Geraldo Rivera: Hoodie responsible for Trayvon Martin's death

Geraldo Rivera: Hoodie responsible for Trayvon Martin's death


"I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly not to let their children go out wearing hoodies. I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin's death as much as George Zimmerman was," Geraldo Rivera said on "Fox and Friends." (Richard Drew / Associated Press / March 23, 2012)


By Dalina Castellanos

March 23, 2012, 6:25 p.m.

Geraldo Rivera has entered the public discussion about Trayvon Martin’s death by blaming the Florida teenager's choice of dress.

“I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly not to let their children go out wearing hoodies. I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin‘s death as much as George Zimmerman was,” the Fox News host said Friday on “Fox and Friends.”

Martin, 17, was shot and killed Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., by Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer. Zimmerman was not arrested because police said there was no evidence to contradict his claim that he fired in self-defense.

The teen’s death and the lack of arrest have sparked protests and inspired a “Million Hoodie March” Wednesday in New York. It attracted hundreds of protesters, many of them wearing hoodies.

"As long as [Zimmerman] is outside of the court system, the protests will intensify and spill over into other dimensions," the Rev. Jesse Jackson told The Times Friday.

"His lack of appearance in the court system is a source of embarrassment and humiliation. He needs to face the court," Jackson said.

Still, Rivera chose to focus on another aspect of Martin’s death that he believes could have changed the outcome.

“Trayvon Martin, God bless him, an innocent kid, a wonderful kid, a box of Skittles in his hands. He didn’t deserve to die. But I bet you money, if he didn’t have that hoodie on, that nutty neighborhood watch guy wouldn’t have responded in that violent and aggressive way," Rivera said.

Perhaps reacting to Rivera’s comments, at some point someone off camera can be heard saying, “Uh oh.”

Jackson was later reached by Politico and said he preferred not to “dignify” Rivera’s on-air comments.

“It’s a diversion from the pain of a child who should be alive,” Jackson said.

Forgiveness Man wrote:Don't buy that excuse. What happened was wrong. However, what is pissing me off almost as much as what the watch guy did is what the media and the country is doing in response. They are exploiting this kid's death and it's starting to tick me off.

Geraldo Rivera’s son: I’m ‘ashamed’ of my father’s remarks about Trayvon Martin and his hoodie

Rivera created a firestorm earlier this week when he argued the hoodie the unarmed teen chose to wear when he was killed in Florida was as much to blame for his death as the man that shot him.

Even Geraldo Rivera's son is disappointed in his father's controversial remarks about Trayvon Martin.

"My own son just wrote to say he's ashamed of my position," the Fox News contributor tweeted on Friday.

Rivera created a firestorm earlier this week when he argued the hoodie the unarmed teen chose to wear when he was killed in Florida was as much to blame for his death as the man that shot him.

Despite his own family's harsh criticism, Rivera refused to budge on his position, adding on Twitter "Still I feel parents must do whatever they can to keep their kids safe."

Rivera elaborated on his 32-year-old son's shame to Politico.

"Gabriel broke my heart…He just told me for the first time in his life he's ashamed," he told the political website, adding his son believed he had "gone viral for all the wrong reasons."

Rivera said he wrote Gabriel back and tried to explain his position that "every hoodie should come with a warning like cigarettes, 'caution wearing this could get you killed.'"

Martin, 17, was shot and killed Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla. He was returning home from a trip to a convenience store when neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman started following the teen, telling police dispatchers that he looked suspicious.

Zimmerman claimed he fired in self-defense after Martin jumped him. He has not been charged and has kept out of the public eye since the incident.

Rivera declared on Fox & Friends that he'd bet money that "if didn't have that hoodie on, that nutty neighborhood watch guy wouldn't have responded in that violent and aggressive way."

He added he has previously warned his own children against wandering around the streets wearing hoodies, "particularly a dark-skinned kid like my son Cruz."

He later argued in a post on Fox News Latino, "If you dress like a hoodlum eventually some schmuck is going to take you at your word."

The television personality even took a shot a President Obama, who said Friday the nation needs to do some "soul searching" over the tragic shooting, which has sparked nationwide furor over race and justice. The commander-in-chief said "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."

Rivera tweeted that Obama should also add that he "would never let his son walk around DC in a hoodie."

Forgiveness Man wrote:If this kid was white, nobody would've cared. If anything, we'd have these same people fighting for the killer's rights. I don't think 90% of those raising a stink about what happened give one damn about getting justice for this kid.

captainbryce wrote: If a 28 year old man had followed and subsequently shot to death a 17 year old, 140lb white kid carrying skittles, the guy would have been arrested, jailed, charged with murder and eventually convicted. It would be all over the news from day one, white America would be outraged, you'd have a trial that would last for one day and then we'd take the guys head off! Nobody cared that Trayvon died until people from his community spread the word about it through social media. That's what black folks have to do to get noticed (even in death).

A white kid wearing a hoodie in the rain is "cold", while a black kid doing exactly the same thing is "suspicious". Welcome to the real world!

Forgiveness Man wrote:If a white kid were shot to death by a neighborhood watch guy, it'd be a footnote on a news ticker and at best a 20/20 special. White America wouldn't be outraged cause they've been conditioned by a biased media to not care about those things.

Shale wrote:

Forgiveness Man wrote:No, I'm the one who actually DOES live in the real world of TODAY. The media loves reporting on anything they can spin into being a "hate crime." They weren't forced to report on this.

Forgiveness Man wrote:The media is loving the chance to report this.

Forgiveness Man wrote:And plenty of people are loving the opportunity to be outraged.

Forgiveness Man wrote:Everything amounts to an unnamed agenda with ME? lol Says the guy going on about some media coverup. Everything amounts to some agenda for everybody and everything.

captainbryce wrote: But in this world, black deaths don't make the news unless the issue is forced for weeks (ie: Trayvon Martin). You're right about the media though. They are biased and conditioned to think that nobody cares when black people die. That's why they don't report things like this until they're forced to.

Forgiveness Man wrote:I love how the media is now labeling the shooter a "white hispanic." Guess the evidence that the shooting was race-based was growing weaker and weaker so the media is trying to fudge things in their direction.

captainbryce wrote: The media is not "labeling" him white hispanic, HE IS WHITE HISPANIC! He was erroneously though to be just "white" at first until it was brought up that he was also half hispanic. Not sure how that fact "fudges" anything in any direction.

Shale wrote:IDK why they keep bringing up the Hispanic as opposed to being white. There are white and black Hispanics and racism among white Hispanics is quite often no less than that among non-Hispanic whites.

So, trying to ameliorate racism by claiming to be Hispanic is not gonna cut it.

captainbryce wrote: ... adding into the mix that he can also be considered a "minority", it adds fuel to the fire of those rushing to his defense under the false assumption that there is no way a "Hispanic" person could be racist towards an "African American" person (because only white people are racist). As ridiculous as that is, there are people who really believe that and I'm sure that Fox News and company are trying to subliminally feed that garbage into their viewers in an attempt to paint Zimmerman as an "innocent victim" who just got caught up in a bad situation.

This is basically just a big ole hot mess!