The shooting death of unarmed Florida teen Trayvon Martin has received widespread attention and has been compared with the civil rights movement by such prominent African-American voices as MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton (Although, he tends to conflate at least one news story per day to the civil rights movement and is feeling some pushback from some black leadership organizations for his consistent hyperbole).
Nevertheless, the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by troubled neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman is deeply disturbing and worthy of prosecution. Zimmerman, who is himself partially Hispanic, received a vote of confidence on Friday from Fox News Channel host and defender of all things Latino, Geraldo Rivera. The Fox News host blamed Martin’s death, at least partially, on his poor choice of attire:
“I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly to not let their children go out wearing hoodies,” said Rivera on the “Fox and Friends” morning show. “I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin's death as George Zimmerman.”
“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,” Rivera inquired. “What's the instant identification, what's the instant association?”
The Trayvon Martin case is a true tragedy and one that will be avenged in the legal system in Florida, but it also seems to have the fortunate side effect of providing a trap for commentators to dig rhetorical holes for themselves by weighing in on the case with foolish statements like these.
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