Geraldo Rivera knows.
When he speaks of his fear for his “darkskinned son, Cruz” going outside wearing a hoodie, we know that he knows.
Knows what? That fear of walking while black. Living while black. Driving while black. Shopping while black. Even though he’s brown, it’s that same fear. Especially for his “dark skinned” son.
No matter how far you think you’ve gone to escape the madness of racial hatred, no matter what you give up in terms of your self respect to placate it; no matter what capitulations you render; no matter if you hand in your race card, or even burn it in a televised segment, you still must bear the burden of white racial hatred madness. We all must bear this burden. White racial hatred madness will find you, no matter where you are. It will seek you out, it will hound you, it will gun for you, it will haunt you.
Geraldo was reminded of this brutal fact when he made the statement:
In his appearance on “Fox and Friends,” Rivera said that he had a “different take” on the case than most other people. He said that he believed George Zimmerman should be “investigated to the fullest extent of the law” and “prosecuted” if criminally liable, but blamed Martin’s parents for letting him go outside wearing a hoodie.
“But I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly to not let their children go out wearing hoodies,” Rivera insisted. “I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/23/geraldo-rivera-trayvon-martin-hoodie_n_1375080.html
Of course a firestorm has erupted with these statements. Over 4,000 comments and counting at the Huffington Post. But we know what Geraldo means. His comment was a gut reaction to that fear. The fear that propels you forward – trying to keep a few steps in front of that demon called White Racial Hatred Madness. WRHM is a stealth ninja, that never backs down. It doesn’t die, it multiplies. I know what Geraldo meant, even though I hate what he said and the fact that his fear compelled him to say it.
Geraldo Rivera knows that it’s not really the hoodie. It’s the hoodie right now. But it could also be (and has been) the sneakers. It could be the Puff jacket, the warm up suit, the Starter Jacket, Cross Colors, Fubu, a poncho, Backward pants, one earring, a bald head, Stacey Adams, a Kufi, Timberlands, a beret, a black leather jacket, a daishiki, a Cadillac, a low rider car, a Zoot Suit, a bandana, a guayabera shirt, an afro hairdo, cornrows, overalls and a straw hat, slicked back hair. It could also be a police uniform, a three piece suit, a cardigan, a pimped out ride.
Geraldo knows.
Related articles
- http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2010/10/15/geraldo-rivera-immigration-american-puerto-rico-latino-hispanic/
- http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2011/06/01/americans-used-clothes-causing-upheaval-mexico/?intcmp=obinsite
- Welcome to KoonTown – The Gerald Rivera Version http://youtu.be/LHc9_s1EbTg
You Are Leaders! 
Ana May… This is the second time I’m leaving this elongated comment here. It’s time-consuming and energy-draining to compose a well thought-out comment & then for it NOT to show up!
I REPEAT:
F–k Geraldo! Yeah, I said it!
This man is known to open his damned mouth and very soon after the bs comes tumbling out! I still have not forgiven nor forgotten what he said on the very day that MJ died. He claimed that Michael was never planning to do the tour, and wasn’t even preparing for it. Paraphrasing here: He claimed that MJ was “broke” and was only ‘going to take the money & run.’
Ummm… anyone ever see a little concert film called “This Is It?” That man put his work, his toil, sweat and his heart on that stage.
Yet Rivera went on Fox News and proclaimed this ish with all his “well-placed sources” and that patented Gerlado hubris. Never once heard him offer up so much as an aplogy or a mea culpa.
Get it wrong much, Geraldo?
Now with this hoodie thing the all-wise, all-knowing Gerry Rivers weighs in w/ his ass-backwards opinion!
Trayvon wasn’t killed because he wore a hoodie. That young Black man is dead because some paranoid racist with a gun and a God-complex TOOK his life! That’s the only reality that matters!
Did Emmet Till wear a hoodie? Did Michael Stewart wear a hoodie? Did Amadou Diallo wear a hoodie? Did Sean Bell on the eve of his wedding day wear a hoodie when he was shot down and killed? NO! The list of names could fill a wall in Washingtson DC. These young men had no weapons, were all inncoent of wrong doing & yet all were killed, because of the COLOR of their skin! Period. End of sentence.
Hoodies? I think not!
So Geraldo’s statement is both asinine and insulting! He’s long had the rep to proclaim his heritage only when it suits him and only speaks of his “dark skin son” when the seasoned journalist in him KNOWS it will make headlines.
In closing, I say: F–k Geraldo! And “Gerry Rivers” too!
One.
Geraldo can talk a big game, because it’s required of him on FOXTV. He can say isht all day long – I never knew he said that about MJ. I have basic cable that goes up to Ch 33 then skips to Ch108. It mercifully skips past all those madness Channels like Cnn, Msnbc and Foxtv.
I watched his show back in the day, and he was over fixated on Latoya Jackson and he couldnt hide it. She was always on his show. Sigh. The minds of people.
Geraldo has sold his half Puerto Rican soul to be an honorary Gerry Rivers, but they taking isht from people right now. His little glass house may be foreclosed on at any moment and he’ll not even be Geraldo anymore but a sellout in the hood. This reminds me of a scathing sermon preached at my church not too long ago.
Everything is reminding me of God these days. Brother Rev Daniel Buford said, The Poor Are Still Here. https://nachalooman.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/the-poor-you-will-always-have-so-watch-how-you-treat-them/
How have you treated them, Geraldo, so that when you fall from the grace of the oppressors, will the poor, who are still here, receive you kindly?
Supposedly, his own son took offense to the hoodie sentiments. Yes, to say the the hoodie is the ONLY reason why he was killed is unreasonable. However, it coupled with the color of his skin, in a gated community where there probably are not a lot of people walking around on the regular, especially Blacks, while it is raining, is a cocktail for alarm in the minds of certain nonBlacks.
It’s a shame that our children dont have the luxury of a childhood of innocence. They cant just be skipping along being nosy, or doing what teenagers do. They have to be regimented and hyper aware of themselves. I wonder if sometimes our children just forget to be so fixated on themselves and the fear that their blackness evokes in people they dont even know? Do our children remember to suppress their own fears in the face of white fear?
This reminds me of a time when I worked in a bookstore in SF. One day my son who was 15 years old at the time came to visit me. He got it in his half man/ half child mind to come up behind me and scare me while I was shelving book and had my back turned. So he snuck up on me but I turned in time to see him playing his little prank, but I also saw the alarm and fear in the eyes of my manager who was across the room watching this spectacle and fearfully making his way over.
Imagine what it looked like for a black manchild – 5’10” 150 lbs to be sneaking through the rows – focused on scaring his mom because he thought it would be funny – and it was – we both laughed. He was completely unaware that my manager saw this – in fact I’m thankful that I turned around in time and I hurried up the encounter so that my manager could see that I knew this boy and he wasnt a black menace getting ready to destroy me. In a different scenario, I may have pretended not to know my son was coming behind me, and then not reacted in surprise to his little prank. Then I could have had fun with my son at his expense and teased him about it. Innocent games between parent and child.
Imagine the crushing emotional blow that my son could have received for just being a manchild thinking of childlike things – like being pounced on by police or even killed and suspected to trying to rob me or rape me. Not unlike what happened to Emmett Till – just whistling at a pretty lady. He died for that. Or Trayvon who was buying candy.
Yes that is the root of the problem. White racist mentality. After all a hoodie is just an article of clothing that you use to keep warm for the most part. I wear hoodies almost every day and I’m not making any statement other than what the weather dictates. However bigots and racists read so much more into clothing and the person wearing the clothes. They have these ingrained stereotypes in their minds. As the old commercial from back in the day used to say, “You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear. It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear. You’ve got to be carefully taught.” Think on this scenario; if you place 3 babies down on the floor, one Black, one white, one Asian will they automatically hate each other. No. More than likely they’ll reach out to one another as potential play mates. We see little kids do that all the time in stores, restaurants, museums, parks, etc… Let us all become like little children in the way we view each other.
The fear that is whipped up in white people. It’s a shame how they are mentally abused, then take all of it out on people of color. All in the name of money or whatever.
Then they are left with the label of racist and hater and murderer, while the ruling elite are hidden away. These white people suffer for their fears and hatred of people of color, especially black people. Trying to kill us makes it so much worse for them. It doesnt solve that pain and fear.
Im looking at it from the white perspective as much as is possible for me. Im trying to understand it. They bear this hatred burden, and no longer is it benefitting them as it once did. The greedy elite is now taking away white concessions left and right. White people are falling from middle class to poverty at alarming rates. They have been indoctrinated into race hatred and it doesnt benefit them. They must side with the rest of the people of color against the ruling elite, or they will end up with nothing.
Race hatred no longer benefits when greed is raging. They need to purge their race hatred. They want to. That’s why the KONY2012 debacle was so successful. White people dont want to be racist. But they are deathly afraid of not being racist.
Hoodie or not, I have always been and I will always be a man of color. For many of my fellow Americans it’s not the hoodie they’re afraid of, it’s just the color of my skin.
There’s no such thing as a uniform that says it’s okay to shoot me. That shit doesn’t exist. My skin doesn’t come off like a hoodie does, in that respect all men of color are Trayvon Martin. It shouldn’t be a crime in this country to be black.
If Trayvon Martin had been wearing khaki’s and a polo shirt, he would have still been a young black man………and that was the only problem that night.
Yes he would have been shot. It wasnt the hoodie. It was George’s racism and desire to kill.
People like Geraldo know that full well. This is a time where Geraldo better be afraid of losing his “Gerry Rivers” facade. Because for all he paid in self respect to get that position, they can snatch it from him in a heartbeat.
Then where will he be? With the people? He’s easy for the oppressors to toss out like trash. He’s of no value. He has to know that. If you’re going to be tossed out like trash, then do like Jesus said in Luke 16:1-8
Luke 16
The Story of the Crooked Manager
1-2Jesus said to his disciples, “There was once a rich man who had a manager. He got reports that the manager had been taking advantage of his position by running up huge personal expenses. So he called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? You’re fired. And I want a complete audit of your books.’
3-4″The manager said to himself, ‘What am I going to do? I’ve lost my job as manager. I’m not strong enough for a laboring job, and I’m too proud to beg. . . . Ah, I’ve got a plan. Here’s what I’ll do . . . then when I’m turned out into the street, people will take me into their houses.’
5″Then he went at it. One after another, he called in the people who were in debt to his master. He said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6″He replied, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’
“The manager said, ‘Here, take your bill, sit down here—quick now— write fifty.’
7″To the next he said, ‘And you, what do you owe?’
“He answered, ‘A hundred sacks of wheat.’
“He said, ‘Take your bill, write in eighty.’
8-9″Now here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.”
This is a psychosociocultural issue. Black people already stand out, let us face it, because of the color of skin. When we add hair–we really stand out, e.g. afro puffs, afros, locs, etc. When we add fashion to all of that–we REALLY stand out, a hoodie, sagging pants, booty shorts, a halter top. Then add to that how nonBlacks perceive and internalize all of that; it overwhelms them with fear, dread, hatred, jealousy, desire, lust, a host of emotions. But, as a therapist-intern, I argue that regardless of what one’s perception, feelings, and thoughts are as we pass by people on the street or in a store–keep on stepping and mind your business. That is what I do, especially if the person is not committing a crime. Non Black people need to face it–Black people are here to stay. We are the progenitors of humankind–and that is a hard one for them to fathom.
Institutionalized racism has two components: the breaking of the mind of the black people and the breaking of the minds of the white people. Both are two sides of the Racism coin.
Blacks are villainized so as to be dehumanized. Then we are used in all kinds of ways. White are indoctrinated into maintaining the dehumanization. They are dehumanized in terms of human sympathy and empathy. They have a knee jerk lack of sympathy and empathy to black suffering and it’s difficult for them to break this cycle. Yet they know that their reaction is morally wrong. They go through all kinds of levels of psychosis because of this very thing.
The white mind is brutalized by the system. Will they have the courage and strength to resist the indoctrination? If they resist then they have to face their fear of black wrath. But what they dont realize is that we black people are very forgiving. Most of us at least.
Just a thought… what would happen if Zimmerman (why do they emphasise his hispanic heritage but not his Jewish one?) suddenly expires prejudiciously? Would people say this was a because of hate? Would his supporters in the Po-lice force say he was innocent?
When imps like Rivera comes out and blames the victim’s mode of dress, they are STILL saying a we are less than dogs to be culled and put down. How long can they continue to cull us, while we stand aside and look/protest/march and wring our hands?
just a thought.
Rivera blames the clothing because he fears facing the truth – that the hatred is irrational. If it was truly clothing alone, then all black people who happily never put on a hoodie again in life.
A unpopular thought occurs to me:
We, the victims of the hate, have the power to overcome the hate – we have to overcome it with love. The hate is a manipulation of man against man. Greedy man manipulates the hate in white people for their own greed’s sake. This hate and fear is for the sake of anesthetizing white people to their humanity – so they will easily overlook the humanity of black people and allow them to be oppressed.
The answer is for black people to attack with love. But in order for us to do that we have to overcome our own hatred and fear. We have to go forth with the love of God. It’s a spiritual psychological battle. The murdering and hatred is the result of the psychological breakdown in white minds.
Who are the black people strong enough to wage this battle?
Anne R., you are still preaching the gospel. You said everything I wanted to…and more. I just….I am just….just…JUST! lol!
The world we live in today. It gets harder, but as you have taught me, we’ve got to regain the focus and watch the blessings come in.
LOL!! I’m just JUST too, girl! Those of us who aint JUST are just… just… well I dont know, my child.
What this fool said really pisses me off. It’s like blaming the hoodie is like saying a woman who wears short skirts, short shorts and shows cleavage is asking to be raped. Blaming the hoodie is like saying a gay man who’s wearing tight jeans deserve to be beaten. It’s DISGUSTING and hateful and it’s wrong.
When you believe that its your fault for being a black person or a person of color, then you think that if you dress “properly” then the violence won’t come to you.
Geraldo wants to believe that its not the hatred, but that its the way we as people of color are. We ARE violent, we ARE evil, we ARE dangerous. NO Geraldo, this country is violent, evil and dangerous. The hoodie, short skirts, short shorts are all just excuses to those who want to justify violence.
THIS JUST IN: Geraldo is sorry for his comments. But not really. He just was saying that “urban parents” need to be careful of what their children wear that could intimidate people who dont know them.
He said he didnt expect the viral avalanche that followed his statements.
Hmmm….