"In Which Richard Cohen Reveals More Than He Intended"

[applegrove]

In Which Richard Cohen Reveals More Than He Intended

By Charles P. Pierce at Esquire

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/richard-cohen-george-zimmerman-verdict-column-071613

"SNIP..................................


In a somewhat befuddling line, Cohen wrote that he "can understand why Zimmerman was suspicious and why he thought Martin was wearing a uniform we all recognize." "A hoodie," Cohen told POLITICO when asked what he meant by that line. "It's what's worn by a whole lot of thugs. Look in the newspapers, online or on television: you see a lot of guys in the mugshots wearing hoodies." I pointed out that Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder, is also known to wear a hoodie. "Right, so it's the uniform of billionaires and thugs," Cohen said with a chuckle.

Ha, ha. Funny man. Richard Cohen is a funny man. Just ask him.

"What I'm trying to deal with is, I'm trying to remove this fear from racism. I don't think it's racism to say, 'this person looks like a menace,'" he explained. "Now, a menace in another part of the country could be a white guy wearing a wife-beater under-shirt. Or, if you're a black guy in the South and you come around the corner and you see a member of the Klu Klux Klan."

Yes, and let us suppose that a black man in, say, St. Louis felt so threatened by a white-guy in a "wife-beater undershirt" that he felt no choice but to follow the dude and, when the dude objected to being followed, the black man iced him with a concealed pistol. Want to bet where the black man is spending the next 25 years? Not in Richard Cohen's kitchen, that's for sure. And hoodies, per se, equal Klan robes? Where does this guy buy his mushrooms and can I come with him next time?



.................................SNIP"

[elehhhhna]

1. every kid in houston wears hoodies - all winter

rich/po/black/white/etc.

In the 50's they knew a kid was naughty if he was wearing "dungarees" -- Bah bah BAHHHHHH (scary music) -- dungarees means blue jeans for ya youngun's.

[applegrove]

2. I worked at the campus book & gear store of one of canada's most prestigious universities. All we

sold were hoodies.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

3. A stodgy establishment stenographer saying Colbert is

Unfunny, clearly is a doofus of the lowest order.

[Cha]

4. Richard Cohen's mentality is the same mentality of Geraldo and

their stupid ignorance is not helping.

I use to wear a hoodie when it rained in NY .. lot's of hoodie wearing in Seattle, too.

I don't wear one now because it's too fooking hot in Hawai'i.



Fuck them for trying to tell people what they should not wear.

mahalo applegrove

P.S. only white people get to wear hoodies? How about convicting killers of killing unarmed innocent people?

[Chakab]

5. I always wear them to the gym or when I'm working around the house in colder months.

I never realized that I was donning a "thug uniform" to workout and clean my backyard.

Cohen's editorial would have really pissed me off a couple of years ago, but I read and hear so much nonsense these days that I'm totally desensitized to it.

[John1956PA]

6. A high school near my home issues hoodies to its track team members.

Cohen is out of touch. I stopped following him after his abysmal column criticizing Stephen Colbert's speech at the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. After that column ran, I was one of many who sent Cohen an email explaining why Stephen's speech was indeed humorous. In his follow-up column, Cohen wrote that, after reading some of the numerous email responses, he deleted the balance of them, unopened.