They're "hoodies," not "hoodlums"

So the big story of the week -- for good reason -- was the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. For those of you who don't know, Martin was killed on February 26 by crime-watch volunteer George Zimmerman (who claimed self defense and was not arrested). However, as the week came to a close, much of the discussion had shifted to Geraldo Rivera's highly controversial comments, stating that Trayvon Martin's decision to wear a hoodie had just as much to do with his death as the shooter.

Geraldo's stance was that Martin is a black teenager and that hoodies are stereotypical gang-related clothing. He also urged parents of minorities to discourage their children from wearing hoodies because of these stereotypes.

Listen, I'm not going to claim that Geraldo was blaming the victim here, but I do think that his comments are absolutely ludicrous. Is there ANY reason to believe, whatsoever, that Trayvon Martin would still be alive today if he decided not to wear a hoodie (a claim Geraldo boldly made)? And Geraldo's advice is terribly misguided and pretty offensive, as well. Instead of instructing children not to wear hoodies because of their gang-related connotations (which I think is somewhat unfounded....hoodies, in general, are a pretty popular article of clothing), why not teach people that a minority wearing hoodies are not necessarily gang members?

Since when is it okay to tell people to avoid unfair stereotypes instead of educating people on the ignorance of their stereotypical beliefs?