Tuesday, March 27, 2012
News City Council Members Will Wear Hoodies, Bring Iced Tea and Skittles To Session Wednesday
Posted by Sydney Brownstone on Tue, Mar 27, 2012 at 11:18 AM
Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito's website announced the initiative and released statements from participating lawmakers.
“Wearing a hoodie shouldn’t be a capital offense” said Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez. “Trayvon’s death struck a chord in New York City because we’ve seen far too many young Black and Latino men killed unjustly. Council Members James and Mark-Viverito have brought the Council together to stand up against this injustice, and I’ll be wearing a hoodie with them to show that Trayvon’s death will not be forgotten.”
Legislators have linked Martin's death to the issues surrounding New York City's own racially controversial stop-and-frisk policies. On Tuesday, six New York state senators attended a session in Albany wearing hoodies and read off a list of black men killed by the NYPD. Senator Eric Adams, a Democrat from Brooklyn and former NYPD sergeant, told reporters that the circumstances that paved way for Trayvon Martin's killing originated in New York.
"It was born here in New York City and now it has cascaded all the way down to the southern coast of Florida," Adams said. "The stop-and-frisk policy gave birth not only to police officers believing that a person of color is automatically a criminal, now it has grown into the civilian patrol units."
Meanwhile, the New York Post is predictably using the senators' words as an opportunity to step away from the uncomfortable facts of the case. This morning's front page shows a picture of the lawmakers in hoodies and the subhead "Tragedy hijacked by 'race hustlers.'" For crying out loud: We suppose it's only a matter of time before the comments section produces new ways to hate on black people without actually saying "black people."
[via Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito]
[Photo]
You can follow Sydney Brownstone on Twitter @sydbrownstone
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