last month and now we have Christian Cooper’s book, courtesy of my friend Cari who lives in New York: he’s the Black birdwatcher a White woman called the police on, using racist language, when he politely asked her to keep her dog on a lead in an area where that was mandatory. I acquired this book in February and have actually read and reviewed five of that month’s twelve print acquisitions now.

Christian Cooper – “Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World”

(27 February 2024, from Cari)

Birding Tip: The fastest way to find a widely reported rarity is to look not for the bird but for the coagulation of birders already looking at it. (p. 4)

Part-memoir and part-birdwatching guide, Cooper’s structuring of this book is clever, with the first chapter titled “An Incident in Central Park” describing not the incident of racism and aggression he experienced in 2020 but the tracking down of an interesting bird on his patch. He writes with humour and exactness, bringing an everyday language to the description of birds (a Nene goose sounding like a Canada goose that’s been kneed in the groin was an early giggle) and deep emotion and respect when talking about his fellow Central Park birders – a little update at the end shows some are still going strong into their 90s.

As well as being a birder, he’s been immersed in the world of comics for a long time, talking about how the original Jewish writers and illustrators concealed their identities by changing their names, working surreptitiously himself to insert social justice issues into this world as a gay man, and he shares powerfully how comics and narratives helped him to survive his upbringing and having to keep in the closet through school.

Like Remi Adekoya, he sees racism and/or the need to have someone “other” to look down on as a fundamental flaw in the human psyche, but also discusses the intersectional difficulties of gay and Black people competing on discrimination while he is both; like Patrick Hutchinson, he tries to encourage community and togetherness through education, in his case leading bird walks for Global Majority Community people and school kids.

Like Hutchinson he sets his experience in the global BLM context; in Cooper’s case, his incident happened on the same day as the murder of George Floyd (I don’t think I’d realised that). And his perpetrator did make a form of public apology but never personally to him, as the man Hutchinson rescued didn’t contact him. He gets new opportunities, certainly visiting Alabama, the place in the US where his family originated, with a degree of trepidation.

Anyway, a generally positive and interesting book, again, the story in many ways of an ordinary man with family worries and career difficulties, but one who also wants to share his love of birds (and very good birding tips) along the way.