Bizarre, Criminal law, Media, Things That Tick Me Off

Haughty Couture: Geraldo Rivera Blames Hoodie For Trayvon Martin Slaying

By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

With leaders from all sides of the political spectrum coming together and calling for a Grand Jury investigation into the senseless slaying of teenager Trayvon Martin, surely there has to be one wacky voice. And who better than Fox & Friends contributor, Geraldo Rivera. On the show, Rivera recently blamed Martin’s hoodie as the culprit for the fatal attack:

I believe that George Zimmerman, the overzealous neighborhood watch captain, should be investigated to the fullest extent of the law, and if he is criminally liable he should be prosecuted. But I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly to not let their children go out wearing hoodies. I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was.

Rivera had opened the bidding with an equally inane column styled,  “Trayvon Martin Would Be Alive but for His Hoodie.”  There, after deriding low slung pants, he admonishes parents to take the hoodies off their kids too, imploring them, “don’t let your child go out into the hard cruel world wearing a costume that is really a sign that says ‘shoot me.’” Fleece as fomenter? Really?

That stupidity brought immediate comment from the saner and hipper side of the planet. “i didn’t even know geraldo still did stuff ppl listened to. damned if i listen to him now. but #BEATEMDOWNhoodies ARE on sale for $25,” media personality Bomani Jones tweeted. “Dear Geraldo Rivera: I’ll use small words so you can follow me, okay? Hoodies don’t kill people. Paranoid racists with guns kill people,” tweeted Wil Wheatonof Los Angeles. “That’s like saying Martin should not have left the house while being Black. As the Million Hoodie marches emphasize, there is nothing inherently devious about hoodies. It’s our culture’s racist stereotype for “suspicion” that makes hoodies worn by people of color — not soccer moms or Anderson Cooper —  an act that could be met with violence,” journalist Kristen Gwynne wrote on AlterNet.

With President Obama saying that if he had a son he’d look a lot like Trayvon Martin, and Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum both calling for a Grand Jury inquiry into the matter, and calling the case a “tragedy”  and a “horrible case,” respectively, Rivera looks like an old gum-shoe newsman looking for a story and some notoriety.

Clothing manufacturers must have thought the same thing. American Apparel, who makes the popular outerwear, noted its product is bought by “every type of person you can imagine—pink hoodies to toddlers, black and navy hoodies to businessmen and successful entrepreneurs, as well as plenty of college students of all backgrounds and everyone else in between. We even sell hoodies for dogs.” Creative Director Marsha Brady (no, not that Marsha Brady) added, “To say that this classic garment implies that its owner is a dangerous criminal to be ‘feared’ is absolutely ridiculous. We’re incredibly sorry about the young man who was shot while wearing one, and feel very strongly that oversimplifying the discussion by criticizing the victim’s clothing does the country, Trayvon Martin, and all those who support the end of crimes such as this one a massive and dangerous disservice.”

So it seems the journalist who brought us the underwhelming mystery of Al Capone’s vault on live TV, and who regaled us with wild claims about a million Satanists lurking among us and raping children during secret rituals, now finds himself saddled with another self-inflicted wound.

Blaming a hoodie for a shooting?  If that’s true, innocent African-American kids and other hoodie affectionadoes like New England Patriots football coach, Bill Belichick, had better look out.

Source:  msnbc

~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

119 thoughts on “Haughty Couture: Geraldo Rivera Blames Hoodie For Trayvon Martin Slaying”

  1. There can now be some clarity achieved about the motive of James Holmes, the Colorado movie-theater shooter. Check out picture (about fourth or fifth down) in this article:

    http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-aurora-dark-knight-rises-shootings-have-eerie-overtones-20120720,0,6667

    See? Young Black kid wearing a hoodie. Probably viciously attacked Holmes and made him fear for his life; probably told him he was going to die.

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  4. I was riding through downtown Washington, DC near American University last week, during a weather condition called “drizzle,” and I began to notice lots of hoodies among the folks, who looked like students for the most part. I counted umbrellas and hoodies among the people there, none of whom was shot as I rode through. Four umbrellas, 11 hoodies, six kinds of hats or poncho-like things, nine individuals with none of the above.

    Kinda goesta showya…

  5. Oh the Nazi lobbyist is just the only REGISTERED Nazi lobbyist. There are plenty of Nazi lobbyists already but they’re not registered as SUCH. And this guy is doing something that is part of a big propaganda push, and is just a part of it. It takes someone saying, “I’m a Nazi lobbyist” to give a more polished entree to those others who do not actually say, “I am a Nazi lobbyist.” They can then say, “Unlike the Nazi lobbyist, I believe [blah blah blah blah] but of course, he does have a point when he says that…”

    It is (a) really really not funny; and it is (b) really real; and it is (c) proof of what my late friend Bill Perl said back in the 1980s (It CAN happen here and it CAN happen anywhere!); and it is (d) coming at us pretty fast. Only by doing the kind of screaming and hollering that we did in the Trayvon Martin case, over and over and for this and for that and constantly and loudly and unremittingly and PAST the point of utter exhaustion can ANY of it be stopped, blocked, etc. and the big ship turned around.

    Another thing is that registering as the Nazi lobbyist makes it possible for him to NORMALIZE the idea. He’s bringing a temper tantrum into the halls of Congress to let them see that, hey, temper tantrums are perfectly normal, and you should pay attention to them. Strangely, it will work at least part of the time.

    Have you seen the Propaganda Exhibit at the Holocaust Museum? They did not need ANY ACTUAL FACTS to accomplish all they meant to do. No facts whatsoever.

  7. Hadding Scott, I clicked on that link you put up from the National Socialist website and I got dizzy from shock. What’s wrong with you, man? You don’t know that some folks’ chairs from where they watch on their computer screen could be a little off balance and they might suddenly start laughing so loud they might fall on the FLOOR when they see something out in orbit like that crazy stuff you post like you know everything in the world and don’t care who else has a different opinion, you crazy man? And if they FALL on the floor you don’t realize they could bump their heads on the floor and get a post-concussion syndrome attack and look what you have done! Just coming out here risking other people’s lives and all, not even caring about your responsibility as an American citizen? Unless of course you’re NOT — where DID you come from, anyway? Did the place you came from even have a NAME? And the name Scott — what’s THAT about? I mean, remember that lawsuit “Sanford v. Scott”? United States Supreme COURT, what about THAT, huh? Ever think of THAT?

    Damn. I wonder if the guys who put up that website have a contract with Zimmerman’s lawyer to put together a cartoon that will explain what happened on 2/26/2012. Damn! I can see it right now.

    First, there’s a war-torn neighborhood in which young black toons hop in and out of windows burglarizing houses. A few frames later, the place is littered with the detritus of their pillaging. Everybody walks around looking glum and frightened. But then Super-Zim appears, in a red jacket, BIG CHEST, crew cut, MUSIC! He flies through the neighborhood. Along comes a suspicious looking petty thug. He glowers at Super-Zim. MUSIC! Da-da-dahnnnnnnnn…

    Super-Zim approaches the miscreant. But the hooded raider, mistaking Super-Zim for a Halloween kid out for his candy on the wrong night (It was four months back, fool!) feels entitled to commit child abuse on the greedy foolish boy, and starts out by saying, “You’re gonna die tonight” and adding, “You got a problem with that?”

    Super-Zim reaches for his cell-phone to call 911 but the assailant wants to prevent him from getting protection (because then he won’t have enough time to rob all those houses) so he punches him in the nose and leaps on top of him, grabs him by the ears (let’s face it, he doesn’t have enough hair to grab) and pounds his head into the…well, into something (grass, pavement, something) while Super-Zim, unprepared for such an “apeshit” attack when he was only trying to stop a criminal, cries, “HELP HELP HELP” but nobody will help him.

    Why won’t anybody help him? Because they’re all scared, having been victimized for so long.

    Wow.
    But for the ending, it’s not even hard to come up with the script. Is it?

    Oh wait a minute, falling on the floor was my own fault, sorry, my bad: This really wasn’t funny.

    Woah, this REALLY was NOT FUNNY!

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  12. Simple. Change the law, forbid citizen patrols, forbid carrying of lethal weapons, have forced reciprocal home visits by students in school, have obligatory physical contact courses (kiss-a-xxxxxx) at high school.
    Mix it up. Fear disappears, Prejudices too.
    Abra-ca-dabra.

    The witness is someone the poleeees has something on—-and thus cooparates with their needs of support.

  13. Trayvon was suspended from school for being tardy too much. Someone who was a “honor roll” student.

    Zimmerman has the background of assault, not Martin.

    Zimmerman has the background for paranoid delusions, not Martin.
    (calling 911 on a 7 to 9 year old kid? come on!)

  14. quercus54,

    Here’s a question for you?

    How many people would be frightened if they were walking alone and some man they didn’t know kept following them?

    I’d be frightened.

    Zimmerman perceived Trayvon as acting in a suspicious manner. What had he done?

    Zimmerman continued to follow Trayvon even though the police dispatcher told him not to. That was his choice. Mr. Zimmerman seems to have brought a confrontation upon himself. He was armed with a gun. Trayvon had candy and ice tea. Let’s not start blaming the victim who cannot speak for himself.

  15. Here are some questions I believe everyone needs to consider.

    How many people if armed would allow themselves to be beaten?

    From what I have read Mr.Zimmerman was being attacked according to the eyewitness who called 911. He was on the bottom and being beaten. The shot was heard by the witness as he was going upstairs to call. When upstairs he looked out the window and seen the attacker (person on top) dead on the ground.

    Regardless of where you stand, I guarantee that most anyone who is being attacked would use what ever means they had available to defend themselves. It is easy to have never been in that situation and to judge someone else. Whether Mr Zimmerman was qualified to have the gun is irrelevant. Had he used a stick or a rock with the same outcome, he was still in fear for his life.
    ————————————————————————————-
    Why is the media not showing Trayvon as the young man he was?

    Trayvon was over 6ft tall and a football player. Most media photos of him look like they were taken when he was in elementary or middle school.
    ————————————————————————————–
    Why has most of the media not reported on the fact that Trayvon was in suspension from school for 5 days?

    The reason for the suspension has been withheld.
    ————————————————————————————–
    Would the media and the black community be just as outraged if Mr Zimmerman had been beaten to death?

    I doubt that a black teenager killing a Hispanic man would have made the front page of the local newspaper, let alone national coverage.
    ————————————————————————————–

    The entire incident is a tragedy. The media trying to stir the race card is unacceptable. Not sure what is worse, the using of this tragedy for political purposes or those that are buying into it.

  16. George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin
    By Bill Press/Syndicated columnist
    MetroWest Daily News
    http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/x121055164/George-Zimmerman-and-Trayvon-Martin

    Excerpt:
    There was a time in the southern United States when racially-charged murders of innocent civilians were routine. We remember the deaths of four little girls in the bombing of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church in September 1963; the June 1963 killing of Medgar Evers in Jackson, Miss.; and the murder of three young civil rights workers in June 1964 outside of Philadelphia, Miss.

    But that was way back in the 20th century. Nobody could kill an innocent person today and get away with it. Right? Wrong! Add Trayvon Martin to the list.

    This young black man was no civil rights activist. He was a 17-year-old high school junior, honor roll student, football player, hanging out with his father at his dad’s girlfriend’s house in Sanford, Fla. On the evening of February 26, Trayvon went to a nearby 7-Eleven. After asking his little brother what he wanted, he hiked to the store and then began walking home, in the rain, wearing a hoodie, with nothing but a can of iced tea and a bag of Skittles for his brother. That’s when the ugliness of the Deep South rose again.

    Martin was spotted by 28-year-old George Zimmerman, a white Hispanic Neighborhood Watch volunteer, who called police and reported someone acting “suspiciously.” Authorities promised to respond, after cautioning him not to pursue the young man, which was advice Zimmerman immediately ignored. Zimmerman got out of his car, pursued Martin, confronted him, shot and killed him – and then insisted he’d acted in self-defense.

    And here’s the worst part: the Sanford Police Department swallowed his lame excuse – hook, line, and sinker. They consider the case closed, they say, because they find no evidence to contradict Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense.

    No evidence? How about this? Martin was walking and carrying only an iced tea and a bag of candy. Zimmerman was driving his car and armed with a 9-millimeter handgun. Martin weighed 140 pounds. Zimmerman weighs 250 pounds. Martin had no criminal record. Zimmerman was charged in July 2005 with resisting arrest with violence and battery on an officer. Plus, as reported in the Miami Herald, neighbors reported that Zimmerman was “fixated on crime and focused on young, black males.” He’d called police 46 times since January 2011 to report similar “suspicious activity.”

    Zimmerman’s defense is further undermined by the testimony of Martin’s girlfriend, whom he called to tell he was being pursued by a stranger. She heard him ask Zimmerman “Why are you following me?” and urged him to run. Moments later, on one of several 911 calls neighbors made to police, Martin’s voice can be heard, crying for help.

    Yet Sanford police did not arrest Zimmerman. They filed no charges against him. They didn’t even test him for drugs or alcohol. They performed a toxicology test on the dead teen, instead.

  17. EXCLUSIVE: Sanford City Commissioner Concerned George Zimmerman Will Flee Country
    By Judd Legum on Mar 23, 2012
    http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/03/23/451181/exclusive-sanford-city-commissioner-concerned-george-zimmerman-may-flee-country/

    Excerpt:
    ORLANDO, FL — Sanford City Commissioner Velma Williams is concerned that George Zimmerman, the man who killed Trayvon Martin last month but has not been arrested or charged with any crime, may try to leave the country. In an interview with ThinkProgress, Williams said that Zimmerman’s checkered history make his actions unpredictable. Speaking about the possibility that Zimmerman could leave the country to avoid arrest, Williams said “he might do that.”

    Williams met several times with former Sanford City Police Chief Bill Lee, who “temporarily” stepped down yesterday, to discuss her concerns about the investigation. But these meetings left her unsatisfied. As an elected official, she says she has not been properly apprised of the conduct of the investigation, even as more problems came to light. Williams said she received no indication from Lee that the police knew of Zimmerman’s whereabouts or that any steps had been taken to prevent him from fleeing to avoid arrest.

  18. It may or not been S&W on the 38 the 357 was a Colt Mark III. I’m starting to recollect and I remember putting rubber speed grips on the 38 and remember a round medallion which I think belong to Colt.

    Could have been the Agent/Cobra

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Cobra

  19. Dennis when I purchased it, it was 1984 plus or minus a couple of years. I bought it at a place called Bull’s Eye and thats how it was sold to me. Just tried looking it up but couldn’t find anything. Thought it was neat at the time because your choices were either Chrome/nickel or blue for revolvers at least what I was looking at and to see it in a zinc coating I thought was neat.

    Your question kept bugging me so I did more searches this time with brand names. Here it is.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_%26_Wesson_Model_10

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