Posted on 03/27/2012 2:00:29 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
The shooting of Trayvon Martin has cast a spotlight on the humble hooded sweat shirt, raising questions about the messages it sends — and why.
Football coaches wear them on the sidelines. Toddlers sport them on trips to the park. They are what we grab when we run to the market or head out in the cold to walk the dogs.
Yet somehow the humble hooded sweat shirt has evolved from basic, everyday apparel to a sinister symbol of urban terror.
It has become a touchstone in the conversation about the death of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager who was wearing a hoodie when he was fingered as "suspicious" and shot by a Neighborhood Watch patroller.
Fox News commentator Geraldo Rivera considers the hoodie "as much responsible for Trayvon Martin's death as George Zimmerman," the man who shot him.
"I believe Trayvon Martin would be alive today, but for his hoodie," Rivera said last week. "If he didn't have that hoodie on, that nutty Neighborhood Watch guy wouldn't have responded in that violent and aggressive way....
"Pedestrians cross the street to avoid black or brown hoodie wearers," he said. "When you see that kid coming your way, you are thinking ghetto or ghetto wannabe."
Rivera has been roundly mocked since he made those comments last week — including in countless Facebook posts of a brown-skinned Rivera wearing a hoodie in the crowd at a Yankees' game.
It seems to me like a shameful example of blaming the victim. So I was surprised that several readers responded to my Saturday column on Trayvon's death with a similar view:
Hooded jackets broadcast "thug" when worn by minorities.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
“The gangs and thugs adopted it as their symbol, that is why it is their symbol.
It is that simple.”
It really is that simple but “conventional wisdom” now dictates that recognizing the fact that rappers, hip hop gang bangers, and anyone who has mugged anyone or robbed a convenience store wears a hoodie is racism of the worst sort. Fall down and beg forgiveness for your “stereotyping”.
Stereotyping to me means typing with one finger on each hand.
LOL - Tourist Guy with a hoodie! :-)
I have 2 hoodies myself - one says US Navy on the front, and one says Carhardt.
lol.
might be less recognizable if you break in without the signs and stuff...
Head down, hoodie pulled down around face, its both a mask for disguise and a bag for shoplifting. The perfect urban thug garb.
I wore hooded sweatshirts/jackets all the time as a kid. The hood only came up when it was actually cold.
There is no reason for a hoodie when its warm, except to advertise your thugness.
I have no intent of dancing to that liberal tune. I’m going to continue wearing my hooded sweatshirts and the thugs can kiss my gleamin white ass.
Conservatives need to stop retreating.
Wiki on the hoodie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodie
Get your thugwear here!
http://www.thugwearinc.com/mainthug.html
Urban Dictionary and the word, “thug.”
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Thug%20Wear
Thugwear banned on Texas busses!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8555931/Saggy-trousers-banned-on-Texas-buses.html
Someone needs to start a company called The Thug’z Wearhouse. “You’re going to like the way you look like a thug; I guarantee it.”
On the front is a really unique crest with angels adoring the Eucharist, with the words of Christ “corpus meum” meaning “this is My body” in Latin.
I have a charcoal colored t-shirt with the same graphics.
This is complete bullshit for 50% of the population, females. Hoodies mess up our hair. Ergo, no girls in hoodies.
You males sort this carp out.
The same with the droopy pants. Of, by, and for thugs who take it up the butt.
Hootie band!
I don’t even own one nor my husband, either.
Jeff, is that top picture real? If so, I have never seen it. How sad.
It’s a hoax that went around 10 years ago.
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