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Trayvon Martin Attorney Tells Geraldo Rivera: You’re Embarrassing Your Son Again With Your Latest Hoodie Comments

Posted by Ellen -7859.80pc on May 20, 2012 · Flag

The Trayvon Martin family attorney, Benjamin Crump, answered back Geraldo Rivera’s latest comments about Trayvon Martin during an appearance tonight on Geraldo At Large. You may recall that Rivera appeared on the O’Reilly Factor Friday night and announced that he thought it was reasonable for George Zimmerman to have racially profiled Martin based on his size, race and hoodie “thugwear.” Tonight, Crump compared Rivera’s comments to a justification for rape based on the victim wearing a short skirt. “You can’t have that in America. You just can’t.”

Rivera said the reason he mentioned the hoodie on O’Reilly was because the surveillance video at the 7-11 where Martin bought his candy and iced tea shortly before he died showed “such a contrast - what – you know, Trayvon really looked like that night, as opposed to the little boy pictures that were released initially. That’s the only reason. If he had taken that damn hood off his head, if he and Zimmerman had only spoken… don’t you think that that could have avoided this awful tragedy?” In other words, Rivera was saying Martin looked dangerous.

Crump got right to what Rivera meant. He said, “Geraldo, two points: First of all, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, one of the richest men in the world, wears a hoodie every day. And so you mean to tell me if Mark Zuckerberg was walking through the gated community, he could be profiled and killed by George Zimmerman? You know, him and Trayvon both wore the same uniform – a hoodie and jeans. What’s the difference between the two?”

Rivera answered, “The difference is in the eye of George Zimmerman… Isn’t that the only subjective, you know, viewpoint? … Isn’t that what counts? I mean, I understand the reference and people can make fun of me all they want.” In fact, Rivera had defended, if not justified, Zimmerman's profiling of Martin:

Trayvon Martin looks just like the people who had been burglarizing and victimizing that neighborhood for the last six months. He was exactly the person that George Zimmerman, the property owner, feared. He looked just like the others.

… Profiling is based on, on a reasonable comparison. It may be profiling, Bill, but if he looks just like everybody else that committed the crimes in my neighborhood, that’s the person I’m going to focus my suspicions on.

Crump went on to liken Rivera’s comments to justifying a rape because a woman’s skirt was too short. “You can’t have that in America, you just can’t.” He added, You can’t profile people and act on it. It would be one thing if you profile and call the police and let the police deal with it, but you can’t act on it. Because then, you give a license to everybody to say if a black man is walking in his neighborhood, going to the store with a hoodie up, you can shoot him. And you cant do that. It’s wrong anywhere. There’s no justification for that, and the last thing I will say is this, Geraldo. You’re going to—you’re embarrassing your son again by making these statements.”

Video available via Mediaite.

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Jaime Pretell commented 2012-05-25 00:10:16 -0400 · Flag
Zap Pow, Being suspicious didn’t give him the right to shoot. Getting mounted and pounded gave him that right.
Jaime Pretell commented 2012-05-25 00:08:11 -0400 · Flag
Robert Urban, get a clue. He was not just walking down the street. The gate was closed by this time. He had to go in between the houses. The clubhouse is not directly in line from the street to Brandy Green’s house, so he definitely took a detour.
There is also no evidence that Zimmerman closed the distance with Trayvon. Keep dreaming up more Santa nonsense.
Ellen commented 2012-05-21 16:08:14 -0400 · Flag
Very generally speaking, I think Geraldo has a point that black kids dressed in gansta wear are more easily taken for criminals. But wearing a hoodie in the rain stretches the point, to say the least. As far as I can tell from the 7-11 video, Trayvon looked like just about every other teenager in America. We all know what “thugwear” looks like and that wasn’t it.

The other thing that gets me about Geraldo’s comments is that he made his point, that he thinks minority kids shouldn’t wear hoodies. But to keep harping on it as if that was an act of provocation equivalent to Zimmerman ignoring the admonition of the 911 operator not to follow Trayvon is well, disgusting and inexcusable.
Chas Holman commented 2012-05-21 11:24:43 -0400 · Flag
I’m an audio guy, and I have taken the 911 call in question, slowed it down to about half the speed, and brought it up to perfect musical pitch.. in other words, everything is slower so you can digest it easier, but not one musical note of the audio landscape has been altered.

After I did this I limited the really loud parts so they didn’t hurt your ear, and brought up the screams in between silence so you could hear at least that much better. It doesn’t prove anything, it doesn’t mean anything, but it is about as close as you will get to hearing what is going on without actually compromising the audio by doing any forensics work on it.. once you start eliminating frequencies it all becomes suspect.. this way all has been dons is to limit the volume so it is not too loud, and to bring up the quieter parts.. think of a guy with a volume knob making it a bit easier for you. And again, at a speed much easier to digest.

Here it is..

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11548279

Make of it what you will.. you’ll hear things better and easier…. and that still isn’t all that great… but still much better.
truman commented 2012-05-21 09:14:59 -0400 · Flag
@visitor 55. Exactly on point. Triggerfinger Zimmerman was explicitly told by the 911 dispatcher to back off and let the police handle it. He ignored that order. He deliberately stalked Trayvon, provoked a confrontation, and then shot and killed him. Trayvon’s only offense was being Black while walking.
Zap Pow commented 2012-05-21 07:50:37 -0400 · Flag
Jaime Pretell – And having a right to be suspicious gives him the right to shoot ?
Jaime Pretell commented 2012-05-21 06:45:23 -0400 · Flag
And that is the point. There is no evidence that Zimmerman “acted on it” other than to call 911 and run to where Martin had been, after he had run, to establish the direction he was running. There is absolutely no evidence in any of the contemporaneous calls, or the evidence from callers the next day showing he approached the kid. The only evidence at all suggesting a possible approach is from a person who chose to remain silent for three weeks. Who doesn’t call anyone if they think their boyfriend just got attacked?
Zimmerman had a right to be suspicious of someone walking behind houses in clothing that disguised their features. Period.
Aria Prescott commented 2012-05-21 04:19:55 -0400 · Flag
I also think that if Zuck was walking down the street in a hoodie at night, Jewish could be a hard sell. In a well-lit office his features are pretty obvious, but when there’s soft or dim lighting, he looks like white guy with his nose slightly bent. Like it got broken and healed slightly crooked.

If Zimmerman was looking for Jewish offenders, the right light could have him not even give Zuck a second thought.
Ellen commented 2012-05-21 02:09:11 -0400 · Flag
mj- also I don’t think Zuckerberg is “strapping” – as Geraldo described Trayvon. It’s bad enough to be wearing a hoodie while black but being tall, too? Well, who wouldn’t think he’s a threat?
mj - the same one commented 2012-05-21 02:08:20 -0400 · Flag
“You’re going to—you’re embarrassing your son again by making these statements.”

Jerry’s embarrassing himself, too:

http://static.globalgrind.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/article_images_540/images/2012_march/geraldo_0.jpg

.
mj - the same one commented 2012-05-21 02:04:16 -0400 · Flag
“Geraldo, two points: First of all, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, one of the richest men in the world, wears a hoodie every day. And so you mean to tell me if Mark Zuckerberg was walking through the gated community, he could be profiled and killed by George Zimmerman? You know, him and Trayvon both wore the same uniform – a hoodie and jeans. What’s the difference between the two?”

The difference(s) are as follows:

Zuckerberg is

1. White
2. Jewish
3. stinking rich, and
4. did I mention, White?

.
Aria Prescott commented 2012-05-21 01:41:36 -0400 · Flag
I honestly don’t get where Geraldo thinks he’s going with this. I mean, he apologized for how distasteful this line of argument is to Trayvon’s parents, then he starts up again?!

My question is… why? He’s already shown that it’s not good for him- it’s not even boosting his ratings anything worth noting. He has to have a direction for this, or he would have quit when he realized that it’s hurting more than helping.
NewsHounds posted about Trayvon Martin Attorney Tells Geraldo Rivera: You’re Embarrassing Your Son Again With Your Latest Hoodie Comments on NewsHounds' Facebook page 2012-05-21 00:18:26 -0400
Attorney Crump gave Geraldo the talking-to he deserved.








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