I kind of Blame the Unabomber for this.

From Media Matters, the above clip has former journalist Geraldo Rivera of Fox Mushroom Farm warning of the dangers of hoodies:

BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): Let’s talk about the Trayvon Martin case and what’s going on in Florida right now.
GERALDO RIVERA: Well, I have a different take, Brian, on that. I believe that George Zimmerman, the overzealous neighborhood watch captain should be investigated to the fullest extent of the law and if he is criminally liable, he should be prosecuted. But I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly to not let their children go out wearing hoodies. I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was.
JULIET HUDDY (guest-host): What do you mean?
RIVERA: When you, when you see a kid walking—Juliet—when you see a kid walking down the street, particularly a dark skinned kid like my son Cruz, who I constantly yelled at when he was going out wearing a damn hoodie or those pants around his ankles. Take that hood off, people look at you and they—what do they think? What’s the instant identification, what’s the instant association?

This blows my little mind, because I can always remember my mom always being after me to wear a jacket—a hoodie would totally do. Probably because it covered up my whore-clothes….

I made a point of highlighting the words that really matter, there. Rivera can’t not know better than that, but it hardly matters. Fox needs to let its audience know that Trayvon Martin’s clothes got him killed, rather than murderous bigotry. But Rivera doesn’t say white parents need to tell their kids about the dangers of hoodies, does he? No. He blames some “automatic reflex” to seeing a hoodie on a dark-skinned teen. That automatic reflex?  I have no doubt it would have still been there if Trayvon Martin was dressed for church or a job interview

(X-Posted from Rumproast.)