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Confirmed: Geraldo Rivera is dumb.
Really. The hoodie is the reason he's dead. 
Geraldo Rivera: Trayvon Martin killed due to ?hoodie?
Geraldo Rivera said Friday he would ?bet money? that Trayvon Martin wouldn?t have been fatally shot if the teenager hadn?t been wearing a hoodie, and the Fox News host?s comments immediately drew a fierce response, with one critic branding him a ?moron? on Twitter.
?I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly to not let their children go out wearing hoodies,? Rivera said on ?Fox & Friends.? ?I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin?s death as George Zimmerman was.?
Martin, an African-American teenager from Florida, was shot and killed last month by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain who was armed with a handgun. The Justice Department announced earlier this week that it would launch an independent investigation into the shooting, as mobs of furious protesters are demanding that Zimmerman ? who claimed he shot Martin in self-defense ? be arrested.
Rivera on Friday launched into a long-winded monologue about how wearing a hoodie can draw ?dark-skinned? kids unwanted attention because of the negative associations attached to people that dress to look like ?a gangsta.?
?When you see a kid walking down the street, particularly a dark-skinned kid like my son Cruz, who I constantly yelled at when he was going out wearing a damn hoodie or those pants around his ankles,? Rivera said, as he continued on to argue that there is an ?instant association? with someone that is wearing a hoodie.
?It?s those crime scene surveillance tapes. Every time you see someone sticking up a 7-Eleven, the kid?s wearing a hoodie. Every time you see a mugging on a surveillance camera or they get the old lady in the alcove, it?s a kid wearing a hoodie. You have to recognize that this whole stylizing yourself as a gangsta ? you?re going to be a gangsta wannabe? Well, people are going to perceive you as a menace,? he said.
The Fox News host also cited Juan Williams ? who was fired from NPR after saying he felt ?nervous? when he sees people wearing ?Muslim garb? at airports, and now works for Fox News ? as an example of someone having had an ?automatic reflex? to how an individual is dressed.
?When you see a black or Latino youngster, particularly on the street, you walk to the other side of the street. You try to avoid that confrontation,? Rivera continued. ?Trayvon Martin, God bless him, an innocent kid, a wonderful kid, a box of Skittles in his hands. He didn?t deserve to die. But I bet you money, if he didn?t have that hoodie on, that nutty neighborhood watch guy wouldn?t have responded in that violent and aggressive way.?
Rivera?s comments quickly drew a sharp response Friday morning, with hundreds of Twitter users taking issue with the Fox News host?s remarks.
CNN contributor Roland Martin sent out a string of messages calling out Rivera. ?Hey Geraldo, Black kids have gotten shot not wearing hoodies. Dude, that?s just dumb. #Trayvon,? he wrote. ?So @GeraldoRivera, is a woman in 6-inch heels, a short skirt and a low-cut blouse responsible for her own rape? That?s a serious question.?
Social media editor for Reuters Anthony De Rosa tweeted, ?Moron.?
Asked whether he would take back the comments in light of the criticism, Rivera told POLITICO in an email, ?Absolutely not,? while citing his recently published column on Fox News Latino called, ?Geraldo Rivera: Trayvon Martin Would Be Alive but for His Hoodie? that makes the similar arguments that the Fox News host made on the air.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama addressed Martin?s shooting for the first time Friday morning, saying at the White House, ?When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids and I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this.?
Calling for the country to ?do some soul-searching? to figure out how the incident took place, Obama added, ?If I had a son he would look like Trayvon. And you know, I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the siren it deserves and we?re going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.?
The authors of a 2005 self-defense gun law that has come under intense scrutiny in Florida since Martin?s death said Zimmerman shouldn?t be protected under their law. Commonly known as the Stand Your Ground law, a person who believes their life is in danger has the right to use force in self-defense, including ?deadly force.?
But audio of a 911 call that Zimmerman made the night he shot Martin revealed that he was purposefully pursuing the teenager before the altercation, complicating the discussion over whether Zimmerman can avoid being arrested.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74392.html
Re: Confirmed: Geraldo Rivera is dumb.
Unless you're walking around wearing an asinine sign John McLaine style, there isn't a damned thing you can wear that justifies being chased down and shot in the street.
Actually, he's right though. If the kid had been wearing a polo shirt and pressed khakis, he probably would be alive and that's exactly the muthafuuking point, you douchebag!! Why in the hell do black folks need to go out of their way to look non-threatening to avoid being hassled in this country? That's the conversation we should be having.
Why is the conversation about how blacks and latinos should dress to make crazy ass and not so crazy ass white folks feel better instead of confronting white folks for shaking in their boots whenever they see a black kid in a fuuking innocuous hoodie?
Click me, click me!
?When you see a black or Latino youngster, particularly on the street, you walk to the other side of the street. You try to avoid that confrontation,?
This comment makes me shake my head. Who does this but racists? So black and Latino youth should avoid dressing a manner that racists fear?
Places like American Eagle, Hollister, and Abercrombie and Fitch sell hoodies so how in the flying fuuk is a simple garment that EVERYONE wears a thug uniform?
This:
is a far cry from this:
The only reason Zimmerman's mind went to DMX instead of Abercrombie is because Trayvon was black.
And by Geraldo's logic, this should terrify him.
Now if Trayvon had been wearing this he might have a point.
It makes me utterly sick to think that my peteybird could be shot dead and the entire city not give a good goddamned for wearing the same article of clothing his sister also wears. I sewed that kid a hoodie for Christmas. Will the fact that it has little cartoon aliens on it save his life? P&P wear hoodies to school every morning. So do all the kids on their bus. I just can't. I CAN'T!
Click me, click me!
Well, this explains the tweet from LeVar Burton this morning....
Also, worth a read:
http://globalgrind.com/news/michael-skolnik-trayvon-martin-george-zimmerman-race-sanford-florida-photos-pictures
"I will never look suspicious to you. Even if I have a black hoodie, a pair of jeans and white sneakers on...in fact, that is what I wore yesterday...I still will never look suspicious. No matter how much the hoodie covers my face or how baggie my jeans are, I will never look out of place to you. I will never watch a taxi cab pass me by to pick someone else up. I will never witness someone clutch their purse tightly against their body as they walk by me. I won't have to worry about a police car following me for two miles, so they can "run my plates." I will never have to pay before I eat. And I certainly will never get "stopped and frisked." I will never look suspicious to you, because of one thing and one thing only. The color of my skin. I am white."
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What did he say?
Also, I love Jordi.
hoodie : dead black kids :: short skirts : girls who get raped.
He was askin' fer it.
The other day I was walking out of HHGregg alongside an older white woman. We were both wearing hooded sweatshirts. We both pulled up our hoods and ran to our cars because it was raining. I can't tell you how many kids I see walking home from school in the rain wearing a hoodie with the hoods up.
Let's say all teenage black males started wearing white people approved yellow raincoats. How long until those start becoming threatening to racist assholes?
It's official @GeraldoRivera has lost his mind! #blesshisheart
https://twitter.com/#!/levarburton/status/183200660207042560
food blog | garden blog | curly dogs blog
I wonder if Zimmerman would have shot this guy:
Click me, click me!
Thank you! When I get to a twitter accessible phone, I have a new person to follow.
#blesshisheart should be at the end of all nitaws tweets.
Most of the black kids in my neighborhood wear black North Face jackets. So I guess they all have nothing to worry about.
But my stupid Hispanic husband always wears a hoodie. I guess if he gets shot it is totes his fault.
this whole thing fries my potatoes so much.
I live in what's graciously called a "diverse" neighborhood (racially, ethnically, age, economic). Pretty much everybody under the age of 28 (who isn't wearing a headscarf) is dressed like this:
They're all doing the Bieber thing. How in fluck is that a "black" thing, FFS? Is there anybody whiter than Justin Bieber?
Sweet lord above, if this kid was dressed like this:
I could see "OMIGOD, A BLAH PERSON!!! GANG-STERS!!! MUST FIX THIS SITUATION"
But for crying out loud, a HOODIE? that's somehow evidence of somebody being a big bad gangsta?
ETA: I don't want to imply that shooting kids dressed more like rappers would be OK. Definitely not OK. I'm trying to say that the Geraldo statement that the hoodie was somehow threatening is... idiotic... to put it nicely.
I am the 99%.
I've been thinking about this a lot. I am white. My husband is white. We have 2 little boys, and while there are many things I'm afraid of on their behalf...sexual predators, bullies, drunk drivers, etc...being discriminated against because of the color of their skin is one thing they'll never have to worry about. Not just the in-your-face racism, but the subtle, subconscious discrimination that you just can't quite put your finger on but you know exists everywhere. I feel helpless and infuriated that other mothers (and fathers) have to think about that...don't we as parents have enough sh*t to fear?
I have 3 siblings who are racial minorities (adopted, not AA though), and my sister and her (caucasian) husband are currently considering whether they want to move out of state. One consideration they have is which locations will likely be more "friendly" to their relationship, and to any children they may eventually have. When she mentioned that it was one of those things that struck me...it never would have crossed my mind to worry about that for myself...why should my sister have to? But she does, and that makes me mad as hell.
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I couldn't decide whether to post that or the stormtrooper hoodie. Fictional sci-fi soldiers are more threatening than your average black kid in a hoodie.
Click me, click me!
A) That Geraldo Rivera is dumb was confirmed years ago.
C) 246baje makes me want to cry.
So all blahhhhh boys have to dress like Carlton Banks to avoid getting shot?
Like the PP said, it's like telling rape victims not to dress provocatively. This is not how shiit should work - we should not be pandering to the assh0les of the world.
<a href="http://www.thenest.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Home DVideo of Jennifer Granholm choking up talking about the injustice of it. She says she has a teenage son that wears hoodies and that she knows he will not be perceived as dangerous--and how unfair it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjHxa8YWX_4&feature=player_embedded
I kind of feel bad that a thread on such a serious subject is making me laugh so much. Jason hoodie, Pesca's dog, blahhhh people, Carlton Banks. It's a gold mine in here!
But seriously, this is ridiculous. I practically lived in a black hoodie in high school. Why does a black guy wearing a hoodie = OMG HIDE YER KIDS HIDE YER WIFE!!! while Girly McWhiterson wearing a hoodie doesn't? SO DUMB! Ugh ugh ugh. And to think that just the other day, I was having a conversation with my dad, who seems to think that black people have no reason to feel disenfranchised since there's a black president now. As Mer would say - post-racial society, y'all! ::headdesk::
This may be the greatest picture of all time. I cannot stop laughing.
I think I shall start doing this. #blesshisheart
I doubt there are many men who would call the cops on ya.
And always dance like Carlton.
You said exactly what I was thinking. This man is foul.