<p>If this is true, this is truly frightening. So let’s see, what happens when the armed Neo Nazis think their life is endangered when the young Blacks, Jews, Hispanics etc. approach them “up to no good”. Oh wait, wouldn’t the Blacks, Jews and Hispanics be the ones who would appropriately fear for their lives, thereby permitted to use SYG defense.</p>
<p>I will stay as far away from Sanford as humanly possible, this is chilling.</p>
<p>Hoods may be banned inside a bank, but it doesn’t rain inside banks. But it does rain outside, and the jury might think that a reasonable person would look at a kid with his hood up in the rain and make the reasonable assumption that he was trying to keep his head dry.</p>
<p>Good point, Fang. And it should be noted that banning hoodies in a bank does not mean that it’s illegal to wear them. Nor does it mean that we should sanction the stereotype that led Z to decide that Trayvon was dangerous. We should be fighting that kind of prejudice, not excusing it.</p>
<p>Translation: If somebody doesn’t agree with me, then they need to change [/endtranslation]</p>
<p>I’m not saying that wearing a hoodie is grounds for shooting. But wearing a hoodie can be considered “thug” activity and combined with other potential circumstances it can be an issue.</p>
<p>^^^You’re right. And I’ll bet if you went down to East Saint Louis or somewhere like that, you’d find hoodie-wearing, jeans-falling-down thugs carrying guns! ;)</p>
<p>^thanks Cardinal for the fresh air of sanity. I want to say this respectfully, the dialogue around the criminalization of wearing hoodies is very sad. </p>
<p>focusing on hoodies, surprised noone commented on Neo Nazis reportedly patrolling Sanford to “protect” the white people of Sanford.</p>
<p>This whole conversation is pointless, since we have no idea whether Martin’s hoodie contributed to Zimmerman’s suspicion. But since we don’t know the facts, I guess the speculative babble will just go on and on and on.</p>
<p>And I bet you’d find hoodie-wearing, jeans-falling-down kids who are not thugs and who are not carrying guns, in East Saint Louis, and pretty much everywhere else. </p>
<p>You simply cannot make generalizations about someone’s character, values, thought processes, or behavior based on what they’re wearing. And you certainly can’t make the decision that someone deserves to die, based on what they’re wearing – or anyway, you shouldn’t. Because, as in the case of Trayvon Martin, you might be completely, tragically wrong.</p>
<p>And some earlier commenter wanted to get on my case for supposedly referencing the Nazis. </p>
<p>Incidentally, I was actually thinking much more about the Imperial Japanese Armed forces as they had a nasty tendency to beat/kill any civilians/POWs who didn’t display “due deference” towards their members…including “not bowing deeply enough”, not conforming enough to their efforts to “Japanify” the local population, etc. </p>
<p>Having heard horror stories about Imperial Japanese military atrocities against civilians from older relatives/WWII vet neighbors and studied this since high school onward…it’s one reason why it scares me how more Americans see nothing wrong with adopting similar expectations/excuses between law enforcement and the public…or more absurdly…neighborhood watch members and public. </p>
<p>Especially considering the latter have no legal standing to act as substitute cops in most jurisdictions.</p>
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<p>snark on/*</p>
<p>I’m not so sure. I don’t see anything wrong with feeling threatened enough upon seeing folks dressed up as Imperial Japanese soldiers, Neo-Nazis, KKK hoods, Soviet/Chinese Communist soldiers, etc…to letting loose with my piece upon seeing them and then claiming coverage under Florida’s SYG laws. </p>
<p>You can try to wish it away, LasMa, but the point is that people do make judgments about other people based upon what they wear. It is human nature, because we have eyes and because humans try to predict behavior and make sense of their world using all of their senses and stereotypes. This seems so basic to me that I can’t believe I am in this conversation. Will your S be wearing his hood up and his jeans pulled down to his first job interview? If it is hot on her interview day, will your D be wearing a bikini? </p>
<p>It is common knowledge that the hooded sweatshirt is worn by pretty much everyone nowadays. Again, I can’t believe someone found it necessary to link campus bookstores to prove it and others found that “a breath of fresh air.”</p>
<p>The reality is that some, and maybe even many, people associate a tall young person (of any race), wearing his hood up in the evening while walking about in a neighborhood, someone to keep an eye on. It may hurt you to know this (I don’t know why), but it is true. The media probably had a lot to do with creating the sketchy hoodie image. Blame them.</p>
<p>“… people do make judgments about other people based upon what they wear.”</p>
<p>I totally agree! I think Z showed REMARKABLE restraint in chasing Martin down to ask “What are you doing here?” (Of course he might have had to chase Martin down because his piece was only accurate twenty feet in.)</p>
<p>Bay, I’ve noticed that you like to quote me selectively. I also said this:</p>
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<p>Obviously my D is not going to wear a bikini to a job interview. But if she did, I think she has the right to expect that it wouldn’t result in death.</p>