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<p>That made me laugh a lot lol.</p>
<p>Someone with a crew cut or buzz cut has short hair–he is not shaved completely bald, which is a different look entirely for a teenager. Please stop deliberately mis-stating or misinterpreting what I said just so you can mockingly refute it. </p>
<p>As for the Martin case, neither I nor anyone else gave an opinion on it or on the behavior of Martin or his parents. Given all the confusion about what happened that night, including recent changes in testimony, it would be premature to comment. But what did come out of all the discussion surrounding the case was that some people, and not all of them white, believe the hooded look has negative connotations. </p>
<p>The nastiness coming out in some of your posts belies your professed concern for humankind.</p>
<p>OP, just have a few questions, based on your post 1.</p>
<p>1 Is your post out of empathy for the AA kid wearing a hoodie at your suburban school that he may be ostracized by his fellow non AA peers/Parents/Faculty? If so, did you approach the kid’s Dad to share your concern? If not, was it because you thought it may have been inappropriate to do so?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Are you upset that AA should not allow their kids to wear hoodies, especially to your Suburban HS, because its associated with thugs and gang members?. Does your Suburban HS have a dress code that prohibits AA or any other ethnic group from wearing hoodies?</p></li>
<li><p>Would you have wanted an explanation if ALL young boys wore hoodies in the summer to your suburban school? </p></li>
</ol>
<p>4.Was your intent to send your posting to your Suburban School Administration and inadvertently sent it to CC?</p>
<p>"It shows respect for others to conform in ways that don’t undermine your deep morals and values. "
Oh brother!!! you are being more than a little judgmental as well as unrealistic, expecting teenagers, especially those of a different race than you, to be “mind readers”!!
Some teenagers do things just to “shock” people and get attention. Apparently it worked with you…</p>
<p>sorry if you perceive nastiness, I hope my posts did not appear nasty. actually it appears you are not open to hearing other’s opinions regarding your stated view, which is generally what occurs here on CC…</p>
<p>Quote from OP: "Once, after cutting it extremely short . . . "</p>
<p>You did not say shaved completely bald either, so forgive me if I misinterpreted your intent. I was envisioning a very close crew cut, a 1-1.5 maybe. However, resembling the Dali Lama and a skinhead white supremacist seem to me to be mutually exclusive - pick one.</p>
<p>Perhaps a hoodie is scary because a suspect sketch of a [then-approximately-40-year-old</a> white male terrorist bomber](<a href=“http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Unabomber-sketch.png]then-approximately-40-year-old”>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Unabomber-sketch.png) depicts him wearing one.</p>
![http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Unabomber-sketch.png]then-approximately-40-year-old](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Unabomber-sketch.png%5Dthen-approximately-40-year-old){kind=link}
<p>Why should I have to pick one, saintfan, when both statements were made by people other than me? Actually, I think the case speaks directly to the issue. When you know someone, you have context for their appearance. My D loves her brother and they get along well, so the resemblance to a kind figure is what came to her mind. But to the stranger who didn’t know him, the severe look my son had brought to mind a less positive association.</p>
<p>Hence the point–why allow a child over whom you still have control (and if he’s only in middle school you should still have control) sport a look that is likely to evoke negative associations in those that don’t know him well? I mentioned the suburban detail because the look isn’t the required “uniform” for any neighborhoods in our town since they are all ethnically mixed. My D’s track coach is AA and constantly yells at the teenage boys on the team for things that he says make them look like punks–the pants below hips, slouching with hands in pockets, etc. It doesn’t have to be a racial issue, but as we’ve seen with the Martin case, race can add an extra element.</p>
<p>“Actually, I think the case speaks directly to the issue. When you know someone, you have context for their appearance. My D loves her brother and they get along well, so the resemblance to a kind figure is what came to her mind.”</p>
<p>Wow, I’m thinking that might be a good reason for “the good kind of African American boys” to wear them. Maybe more people could have more positive associations like the folks that know “them” in real life.
PS I’ve lost track of who is saying what, so I might be quoting out of context, or off topic. </p>
<p>While I am off topic, let me observe out loud, and once again, what a an interesting (for lack of a better word) experience it is ( for me) to spend a week looking “the same” as most of the people around me.</p>
<p>I find this discussion very strange. I understand that people like hoodies, wear them all the time, don’t think they mean anything, put the hood up when it’s cold, etc. But I’ve gotta say, it does give me pause when I see a guy of any hue wearing the hoodie up, obscuring his face, when it’s not cold. When I see a group of guys doing this, it gives me more pause, and it would give me a lot of pause in a dark alley.</p>
<p>maybe it’s because I live in South Florida, but I never see people wearing hoodies with the hood up UNLESS it’s cold and/or raining. But all my kids and their friends have worn them, and on the college campus I teach at all the students wear them so perhaps as Shrinkrap suggested I have zero negative associations with hoodies. that is why I was distressed to hear the suggestion that Trayvon Martin should not have been wearing a hoodie. It made no sense to me and is blaming the victim.</p>