Photo: esquire.com
By Elizabeth Newby
A recent Florida tragedy has caused nationwide controversy. George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman, shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager wearing a hoodie. Zimmerman claimed self-defense and said the teenager was up to no good. Martin’s family and friends claim the evidence against him just doesn’t add up.
Many high-profile figures have shared their opinion on the issue, including President Obama and NBA players Dwayne Wade and LeBron James. “When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids,” Obama said in a presidential address.
On Fox News, Geraldo Rivera heatedly proclaimed that the hoodie that Martin was wearing at the time he got shot is as much to blame as the shooter himself. In response to Rivera’s claims, the Rev. Jesse Jackson drew his views from another historical hood.
“White people wore hoods and sheets and [held] crosses and engaged in acts of terror—they were not shot,” he said. “Under those hoods were judges and ministers and they used to have lynching parties at church on Sundays.
“They had hoods that covered their faces also.”
Although Jackson has become notorious for his statements, I think he makes a valid point in our instinct as Americans to marginalize people based on race and appearance. Wade and James have responded on their Twitter accounts, boldly posting a picture of the entire Miami Heat team in hoodies with their head bowed.
As a white female, when I’m too lazy to wash my hair, I don a stocking cap under my hoodie to class, but people just laugh at me and tell me I look like Eminem from Eight Mile. Although there has been much progress in Civil Rights in the past 50 or so years, there still is this strong association with identity that has been perpetuated by the media.
The media has perpetuated Rivera’s submission to racial stereotypes just as a woman’s short skirt is an option for “blame” for the act of rape. And yet again, this is another example of our ability as Americans to shift our responsibility onto the victim when we repeatedly fail to take responsibility for ourselves.
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