Hoodie's Equals Enemy?
Nowadays in society young males all colors and cultural backgrounds are being misrepresented and labeled as thugs, criminals, and bad kids because they resemble what the "everyday criminal" looks like which is baggy jeans, hoodie, and head gear. because teenagers dressed this way they are harassed by police and quickly judged by store clerks and fellow citizens. People who are incarcerated for crimes like theft, murder, and drugs do usually dress like teens cause they're teens. just because this similarity exist doesn't mean that everyone is a criminal who chooses to participate in this trend and culture, teens dress that way cause its what they like and what they see around them in media. everyday teens are being given a hard time because they dress a certain, without any prior knowledge teens are automatically considered a threat. as a black teen i am often watched in stores, approached by cops, and avoided by civilians because i fit the profile as being a delinquent. Because of these stereotypes many young kids are being targeted. is it fair for adolescents to be judged with such harsh profiles? How would you feel if you were summed up as a criminal because what you like to wear?
These are examples of civilians taking action against teens because they felt endangered for their life with the Trayvon Martin case and Jordan Davis case. both teens that were victimized based on their Music, Clothing, and color. Both these teens have been shot and killed. R.I.P
Have you ever been stopped by the police? if you have what was the reason?
Great post Toney! To answer your first question, i would say that it is totally irresponsible and inappropriate to generalize and judge based on such harsh profiles. However, what i have noticed is that many humans do tend to generalize so much that it seems to be part of their nature. Now is this right? No, of course no, but it is how a majority of our society operates. While i do agree that one should not be summed up to be a criminal just because of what they wear, i do think that it is important to keep in mind that many times officers and people of the law are taken in the wrong way. Now i don't mean that all of them are good or all of them are bad, because some of them are corrupted, but sometimes when a person acts suspicious and then on top of that is wearing clothing that can enhance that suspicion, an officer should take appropriate action. Still, pre-judgment is not appropriate in all cases and when an officer does take action, only an appropriate level of force should be used, unless no force is needed, then of course it should be used.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with this post. Many people associate wearing hoodies and baggy pants with criminal acts because that tends to be the preferred outfit of people robbing stores and such due to the hood covering their head and the baggy clothes hiding their physique. I find it saddening that society has gone so far to generalise a group of people simply on what they choose to wear. What also gets me is that the police tend to tend to interfere with black teens wearing these clothes, but if any other ethnicity wears them, it's fine.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this post as well. I was very disgusted to hear about the Trayvon Martin case, because I was always following up with the case, hoping he would get his justice. He was a target, because he was wearing a hoodie and his complexion was a darker skin color. I think many young teenagers are discriminated based on how they dress. Many male teens who wear baggy clothing or hoodies are always established as a criminal, or a thug. This is the same when women dress very revealing and are named as "whores". Society has given a name for every individual and based on their dressing, everyone is judged. To clear things up, many teens are completely opposite of what people think, because all of them are judged based on clothing. I think this is totally not fair, because it is discrimination and people are only judged based on stereotypes the society has made. If I was to walk with my sister who wears a hijab, people would consider her as a terrorist or threat, because people have named Muslims as terrorists. As for me, I do not wear a hijab, therefore I do not face the racist actions my sister faces.
ReplyDeleteI have never been approached by the cop, although I feel there is still the society who treats us teenagers differently. I am usually underestimated, because I am only a teenager, and judged based on who I hang out with. It is very pathetic to see how our society has turned out.
To answer your question, I do not believe that it is fair to be judged based on what you wear, but as your post outlines this clearly occurs. In this article: http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-cuban-sterling-plaschke-20140523-column.html Mark Cuban was clearly offensive. He wrote that if he saw a black kid at night in a hoodie, he would turn the opposite way, and if he saw a white guy, who is bald and has tattoos all over his face, he would again walk the opposite way. Society is prejudiced one way or another, which is not right. If I were in the situation where I was approached by the police, because of what I wear or how I look, I would feel disrespected and horrible. I feel as though society is moving toward a time where instead of lessening stereotypes, we enforce them and follow them, which is wrong. Young adolescents should not be judged based on what they wear, especially by police officers since those are not the proper actions that officers should promote.
ReplyDeleteThis post is really powerful! Young black men that fit this discription often get face discrimination! A white male wearing a hoodie wouldn't necessarily be looked at as a threat to society. This is an act of racial and gender profiling. It's beyond unfair and being someone who identifies as being black this post actually takes and emotional toll on me because I feel disrespected.
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