Dele Owoye Blog Post #2 Blog Component

As we learned earlier in the semester, exigence is defined as an issue, problem, or situation that causes or prompts someone to write or speak. In following up with last weeks post about the Trayvon Martin shooting, I find it timely to speak about the recent talks of the clothing Trayvon Martin was wearing at the time of the shooting. This entire case has prompted to think and speak about things that I would not usually talk about. The night Martin was killed he was found to have been wearing a hoodie. Certainly, this brings up the question how does the way to present oneself affect how they are perceived? Better yet, how are hoodies perceived in modern day society? Former talk-show host Geraldo recently sparked some controversy on this issue with his comments. Rivera initially asserted that Martin's hoodie might have played in his death, opining that "his hoodie killed Trayvon Martin as surely as George Zimmerman did." Rivera expressed sincerity for his comments, calling them "politically incorrect," but stopped short of retracting his claim that parents of black and Latino youngsters in particular should "not let their young children go out wearing hoodies." Seemingly, this appears to be the issue; the way African Americans or Hispanics present themselves to the public. But, even before that fateful February night, hoodies were already wrapped up in negative racial connotations, said Imani Perry of Princeton University's Center for African American Studies. "While it is clear that hoodies are a popular form of attire for Americans of all ethnicities and ages, it is a style that has become particularly popular for black and Latino youth," she said. "Because of the pervasive and trenchant racial stereotypes associated with black young people, especially males, their styles are often singled out for criticism, as signs of criminality and misdeeds," she said. "But in truth this is simply another form of stigmatization against the person underneath the clothing, and only superficially has anything to do with the clothing." Even without the racial aspect, hoodies have an image problem, thanks to their association with criminal activity, said Cynthia Jasper, professor of consumer science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Suspects in hooded clothing frequently appear in surveillance camera footage. More often than not these surveillance camera captures are of armed robberies and similarly law enforcement sketches of wanted criminals wearing the infamous hoodie. Among the most memorable was Kaczynski, the "Unabomber" who engaged in a mail bombing campaign that spanned nearly 20 years but who first entered the public realm in a forensic sketch of a man with hoodie and sunglasses. Moreover, Hollywood tends to magnify the stereotype by recycling this idea in scenes depicting violence and crime, furthering ingraining it into the public's collective conscience. Society has nothing to do but associate hoodies with nothing but negative intentions.

Therefore; people in turn impose those associations onto the wearer, regardless of the person's intention. Jasper writes "when people interpret your way of dressing, hoodie or whatever, people interpret that as something you control," she said. "You can't control how tall you're going to be or your hair and eyes, but you can control what you put on your body, and your clothing is interpreted as representing who you are." It's often not a fair association, she said, but it's still the one most people conjure up within seconds of meeting someone as a way of processing and categorizing the person in front of them. These statements speak volumes to the entire Hispanic and African American communities and to society in general. Not to imply that Zimmerman was justified in killing Martin because of his seemingly misrepresentation of himself, but it seems as though presentation of oneself evidently represents who you are more than anything else. Maybe one day, we can overlook the criminal and ill intention connotation that the hoodie receives and just see it as a piece of clothing that we are all free to wear.