Deciding that his non-apology didn’t quite hit the mark, Geraldo Rivera offered a full, unqualified mea culpa to Trayvon Martin’s parents on Geraldo at Large Sunday night for suggesting last week that Trayvon may have been partly responsible for his own death for wearing a hoodie that night. Geraldo said at the end of the interview with Trayvon’s parents (via Mediaite):
A week ago I ranted against hoodies like the one worn by Trayvon on the evening he was shot dead by George Zimmerman because in Zimmerman’s words, ‘Trayvon looked like he was up to no good’. I said then that Trayvon’s hoodie killed him as surely as George Zimmerman did. What I was trying to do was caution parents allowing kids to wear hoodies or similar clothing in certain circumstances, particularly if they were minority young men could be dangerous. But I never intended to hurt anyone’s feelings and certainly Sybrina and Tracy, I never intended to hurt your feelings. I want to personally convey my deepest apologies to both of you. I am sorry, Tracy, if anything I said added to your misery.
The apology appears earnest but Geraldo’s hoodie theory, and his directive that minority young men ought to stop wearing hoodies, else they immediately be perceived a criminal or a menace or “gangsta wannabe,” remains intact. Take it or leave it.
Trayvon’s father Tracy Martin processed Geraldo’s apology for a moment and then responded:
Thank you for the apology. Your apology is accepted. Let me just add one thing with the wearing of the hoodie. I don’t think America knows that, in fact, at the time of the incident when he initially made the call, it was raining. So Trayvon had every right to have on his hood. He was protecting himself from the rain. So if being a suspicious, walking in the rain with your hoodie on is a crime, then I guess the world is doing something wrong.
