Trayvon, Continued
I am in agreement with the editor-in-chief in his defense of the cartoon.
I stand by it, despite the fact that many people — including my editorial board — believe that this nationally syndicated cartoon should not have run in the DTH.
I believe it raises legitimate points concerning the Martin case by calling attention to the absurdity of the situation: Zimmerman’s defense, the police response (or lack thereof) and Florida’s so-called stand your ground law.
And as editor-in-chief, I take final responsibility for the content of this newspaper, including what appears on the opinion page.
Sure there could be a “too soon” call, but the reason for running the cartoon and the message it presents is valid and meaningful.
Geraldo Rivera – as guilty as the hoodie, as guilty as Zimmerman
On Friday, March 23rd Geraldo Rivera did his best to divert attention away from Florida’s Stand Your Ground law by blaming Trayvon’s death not on the shooter, George Zimmerman, but on Trayvon’s fashion choice. Mr. Rivera eagerly asserted that Trayvon’s hoodie and Trayvon being black were just as much to blame for his death as Zimmerman was for following Trayvon, chasing Trayvon, and ultimately shooting and killing Trayvon.
Mr. Rivera immediately received backlash, as he should have, and he seemed genuinely shocked that people were upset with his words. He was surprised that his words were hurtful, and he was surprised that people felt he was trivializing the shooting in favor of stereotyping men of minorities and wearing hoodies.
In an effort to try to regain his footing, he did something unprecedented: apologized specifically to the parents of Trayvon and in specific language addressing what he said.
"But I never intended to hurt anyone’s feelings and certainly Sybrina and Tracy, I never intended to hurt your feelings. I want to personally convey my deepest apologies to both of you. I am sorry, Tracy, if anything I said added to your misery.”
I believe that this story would have been different if Rivera had added a few things to his hoodie comments. Feel free to say that wearing a hoodie if you are a male and a appear to be a minority. But may I suggest some other items to include in your rant:
1. Comment on the absurdity of stereotyping an individual based on his or her clothing. Yes, I know this happens all the time to all ages, all sexes, all races/cultural groups. So take this time to caution against stereotyping and acting on those stereotypes. Include a few words on bullying.
2. Comment on the absurdity of the fact that a minority male is more suspicious than a white/Caucasian male, regardless of clothing. Even if Trayvon had been wearing a dress shirt and some nice slacks, the fact that he was young, male, black, and alone would have trumped any fashion choices he may have made that evening. A young Caucasian male in a hoodie walking alone at night in a gated community would most likely not have piqued Zimmerman’s curiosity and feeling of “ooh this dude is bad bad bad – let me call the police and continue following him.”
I am glad that Trayvon’s parents accepted Mr. Rivera’s apology, as it was on national television and that makes them look the bigger people, but I take issue with the rest of what Trayvon’s father, Tracy, had to say.
"Let me just add one thing with the wearing of the hoodie. I don’t think America knows that, in fact, at the time of the incident when he initially made the call, it was raining. So Trayvon had every right to have on his hood. He was protecting himself from the rain. So if being suspicious, walking in the rain with your hoodie on is a crime, then I guess the world is doing something wrong.”
Instead of defending his child, making comments similar to those above, or asking Rivera and others to think before they speak, he defended his child’s decision to wear a hoodie. As I’ve said before, even if Trayvon had been wearing a rainjacket or had been carrying an umbrella, he still would have caught Zimmerman’s eye because he was black, male, young, and walking alone towards a gated community.
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