By now, we all know the tragic story of Trayvon Martin. Steven covered it brilliantly yesterday! There is a part to the story that he didn’t cover. The Geraldo Rivera/Fox News part of it.
Fox News journalist and Bill O’Reillys BFF had a new revelation on the reason that Trayvon was shot. It was not racism, the castle doctrine, too many guns in society, irresponsible gun owners, etc… It was Trayvon’s Hoody!
Speaking on Friday’s “Fox and Friends,” Rivera said, “”I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was.”
Martin was unarmed when he was shot dead by a self-appointed neighborhood watch volunteer named George Zimmerman in late February. His death has become a national tragedy, fueled by the police’s controversial handling of the case.
Huge props to Lebron James and the Miami Heat, for stepping up to show how ridiculous this stance is:
But since we all know that republicans are in charge at the moment, maybe we can not change this until the next election. If that is the case and its open season on hoody’s:
jus sayin….
Great read here on the Wisconsin's own version of this controversy!
Rivera, who is, ironically, undergoing treatment for both Peter Pan Syndrome and Alzheimer’s Disease, admitted that his son is ashamed of his remarks.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/24/geraldo-rivera-trayvon-martin-hoodie-comments_n_1377014.html
Zuma,
Sleep well, your way to easy to set off. You should see someone and get some help. Did you just assume I was white? Thanks appreciate it, point still is that there is racism in this country but that isn’t what’s killing African Americans (people that look like me) dumbass.
(*laughing*)
You’re a brother?! Holy sh*t! (*laughing*)
Yeah, homeboy, I assumed you were white.
Hey, if ya talk like a white boy, walk like a white boy, have a stick up your but just like the average white boy does, ya JUST might be a. . .
Anyway, let’s see what ya had ta say, huh?
Bobbity-Bob: “. . .[Y]our [sic] way to easy to set off.”
(*laughing*) Unh huh. Didn’t get under YOUR skin AT ALL, did I, Bobbity-Bob? (*laughing*)
Bobbity-bob: “You should see someone and get some help.”
Right back atcha, little homey.
Love and kisses,
Zuma
P.S. Give some thought to a taking a remedial English course, huh?
Zuma,
Nice profiling. So all white people are the same and all “brothers” talk, write and think like “brothers”. No independent thought there. You right and I’m wrong. Would it help if I had ghetto slang then you’d think I’m “real”.
@ Bob Jones
It’s your point of view, Bob, not whatever slang you might use.
A long time ago, I met a girl who wasn’t as academically inclined as I was (and, well, she was FINE, and I was 19, and had a 19 year-old’s priorities, you know how it is), and I dropped out of college to hang with her.
I got a job at a warehouse in West Oakland, California. If you know West Oakland at all, you know that there aren’t all that many white people living and working in that area. I was one of a handful of white guys who did. So, I worked with, and hung with, the brothers. I was as “white” as they came, but they accepted me like one of their own. Not because I had “the slang” down, but because they could see I was cool, no judgments or preconceptions, someone who just accepted people for who they were, open to new experiences, well, and because I didn’t mind the occasional line or joint now and then.
Like I was saying, I wasn’t the only white guy working at this place, but I was the only white guy there that got invited over to barbeques, family functions, parties, the only white guy that the sisters hit on.
And it was all about the way that I looked at the world. I still “sounded pretty damn white”, but it didn’t matter to them. They knew my heart, and that was good enough for them. We didn’t define each other by the way we looked or “the slang” that we used, and it said something about the way the world should be.
As should have been clear from the outset here, Bob, I define you by your unfortunate worldview. That I mistook you to be white says a whole more about you than it does about me. You should think about that, my brother.
Given what you’ve had to say about Trayvon Martin, I am compelled to observe that you are part of the problem, whether you are white or black, and perhaps a larger part of the problem precisely because you are black.
Trayvon died at the hands of a racist in the midst of a sea of racism which inspired and encouraged the killer to act as he did. There are, and have been, thousands of Trayvon Martins, and thousands of George Zimmermans. And there will continue to be so long as we don’t address the problem of racism in this country.
African-Americans like you who want to deflect the conversation away from that to things like the African-American community’s failure to address and accept responsibility for black on black crime do us all a disservice.
I don’t know why you would do something like that in this context, but in doing so, you might as well be a white guy from the Northwoods who spends his time making maple syrup and hating on anyone who doesn’t look exactly like him.
In any event, Bob, this little tete-a-tete of ours isn’t about skin color so much as it is about attitudes. Your attitude is all wrong, brother. All wrong. And until it changes, you’re part of the problem. And people are going to think you’re white for a reason.
Zuma,
Thank you, I appreciate the last comment and the respect you showed. I don’t go for name calling, and we can disagree without demeaning each other.
I’m sorry you feel that way. I’ll never claim that racism is gone in this country, it exists. But personally I just don’t think it’s the be all end all problem for African Americans in this country. Is there work to do, of course. Was Trayvon murdered for being black, yes.
Zimmerman sounds like a wanna be cop who had no idea what he was doing, or worse knew exactly what he was doing. I just see the problems in the African American community differently than you.
I’m not a right wing nut. I’ve seen to much over the years to fall in lockstep with either party. Both have ideas that I hold dear. Unfortunately for both of us the vast majority of politicians truly don’t give a damn about the citizens only about reelection and who gives them the most money. Doesn’t matter if it’s business or unions they both want something in return and usually what they want isn’t beneficial for the rest of us.
I enjoyed our discussion and we probably are closer in our views than you think.
Bob,
I enjoyed it, too, brother.
I’ve got to get going, but before I do, I wanted to share one more story with you that bears on the idea of people being closer in their views than they think they are.
About ten years ago, I was living in Los Angeles. I was reading the “Letters to the Editor” of the Sunday Magazine section of the Los Angeles Times. I ran across a letter to the editor that had been written in response to an article that had appeared in a previous edition.
As I sit here, I don’t remember what the article was about, but I do remember that the letter writer was pretty worked up. The thing that stood out for me was one particular comment that the writer made: “We’ll only be able to effectively deal with racism in the country when white people can honestly say that they would be proud to have some black blood in them.”
I remember putting the paper down, having read that, shaking my head, and thinking, “I’d be damn proud”, not that I thought that that would have made even the slightest difference to the letter writer, who seemed to have a head of steam up and a whole pile of preconceived and unshakeable assumptions in place about me already.
Bob, that experience has stuck with me in the years since. And our conversation here has brought it to mind, well, that, along with the corresponding idea that we can all get caught up in things and tend to talk past one another, steeled by the [often erroneous] assumptions we have.
Anyway, brother, I agree with you. We’re probably closer in our views than either of us originally thought.
And, if people keep talking and interacting with each other, and standing up for what’s right, I’m hopeful we’ll get “there”.
Good talking to you.
A Florida criminal defense lawyer’s take:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/25/1077738/-George-Zimmerman-s-Disgraceful-Press-Circus