I don’t use the word “racism” lightly, so heaven forbid it’d break my rule. But you’re free to use it all you want when you look at the clip below. And I would not blame you. Let’s say in advance I’d agree with you. On Fox News (where else?) a former former NYPD detective said that Florida teen Trayvon Martin was responsible for his own death because he had a “street attitude.”
“Street attitude”?
Really?
*Did he know Trayvon Martin?
*Did he ever meet him?
*Did he ever interact with him?
*Did he ever hear him or hear a tape of his voice talking?
*What does he mean by “street” attitude? Could it be wearing that hoodie that so many middled people, retired people, girls and women and even little five foot one “mature” Jewish guys from Connecticut named Joe Gandelman wear? I once put a cloth on my 19 year old cat’s head so it looked like a hoodie. If Clawdette strayed into someone’s yard, should the person have trailed her and maybe shot her because she looked like she had a street attitude?
*Is he working on THIS case where he knows about Trayvon Martin’s “street attitude?”
*If Martin had been a white blond haired, blue eyed teen who was wearing expensive boots, and a gold ring would he also be seen as having a “street attitude” without have met him, talked to him, heard his voice, seen how he walked, and known how he interacted with people in school or as he walked home from a convenience store at night to see that someone was following him?
Of is this “street attitude” label reflecting a stereotype this former detective had seen in his many years on the force — and perhaps a justifiable conclusion in the cases of the bad-doers with whom he had interacted?
And, even if that is the case, it really does seem …let’s say instead it “reeks” … of a challenged-when-it-comes-to-evaluating-people-of-other-races-not-according-to-stereotypes attitude.
He would have been decimated for suggesting that on any news outlet other than Fox News. But of course, at Fox its dealt with suggesting if people suggest its concern over “P.C.”
P.S No it isn’t absurd or being political incorrect to be amazed that he suggests Martin had a “street attitude.” Exactly where is his EVIDENCE about how Martin looked that night, walked that night and talked that night? Was Martin moving as if he was going to kill George Zimmerman with Skittlers or iced-tea-board him?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.