{"id":41,"date":"2012-03-24T16:32:28","date_gmt":"2012-03-24T23:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dannyjwillis.com\/?p=41"},"modified":"2012-06-12T19:49:14","modified_gmt":"2012-06-13T02:49:14","slug":"an-open-letter-to-geraldo-rivera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dannyjwillis.com\/?p=41","title":{"rendered":"An Open Letter To Geraldo Rivera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mr. Rivera,<\/p>\n

Seriously?<\/p>\n

I mean, really?<\/p>\n

I admit I’m not a minority so I don’t have first-hand knowledge, though I did get hassled by a cop just before writing this for matching a description of “a Hispanic male in a hooded sweatshirt” and you were Gerald Riviera when you had your Bar Mitzvah so I think we meet in the middle as far as qualifications, but if parents actually took your advice it would set racial equality and even civil rights back decades.<\/p>\n

I’ll take your tweets one at a time:<\/p>\n

Trayvon killed by a jerk w a gun but black & Latino parents have to drill into kids heads: a hoodie is like a sign: shoot or stop & frisk me<\/p>— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) March 22, 2012<\/a><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

Really? \u00a0That’s what you want to be drilling into kids’ heads? \u00a0That there are clothes that they aren’t allowed to wear because of the color of their skin and it’s their duty to respect that and accept abuses of power by police officers because they’re powerless to stop it? \u00a0Couldn’t they instead teach their kids what their rights are when the police stop them?<\/p>\n

I respect what police officer do. \u00a0The majority of them are in the line of work for the right reasons and risk their lives to provide an essential service to the community. \u00a0But the majority is not all, like with any other group there are good and bad people who wear a badge. \u00a0Some are racists, some are violent, some are bullies who became officers to legally continue to be bullies. \u00a0The job is dangerous and essential but we can’t pretend they’re universally deserving of praise and completely beyond reproach, if for no other reason so the bad cops don’t make the good cops’ jobs more difficult.<\/p>\n

If I had kids – black, Latino or anything else – this is what I would teach them: First, most importantly and above all else, be polite and respectful of police officers at all times. \u00a0Even if their actions don’t deserve respect they have the handcuffs and the gun so take the high ground. \u00a0That respect, however, does not mean they’re above the rules. \u00a0The fourth amendment to the Constitution says that the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated. \u00a0You don’t have to let them frisk you if they don’t have a warrant. \u00a0They can’t arrest you without a reason, and if they do anyway the burden of proof is on them if they want to hold you.<\/p>\n

In short allowing abuses of power is essentially condoning them. \u00a0Be respectful, be polite, be the bigger man, but be nobody’s doormat. \u00a0Wear whatever you want to wear and if police try to frisk you for it, it may not be easy, but the law is on your side.<\/p>\n

His hoodie killed Trayvon Martin as surely as George Zimmerman.<\/p>— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) March 23, 2012<\/a><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

Lisa Wrenn, the BANG features editor, put it best: Isn’t this the exact same thing as saying a woman deserved to get raped because she was wearing a miniskirt? \u00a0I’ll probably never see racial equality in my lifetime but I hope to see the day when people stop blaming the victim because of the clothes they chose to wear.<\/p>\n

No, his hoodie did not kill him. \u00a0His hoodie kept him warm. \u00a0George Zimmerman killed him. \u00a0It was not the murder victim’s responsibility to wear a pink polo shirt, beige khakis and a white sweater draped over his shoulders so a racist vigilante psychopath wouldn’t stalk and kill him in his own neighborhood.<\/p>\n

This tweet made me angrier than all the rest combined because it not only places the blame on the victim but partially absolves a murderer. \u00a0By in essence splitting the blame 50-50 between the killer and the killed’s wardrobe you’re saying that Zimmerman had no choice, the hoodie made him do it. \u00a0It makes the Twinkie defense look downright sensible because at least it didn’t implicate George Moscone and Harvey Milk.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) March 23, 2012<\/a><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

So the lesson of\u00a0subservience\u00a0you’re preaching to others’ kids didn’t sink in to your own? \u00a0Good. \u00a0It’s like math, two negatives make a positive; if you’re a bad parent but you would have taught bad lessons you spare the poor kid a life of learning the wrong things.<\/p>\n

Its not blaming the victim Its common sense-look like a gangsta&some armed schmuck will take you at your word<\/p>— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) March 23, 2012<\/a><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

I’m wearing a hoodie right now with the hood pulled up and everything. \u00a0I’m in a crowded coffee shop surrounded by people of a wide variety of ages, races and cultures. \u00a0I’m also white. \u00a0Does that make me look like a ‘gangsta’? \u00a0Is one of these people about to shoot me? \u00a0Next to me is a Japanese girl working on a high school physics assignment, she’s wearing a hoodie too. \u00a0Should I take her at her word?<\/p>\n

Or does that only apply if my skin was darker? \u00a0If that’s the case, what wouldn’t make me look like a gangsta? \u00a0Are we back to the pink polo, white sweater and khakis? \u00a0Because actual gang members don’t wear uniforms, The Warriors was not a documentary. \u00a0They wear the same thing as everyone else since styles are pervasive so to avoid dressing like them you’d have to avoid dressing like, well, everyone.<\/p>\n

I spent high school as a nerd so believe me when I say that dressing totally differently than your peer group’s current cultural norm is not advised.<\/p>\n

Its sad that I have to be the one reminding minority parents of the risk that comes with being a kid of color in America--channel the rage<\/p>— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) March 23, 2012<\/a><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

Channel the rage! \u00a0Do what the violent racists want you to do, choose your wardrobe to make vigilantes comfortable with you, then channel the rage! \u00a0Into…conformity I guess? \u00a0You’re going to have to clarify.<\/p>\n

President Obama says if he had a son he would look like Trayvon- He could add, and he would never let his son walk around DC in a hoodie.<\/p>— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) March 23, 2012<\/a><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

He could add that, sure. \u00a0He didn’t of course. \u00a0And he wouldn’t. \u00a0This is what President Obama looked like in college:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I suspect he didn’t subscribe to your philosophy is what I’m saying. \u00a0And I suspect he still doesn’t. \u00a0Which makes it extremely disingenuous to say “he could have said” to back up your idiotic point.<\/p>\n

I’ll give you an example: Geraldo Rivera said that black and Latino kids shouldn’t wear hoodies if they don’t want to get shot. \u00a0He could add, and they shouldn’t leave their ghettos.<\/p>\n

See what I did there? \u00a0I put words in your mouth qualified with ‘could’ but implying you took a position that you didn’t publicly take. \u00a0(I originally wrote “a position you don’t hold” but that’s a pretty big assumption considering these tweets.)<\/p>\n

In the avalanche of criticism how interesting that most minority moms back me because they want their sons to live long and prosper<\/p>— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) March 23, 2012<\/a><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

This is the most recent and the most ridiculous, because it assumes three things that I don’t believe are true:<\/p>\n

1) It assumes that a representative sample of black and Latino mothers follow you on Twitter, and that a representative sample of your followers commented. \u00a0I’m sorry but you’re Geraldo Rivera; your followers aren’t a representative sample of anything.<\/p>\n

2) It assumes that the negative criticism was not from black and Latino mothers because they didn’t specifically state that fact. \u00a0You admit to an avalanche of criticism but never stop to consider that there may be black and Latino mothers included in that? \u00a0That the positive comments you got from them are the only comments you got from them?<\/p>\n

3) It assumes that a life lived in constant fear of offending the delicate and arbitrary sensibilities of sociopathic vigilantes can be considered\u00a0prosperous.<\/p>\n

In short, Mr. Rivera, you’re not going to dig yourself out of this mess by repeating the same ignorant point. \u00a0I can’t wait to hear your long-form response where you, I assume, are going to explain what black and Latino teenagers should<\/em>\u00a0wear rather than what they shouldn’t. \u00a0Or where you’re going to insist you don’t blame the victim before and after directly blaming the victim.<\/p>\n

Or, more likely, where you refuse to waver and wait out the outrage to pass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mr. Rivera, Seriously? I mean, really? I admit I’m not a minority so I don’t have first-hand knowledge, though I did get hassled by a cop just before writing this for matching a description of “a Hispanic male in a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open-letters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dannyjwillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dannyjwillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dannyjwillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dannyjwillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dannyjwillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.dannyjwillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dannyjwillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dannyjwillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dannyjwillis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}