Monday, March 26, 2012

Hood(ies): The Racialization of Trayvon Martin

I'm sure many people heard that Trayvon Martin's girlfriend said why he put on his hoodie that day on his way from the store back home.  Trayvon was not wearing the hood on his sweatshirt as a fashion statement.  He put it on when he realized he was being followed.  This image of his revelation and desperate act to take cover is horrifying to me.  And to me, it is an important distinction that some people have internalized and some haven't.  I still see people posting that he was wearing his hood because it was raining or just because and that they relate because they do the same thing.  I wore my share of Fubu, Fila, Polo, and Tommy Hilfiger in high school so I do not cringe at the idea of racialized clothing choices.  I even think critics of "sagging" might lighten up.  But inaccuracy is unnecessary.  I realize how important it is for some kids to distinguish themselves culturally through clothing.  Not only was Trayvon's hoodie distinctly not a black thing or a youth thing (as it has been noted that everyone is wearing them nowadays), it was not even a clothing choice, it was his turtle shell, his protection. His hoodie did not seal his fate.  Zimmerman was determined before the hoodie appeared to not let another one (black man) "get away" and his recognition of the hoodie as additionally suspicious was more or less an afterthought.  Nor were the Skittles and ice tea mistaken for weapons like Amadou Diallo's black wallet.  I am overwhelmed with emotion to see people coming together to protest this blatant disrespect of a human life.  And these symbols are helping; and these symbols are fitting; and I think most people get it.  However, I believe that some continue to racialize issues that aren't racial.  It is great to hear people saying this is not a race issue but an American issue, yet at the same time people are racializing the wrong things. That is not to neglect that the whole situation is inherently racial.  The hoodie was not the issue.  Likewise,  the Skittles and the Arizona were not the suspected weapons but sad artifacts from a brutal killing.

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