What the Trayvon Martin shooting should tell us is that the stereotypes that we have of people can have deadly consequences.
Martin was nothing more than a young man wearing athletic shoes, jeans and a hoodie.
For George Zimmerman, that's the uniform of a suspicious person. And it apparently was that simple observation that led Zimmerman to follow Martin in his car, get out, confront Martin and eventually shoot him fatally.
It has been amazing to listen to the reaction of some folks.
But nothing got me more charged up than hearing Geraldo Rivera say on "Fox and Friends" that by wearing a hoodie, Martin contributed to his own death.
"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. 'Take that hood off!' People look at you and what's the instant identification, what's the instant association? It's those crime scene surveillance tapes," Rivera said.
"Every time you see someone stickin' up a 7-11, 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 gonna be a gangsta wanna? Well, people are going to perceive you as a menace. That's what happens. It is an instant reflexive action."
He later added, "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. Trayvon Martin, you know, God bless him, he was an innocent kid, a wonderful kid, a box of Skittles in his hands. He didn't deserve to die. But I'll 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."
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/24/opinion/roland-martin-stereotypes/index.html
Gerardo should go back to opening safes.
What an idiot.