Hoodies

The shooting of Trayvon Martin is a tragedy. An innocent unarmed young man was walking through a neighborhood and was shot by George Zimmerman, a member of a local citizen watch group who was also licensed to carry a concealed weapon. His involvement with the citizens watch group and his permit to carry were unrelated and I would further guess that if the group was police sanctioned, carrying a weapon while on patrol would have been prohibited.

Geraldo Rivera wrote a column (http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/03/23/trayvon-martins-hoodie-and-george-zimmerman-share-blame/) stating that Trayvon would have been alive today if he were not wearing a hoodie. He stated that hoodies are associated with being a member of a gang and that would make you a dangerous person, one that makes others fearful of you. He actually sent a direct message through his column to the parents of all young people to not allow their children to wear hoodies, that if Trayvon's parents had not allowed him to wear a hoodie he would still be alive.

Some direct quotes from Rivera's article:

"His hoodie killed Trayvon Martin as surely as George Zimmerman did."

"If you dress like a hoodlum eventually some schmuck is going to take you at your word."

I wonder how Trayvon's parents felt when they heard that message. If this was a valid warning with substance, the fact that it made the parents feel bad but in doing so saved lives would be a worthwhile exchange. But really, Geraldo. Perhaps like cigarettes there should be a warning on every hoodie sold, "Warning - wearing by ethnic minority could be harmful to your health."

More to the point, I found this to be virtually parallel to the concept that woman should not wear provocative clothes to prevent them from being raped. Like Rivera said about Trayvon, if the girl got raped, it wasn't her fault but she could have prevented it by wearing unattractive attire. Hell, why stop there? Perhaps women should stop wearing perfume and makeup. Every little bit will help decrease the odds of being raped.

Likewise, Trayvon should have not just left the hoodie at home. He should have worn white sox and oxford shoes with flood pants. Throw in some thick glasses and that would have protected him. But make sure that he did not wear a bow tie. That might have made him then resemble a follower of Malcolm X and bam, from nerd to fear inducing menace.

Adding to the absurdity, gun control proponents are using this as an example why conceal carry laws should be repealed and even stating this is proof that all guns should be turned into police. That is food for another column but suffice to say that using this as reason to remove guns from law abiding citizens is like issuing a prohibition on consensual sex because someone was raped.

Bottom line, this was a bad shooting and George Zimmerman should be prosecuted. He had no business even leaving his car, as a community watch member. He should have stayed in the auto and called 911.

And this is also proof that Geraldo Rivera has, like the episode where Fonz jumped the shark on a jet ski, provided proof that this is his evolutionary moment where his decline in quality is beyond recovery.

Comments

[stan chaz]

Blame the Hoodie? GIVE ME A BREAK. It was raining.... the kid was running.....and being stalked.......and ....SORRY... but we don't ALL use Totes umbrellas when going to the corner grocery store for a snack! Nor SHOULD we risk losing our very lives while doing so! Mr. Rivera: you should be ashamed of your inane, insensitive comments, and your attempts to create "excuses" for the inexcusable actions of judge-jury-and-executioner George Zimmerman, and those that would imitate him. We are becoming a society that sees threats under every rock; a society that sees danger with every “other” that is not just like us;  a society with control-freaks running rampant (whether politicians or mayors or police chiefs or individuals). Power-hungry people that are only too eager to take advantage of our fears; that are only too eager to get away with anything and everything that they can, as they deprive us of our our liberty (and sometimes our lives)...all in the name of defending it. What a shell game. Were it only a game. For it’s part of a slippery slope that includes the worst provisions of the Patriot Act, the police spying on innocent people, papers-please and stop&frisk gone wild, the “right” to indefinitely detain Americans without trial, and homicidal “vigilantes” such as we have tragically seen here. It’s a slippery slope that ultimately leads to a police state/Orwellian mentality that is more typical of places such as China or Cuba - not America .We USED to stand proud and free, and contrasted our open society to such places. Now we imitate them. Our country is better than this. Our values are better than this. WE are better than this. Don’t blame the hoodie...blame what we are becoming, and allowing, and doing as a society. For we have come to accept things that should NEVER be accepted by a freedom-loving people. It’s time, way past time, to reverse course.

[Becky]

Well-argued. Love the warning against bowties too. It's a tragedy. I'd be interested to hear how the murder has or hasn't changed your view on concealed weapon permits for civilians

[Hoodies Suppliers]

Im saddened by this story!! indeed a tragedy.