Martin Luther King Day celebration spans the modern Black experience—and birding

On a day when Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Inauguration Day shared a date for only the third time in American history, the Groton Community balanced paying tribute to Dr. King’s legacy of social justice with the ushering in of a new presidential administration.

The day started with an all-school gathering in the Campbell Performing Arts Center (CPAC), sponsored by the Cultural Alliance and kicked off by a Black and Latinx Alliance performance of a traditional spiritual, “The Storm Is Passing Over.” Following a prayer by Chaplain Allison Read, Sixth Former Edward Wilkey led a moderated discussion with the 2025 keynote speaker, Christopher Cooper, a lifelong birder, science and comics writer, and the host and consulting producer of Extraordinary Birder on National Geographic.

From the start, Mr. Cooper did not mince words.

“There are two things happening today,” he said. “One is that it’s MLK Day and the other is that there’s an inauguration going on in Washington. When I think about those two things being juxtaposed I think of them in a broad historical context. Because I think about what our ancestors as African-Americans had to go through: That they lived through slavery and they lived through the Civil Rights Era and, despite the things they had to live through, they persevered.”

As a self-described “Blerd”—shorthand for “Black nerd”—might do, he continued by paraphrasing the science-fiction series Star Trek: “Resistance is not futile. We have lived through it, we will live through it again. We will persevere, and we will come through the other side better for it.”

BREAKING OUT OF A COFFIN
Mr. Cooper grew up on Long Island, New York, in the late 1960s and early 1970s—a difficult time and place to be a young Black gay man.

“It was like being buried alive,” he said. “Your friends and family are walking across your grave and don’t realize you’re underneath, screaming and banging on that coffin lid because you need be let out.”

Raised by activist parents who practiced a devotion to higher responsibility more than they preached it.

“They never said to me and my sister explicitly, ‘Oh, you have to do these things,’ but we just grew up knowing that if you see something wrong with the world, it is your personal responsibility to try to do something to fix it.

“We grew up with that embedded in our DNA. It’s a joke in my family that you’re not a Cooper until you’ve been arrested at a protest for civil disobedience,” he said, adding that one of the highlights of his young adulthood was getting arrested at a demonstration—with his father.

After attending Harvard, Mr. Cooper fell into the magazine publishing world, eventually taking a substantial salary cut to take a job where any true Blerd would dream of working: Marvel Comics. There, as the publisher’s first openly gay writer/editor, he embraced writing what you know and created Marvel’s first gay character. 

Despite all this, Mr. Cooper’s perhaps best known for a controversy he stumbled into while pursuing another passion, birding. In May 2020, while looking for birds in a part of Central Park known as the Bramble, he encountered a white woman with an unleashed dog. The two disagreed about whether the dog should be restrained and, after Mr. Cooper tried to give the dog a treat, the woman said she’d call police and tell them a Black man was threatening her.

Mr. Cooper said that, throughout the incident—which took place on the same day as George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police—he kept thinking of other men of color who had run into institutional racism and didn’t survive.

“I was not going to be complicit in my own dehumanization,” he said. “I am not going to let anyone use this intimidation tactic to get me to change who I am.”

When the cellphone recording he made was shared on Twitter, the encounter quickly turned into a media firestorm.

“It was crazy,” said Mr. Cooper. “After about a week of it I just wanted to hide under a rock until the whole thing blew over. Then I realized I was in one of those moments. Because, for better or worse, I had been stuck into a situation where there were principles and ideas that needed to be articulated where so many who were gone—like George Floyd—couldn’t do it.”

Still a passionate advocate for birding—he regularly visits New York City schools to speak on the subject—Mr. Cooper encouraged the students to take advantage of Groton’s lush campus to seek out the species that make it home.

“You have no idea what’s in your own backyard,” he said. “Especially in spring, I know you have scarlet tanagers here. And, if you’ve never seen a scarlet tanager, it makes a cardinal look like mud. It’s one of the most amazing things you’ve ever seen, and there are so many birds like that.

“There is no creature on the planet that more embodies joy and utter freedom, the ability to move anywhere,” Mr. Cooper added. “Who, if not us, needs that symbol of freedom personified? Birding will lift your gaze up and lift your spirits, and make you really understand what freedom is all about.”

Before a brief question-and-answer session with students, Mr. Cooper closed by pushing students to live what they love.

“You do you. Whatever that means, whatever you’re passionate about, whatever you love and makes you feel fulfilled, do it, because it’s going to make you happy,” he said. “Carve your own path. Never mind what anyone else thinks. Let your freak flag fly and indulge your passions and you’ll be a thousand percent happier for it.”

The Essence step team closed out the morning activities, after which Mr. Cooper signed copies of his new book, Better Living Through Birding, in the CPAC lobby.

“Christian Cooper’s love of birding, activism, and all things ‘nerd’ aligned well with the Groton community,” said Associate Director of Admission and Director of Inclusion Outreach Carolyn Chica. “His enthusiasm and authenticity kept the audience engaged throughout the entire keynote program. He is a fantastic storyteller who was able to weave his personal story and important historical context with ease. I was touched to see him connect so genuinely with the students that stayed behind to express their gratitude, ask him a question, and get a copy of his signed book.” 

After lunch and a viewing of the inauguration in the Sackett Forum, students gathered by form for workshops and activities throughout campus. Topics ranged from “What is Freedom?” for Lower Schoolers to Upper School explorations of a wide range of subjects, including cultural representation in films like Black Panther, “the Black Doctoral Experience” (with Groton faculty members Irenae Aigbedion, PhD, and Azmar Williams, PhD, and PhD student Janelle Fouche), a history of Black music, “Racial Injustice in Criminal Justice,” the role of race in comedy and language, and an exploration of Black hair, among others.

In addition, students had the chance to take part in a hip-hop workshop and wheel-throwing with Tacoma-based ceramic artist Kristina Batiste, this year’s Mudge Fellow.

Feedback after the event was overwhelmingly positive. 

“I thought that the program was absolutely superb,” said Dean of Faculty John “Señor” Conner. “I found it inspiring and thought-provoking. The speaker, Christian Cooper, was brilliant as was the interviewer, Edward Wilkey. And when you add the introductory remarks, the singing, dancing, and the question-and-answer session, it all made, for me, a most inspiring morning. Thanks to Ms. Chica, the Cultural Alliance, and all the folks that worked so hard to give us such a wonderful start to the day.”

 

Ms. Chica praised student leaders for displaying a distinctive level of creativity, conviction, and capacity to collaborate with their peers.

“I was proud of the student leaders, especially those in the Upper School that designed workshops on topics like the Exonerated 5, African-American Vernacular, and the history of Black music,” she said. “Their workshops were creative and thoughtfully designed.”