In the past, many teenagers imitated the style and the swagger of musicians like the Rolling Stones, Kiss, Guns & Roses, and Slayer!
While those teenagers imitated those musicians, they usually grew out of it, and go on to lead at least 90% honorable lives.
Trayvon Martin named referred to himself in one of his social-network pages as "No Limit N_______a", which was named after for No Limit Records (the record label) and No Limit Souljahz (members affiliated with that record label). No Limit was led by Master P, and had members like Sillk the Shocker, C-Murder, Mystikal, Mia X, Fiend, Kane & Abel and Mercedes. They also made hits with other artists like Snoop Dogg and E-40!
Because Martin called himself a "No Limit N_______" and had some photos posing with a gangsta swagger, many right-wing extremists have been portraying Martin as some kind of dangerous monster, when in reality, he was just minding his own business when confronted by George Zimmerman for "looking suspicious". Zimmerman killed Martin and claimed he was "standing his ground" when in reality, he started the fight.
Joe Scarborough, a former Republican Congressperson and now a conservative talk-show host, made some good points about this.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/30/joe-scarborough-trayvon-martin-conservative-websites_n_1392019.html
On Friday, he excoriated some conservative websites for defending Zimmerman and questioning Martin's innocence. He said that he found their behavior "disgusting."
"Why is it that some on the right are actually taking this up as a cause?" Scarborough asked. "As National Review said almost immediately after it happened, this has nothing to do with gun rights, this has nothing to do with the Second Amendment, this has nothing to do with stand your ground laws, this has nothing to do with the NRA. This has everything to do with a guy that's trying to play security cop, who is unhinged, who chased down and shot a 17-year-old kid armed with Skittles and iced tea.'"
Scarborough warned that conservative sites should follow the National Review and "not take this up as a cause." He took issue with their portrayal of Martin in particular.
He said, "some racist websites, but also sadly some fairly mainstream websites are actually going into Trayvon Martin’s social media pages, be it Twitter or MySpace, and they're trying to find ominous looking pictures while skipping over pictures of him holding up a birthday cake smiling, him fishing with his dad, him standing outside proudly of his home dressed in a tux ready to go to prom."
"This is beneath contempt," Scarborough railed. "These people on the far right are being fools to try to make this a political issue.”
The parts I highlighted are very important.
Yeah, Martin had photos showing a tough-guy side of him.
In other words, pretty much acting like about 90% of teenagers out there!
I mean, most teenagers (black, white, brown, yellow, rich, poor, whatever) want to impress through their peers with social network pages with pictures of them sticking middle fingers, flexing their biceps, holding fake weapons, and imitating the fashion of hardcore rock or rap artists!
Most of it is Just Image and Acting!
Most of them are smart enough to know NOT to act like that at a job interview, or at a church! And they sure are NOT acting like that in front of their grandparents!
Most of them will just grow out of it, and go on to lead 90% honorable lives as adults.
After all, even most cops under 40 were once fans of NWA, Ice-T, and 2pac who made anti-police songs!
(what.... did you think cops who grew up in the late 80's through the 2000's were only listening to children's songs & smooth jazz?)
And Ice-T later portrayed a police officer on "Law and Order"! And NWA member Ice Cube is now more known as that guy from the children's movie "Are We There Yet?"
And 2pac, even though he had a gangsta swagger and a violent temper, he also made songs sympathizing with single mothers ("Keep your head up" ,"Dear Mama"), romantic love songs ("Do 4 love") and expressed hope for unity between African-Americans and Mexican-Americans ("To Live and Die in LA").
Most people have a positive side and a negative side. It's just that 2pac was more honest about it than the most of us!
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TV reporter Geraldo Rivera had some controversy over his comments on Trayvon Martin's fashion sense when he get confronted and killed by Zimmerman.
http://www.salon.com/2012/03/23/hoodies_dont_kill/
Rivera's controversial words highlighted in pink!
“No one black, brown or white can honestly tell me that seeing a kid of color with a hood pulled over his head doesn’t generate a certain reaction,” he writes. “Sometimes scorn, often menace.” And maybe sometimes, oh, that’s my neighbor Trayvon. Rivera assumes that casual sportswear makes the man, that it dehumanizes a dark-skinned kid into a stereotype from “crime scene surveillance tapes.”
Rivera, as the parent of a teen, calls this a “teachable moment.” “I am begging parents of kids in Trayvon’s vulnerable demographic to heed my politically incorrect approach to this story,” he explains. “If you dress like a hoodlum eventually some schmuck is going to take you at your word.” It may be a well-intentioned warning: the kind of thing women have heard for decades about the length of their skirts. The only difference is that in one case, the chastisement is not to dress like a victim, and the other is to not dress like a perp.
Of course many parents want their kids to dress themselves in a "proper manner", so that the kids represent themselves as someone "civilized".
I mean, if I was a parent, and I noticed my teenaged kids starting to wear all blue or all red, a part of me will think of it as a warning sign! In fact, I remembered from working at Central Middle School, that all red items will be confiscated since that is seen as representing the Bloods from Mayor Wright's Housing, which is in that school's district.
Also, many parents start to worry if their daughter start wearing skimpy clothes, worried that some males will take it the wrong way and would harass and even raper her.
However, when it comes to rape, THE BLAME SHOULD BE ON THE RAPIST, ........NOT on the victim and her sexy clothes.
And for murder, THE BLAME SHOULD BE ON THE KILLER, ......... NOT on the victim's hoodie or colored bandana.
However, from the same article that I quoted earlier
No, he wasn’t dressed like a hoodlum. He was dressed like a kid. Yeah, sometimes hoodlums wear hoodies. So does just about every teenager in America. Let’s be clear — Martin was not swaggering around with a ski mask over his face and a knife in his hand. He was a kid who had thrown on a jacket on a rainy night. He was not, as Geraldo says, “wearing a costume that is really a sign that says ‘shoot me,’” any more than a woman in heels is wearing a sign that says “rape me.”
And that led to the website filled with Geraldo Rivera wearing a hoodie.
http://geraldoinahoodie.tumblr.com/
Geraldo Rivera wearing a hoodie, something he said non-white teens shouldn't wear!
