Once again, I’m constrained to put on my dashing fedora, brim turned down in a rakish sort of way, to address the latest legal fashion connundrum, the hoodie. While it bears passing connection to baggy pants, previously discussed as a fashion faux pas, it’s been elevated to a pressing sartorial issue by no less important a personage than my doppleganger, Geraldo Rivera.
While it was understandable that the baggy pants look came into fashion as young men sought to emulate the excellent appearance of the recently arrested, it’s unclear to me that the police give hoodies to perps as they enter lockup. I’ve been to lockup and while there are certainly plenty of people with hoodies, occasionally weather related, it’s not exactly a uniform.
Apparently, as Geraldo points out, the hoodie is the outer attire of choice for holding up 7 Elevens.
Every time you see someone sticking up a 7 Eleven, the kid’s wearing a hoodie.
Correlation or causation? Fashion forward observers need to know. Gerry argues that the hoodie is every bit as responsible for the death of Trayvon Martin as George Zimmerman. This view has not been widely adopted.
While there may not be anything particularly threatening about the hoodie per se, I would be remiss in not reading between Geraldo’s lines. Let’s face facts, Gerry is a fashionplate. He always has been, despite questions that have arisen about his retaining his 70s porn ‘stache. What he’s always truly wanted was to be a clothing role model for black and Hispanic youth.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 Wheaton of 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.
Sure, he’s had remarkable success as a Fox News commentator, which was no doubt calculated to keep him in the eye of his critical demographic of young black men, and yet his efforts have been for naught. There they are, walking down the street in baggy pants and hoodies rather than the finest couture. This has bugged Geraldo for decades.
At one particularly low point in his career, Gerry tried to start a new fashion trend, nose-clothes. It went nowhere.
While it’s all too easy to ridicule Geraldo’s levy of blame on the poor hoodie, few have given thoughtful consideration to the alternative. Would it kill young men of color to dress more like lawyers? As Geraldo argues, it can kill them not to.
The argument against Geraldo’s efforts to bring the youth of the ghetto into line with his choice of attire is that their fashion preferences are nothing more than that, a choice of what to wear that they feel makes them look good. So it’s not what you would wear to court, or what Geraldo would wear to an Emmy award dinner where he could clap for the winner and admire him from a distance, so what?
Youth have long fought the better judgment of their elders on styles of dress that will make them appear more acceptable to elderly people. And if they appear acceptable, they similarly appear less threatening. Of course, the trade-off is somewhat limited, since wearing a Brooks Brothers suit while carrying a machete will create sufficient cognitive dissonance as to make a reasonably prudent person cross the street to get away from them. But since this combo doesn’t happen with great frequency, it hardly seems worth discussing.
Why, Geraldo wonders, will the youth of America, particularly those with dark skin like his son Cruz, not dress as Gerry does? Uncool, you say? Feh. Everyone looks great in a bow tie and suspenders.
Perhaps the real takeaway here is that the haters who have ridiculed Geraldo for his attempt to eradicate the hoodie from the street is that they are prejudiced against Hispanic Jewish lawyers. Had it been Rush Limbaugh who raised this issue, no one would have questioned his good will in trying to prevent another hoodie-related tragedy.
The bottom line is that guns don’t shoot people. People don’t shoot people. Hoodies shoot people. And nobody shoots anybody while wearing a bow tie. So leave Geraldo alone. Remember, if it wasn’t for Geraldo, we would never know what was inside Al Capone’s vault.
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I once owned and wore a hoodie, back in 1968 or so. It was dorky then, but it did provide some protection from inclement New England Fall weather. It was dorky, though.
My more recent experience with hoodies was in the UK. There, the wearers were predominantly white, but yes, lower class and perceived as probably criminal class. I suppose the utility, though, was seen as more important than whatever ‘message’ was being sent.
My current bank gets really nervous when someone walks in wearing a hoodie and sunglasses. To address their concerns, they’ve instituted a ‘no sunglasses’ policy, not a ‘no hoodie’ policy. This makes sense, of course, in sunny Florida.
The no-sunglasses policy is a good start, but clearly doesn’t go far enough.
Rivera now has extended the “blame the victim” excuse to include young men of color. What this does is shift responsibility away from the perpetrator and place the onus on the actual victim. Doing this creates a mindset in the community that the victim is somehow the reason for his or her own victimization. We usually only see this heinous behavior directed at women who are most often blamed for being sexually assaulted based on what they wear or how much alcohol they consume. Of course, there is absolutely no data to support this. Yet, we watch it played out over and over again in criminal court rooms when lawyers try to circumvent the rape shield law and introduce evidence to persuade the jurors that the alleged victim was at fault.I am glad there has been an out cry over Geraldo’s irresponsible statements and hopefully it will make all of us so enraged understand that it is equally unfair to blame any victim for any act perpetrated upon him or her – whether its a short skirt or a hoodie.
Geraldo is so sexist. And didn’t you say yesterday that you were never going to comment at SJ again? How can we miss you if you won’t go away?
You have to admit this guy was slightly smarter that your average bank robber.
The really smart crooks run for office.
I’d say that hoodies don’t get you shot.
But beating the snot out of someone with a gun while wearing a hoodie does.
Bottom line: Don’t bring fists to a gun fight.
…”And nobody shoots anybody while wearing a bow tie…”
Scott, I recommend you familiarize yourself with the well-dressed Brother Mouzone. I suspect you would enjoy.
[Ed. Note: Link deleted per rules.]