We knew it would eventually come and it has.
The reactionary media is starting to react to demands for justice in the death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager who was shot and killed Feb. 26 by a neighborhood watch captain while walking home from a convenience store in Sanford, Florida.
And it’s getting ugly.
In a classic “blame the victim” ploy, Fox News host Geraldo Rivera said today he believes Trayvon wouldn’t have been fatally shot had he not been wearing a “hoodie” sweatshirt.
“I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was,” Rivera told the wide-eyed panelists on the Fox & Friends curvy couch.
“It’s those crime scene surveillance tapes. Every time you see someone sticking up a 7-Eleven, the kid’swearing a hoodie. Every time you see a mugging on a surveillance camera or they get the old lady in the alcove, it’s a kid wearing a hoodie. You have to recognize that this whole stylizing yourself as a gangsta –you’re going to be a gangsta wannabe? Well, people are going to perceive you as a menace.”
Yes, Rivera says, Trayvon’s fashion choice got him killed.
Wait, don’t a lot of the criminals captured in those surveillance tapes also have mustaches?
And remember, the unabomber (left)? He wore both a hoodie and a mustache!
Even Geraldo himself likes to wear hoodies. And his son disagrees with his father’s views:
My own son just wrote to say he’s ashamed of my position re hoodies-still I feel parents must do whatever they can to keep their kids safe
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) March 23, 2012
Geraldo also urged “the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly to not let their children go out wearing hoodies.”
But he might want to alert his own company (Fox News) to let them know they are selling hoodies on their own website!
Glenn Beck’s news website, The Blaze, opened the door to all of this on March 19 by posting an article speculating that Martin, who was on suspension from school at the time of his death due to excessive tardiness, might have actually been suspended for any number of criminal acts, including arson, sexual battery, and homicide and, therefore, might have had it coming. Then, Fox News host Sean Hannity wondered on his show last night whether the killing could have been a “horrible accident,” even though the shooter, George Zimmerman, said he shot Martin in self-defense. “Could this be a terrible tragedy?” Hannity said. “Could this just be a case where Trayvon was running because he thought he was in jeopardy, he was in the neighborhood, and that we had a series of crimes so there was a community watch? Is it possible that it was just a horrible accident?” No Sean, we already KNOW it was not an accident. Move on. One more example: after President Obama comment on the Trayvon tragedy, Michelle Malkin wrote (take note of the focus group-tested coded-language to stir up rightie fears) that progressives have “turned the horrible death of Trayvon Martin into a racial litmus test” and “Barack Obama is all too willing to pour gas on the fire.” She added: “The Al Sharpton/New Black Panthers Party-led mob is forging ahead with its polarizing racial profiling narratives despite the fact that the alleged shooter is Hispanic and multiracial.” Hmmmm. So Hispanics and/or people who are multiracial are not capable of being racist? Ed will have extensive coverage of the right-wing coverage of the Trayvon Martin tragedy on The Ed Show tonight at 8pET on msnbc.
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