I don't think there are a lot of things America does right nowadays, but if I had to pick one, I'd quickly point at the guy proudly wearing his hoodie as he walks across the Student Union.
I've been critical about how we've been handling the past few major tragedies, mainly because of our lazy reliance on social media. The Casey Anthony trial, the Troy Davis execution, and Kony 2012 are the ones that immediately come to mind.
Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube have been our main source of "protest" against these injustices, and revolutionaries from the '60s and '70s would undoubtedly laugh at that. I feel that liking a witty Facebook picture about George Zimmerman in your comfortable Greiner dorm doesn't scream "No Justice, No Peace" like it should.
Even worse off, the social injustices have become more of a trending topic then an actual rallying cry. I remember everybody was up in arms about Kony 2012 about a month back. Then the Trayvon Martin murder happened, and I haven't seen one status or tweet about Joseph Kony since.
I've specifically called out this short-term memory in a satirical comment on Facebook that said, "I'm just curious if people still care about Kony 2012."
A few Facebook friends responded to the comment by reposting/retweeting it. Then they continued to like and share the witty Martin pictures before going on to rant about their minor everyday problems. These were the exact same things I had just called them out on.
I wrote a column about this false sense of activism last semester about the Troy Davis execution (titled "The Tragedy of Troy"). Specifically, I called out college students for lazily using social media as a response to the injustice.
It looked like the same problem was going to happen for America's latest saga of racial injustice. But Fight The Power UB's March for Trayvon last Monday proved otherwise. There were a few students in the march for social reasons and maybe others present just for the hell of it. However, there was one thing that remained consistent - the hoodie.
The Skittles are ripe for parody, and I feel like Arizona profits skyrocketed because of how refreshing activism began to taste. But the hoodie encapsulated many of America's problems in one piece of clothing. Suddenly, a hooded African-American college student represented racial injustice, stereotyping, the flawed judicial system, and - the main tragedy - the loss of an unfulfilled life.
The most interesting thing about the hoodie is that is forced African-Americans to ask one question: If I wore a hoodie, would I also look suspicious? If so, then I could've easily been Zimmerman's victim that night.
I'm glad that the youth has decided to use the hoodie as a rallying cry to bring these problems to light, instead of self-righteous social media usage.
This is a double-edged sword though. The Anthony trial doesn't resonate as much because a majority of us aren't parents. The Davis execution represents an extreme circumstance. Do we really care only if a case directly applies to us?
We also have to take into account that America is a superficial society. Zimmerman identified Martin as a threat mostly because of that hoodie. I think some African-Americans may feel doubly threatened by the fact that they may be being targeted because of what they wear. Automatically we're being robbed of something that essentially makes us American.
These are speculations. I'm not going to pretend I have all the answers, since I'm biased. I'm African-American, I'm pissed about the case, and I do believe justice has yet to be served.
But knowledgeable or not, I'm wearing that hoodie.
Email: brian.josephs@ubspectrum.com
