So….according to Geraldo Rivera on Fox News.
Here is the conversation:
BRIAN KILMEADE KILMEADE (co-host): Let’s talk about the Trayvon Martin case and what’s going on in Florida right now.
GERALDO RIVERA: I believe that George Zimmerman, the overzealous neighborhood watch captain should be investigated to the fullest extent of the law and if he is criminally liable, he should be prosecuted. But I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly to not let their children go out wearing hoodies. I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was.
JULIET HUDDY (guest-host): What do you mean?
RIVERA: When you, when you see a kid walking — Juliet — 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 they — what do they think? What’s the instant identification, what’s the instant association?
STEVE DOOCY (co-host): Uh-oh.
RIVERA: It’s those crime scene surveillance tapes. Every time you see someone sticking up a 7-11, the kid is wearing a hoodie. [...] 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.
And here is the video:
As Think Progress goes on to note:
One of the reasons Martin may have been wearing a hood is that it was raining on the day he was shot.
http://thinkprogress.org/...
But the greater issue is that Rivera is trivializing the matter and equally placing the blame on Martin’s choice of attire alongside Zimmerman’s actions. In doing so he is subtly stating that Martin has engaged in contributory negligence leading to his own early demise.
Hence, Rivera indicates that Zimmerman’s suspicions about Martin were a correct one, all because criminals sometimes wear a hoodie.
That sort of logic is absurd.
Criminals sometimes drive away in getaway cars, so it would be okay for a person like Zimmerman to shoot at a driver who gets in his car after returning from the bank? If you follow Rivera’s logic to its core it would be.
Criminals sometimes wear shades to hide their eyes, so it would be okay for a person like Zimmerman to shoot a blind person walking his dog? If you follow Rivera’s logic to its core it would be.