There is danger everywhere

Our obsession with danger has skewed our reality.

Geraldo has now apologized for making this remark about Trayvon Martin’s decision to wear a hoody the night he was shot:

“He wore an outfit that allowed someone to respond in this irrational, overzealous way,” said Geraldo.

I think we all know what he meant — the hoody sends a signal.

But there are so many signals these days, you can’t NOT send a signal anymore.

I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket, didn’t realize it had left my pocket hanging inside out — turns it out means you want a certain type of intimate encounter. Who knew?

I get to work before sunrise and sometimes it’s cold, so I wear a puffy winter jacket. So in the afternoon, I’m walking back to my car in a puffy coat on a warm day. Now I’m a suicide bomber.

It’s not just the hoody anymore, it’s EVERYTHING.

Which brings me to the other thing Geraldo said:

“Every time you see someone sticking up the 7-11, the kid’s wearing a hoodie.”

We’ll I’ve never personally seen someone stick up a 7-11, and most of you haven’t either. What you’ve seen is a PICTURE of someone sticking up a 7-11. And you’ve seen it again and again.

It’s our obsession with danger that’s skewed our reality. We think we’re surrounded by thugs when in fact most black kids in hoodies are just kids in hoodies, like most white kids with green hair and tattoos are just kids with green hair and tattoos.

The problem is not that a kid chose to wear a hoody but that a neighbor chose to wear a gun and play cop.

A little like — having a neighbor do your heart bypass, based on watching all eight seasons of Grey’s Anatomy.

Which, from what I hear, WILL end up being the Supreme Court’s preferred health care system.