…And Now The Hoodie

In my life, I have seen all kinds of things. Namely things that  have been associated with gang violence .

I bring this up, since this past week Geraldo Rivera has asked parent to not allow their kids to wear hoodies. Not to get all wrapped up in this tragedy-turned- 3 Ring Circus in Florida about Trayvon Martin being shot dead (because I wasn't there and that isn't the point of this blog post), I won't go into that part of it.

But back to Geraldo,  he was on Fox News this week and had the answer for the problems of society...the hoodie. I wear hoodies and I know a lot of kids in sports wear then, as well. I would prefer to not remove the hoodie from the schools.

Now here is why I call BS on this, parents...and please feel free to discuss this freely, the hoodie isn't the issue. Let's go back to the time of the Unibomber, remember him? Well, he wasn't a kid and he wasn't in a gang, but he did wear a hoodie in all the sketches.

My point, a specific style of clothing doesn't mean that is the cause of a problem, that is a problem with that person.

I remember back in the day, people who wore bandanas were affiliated as gang-bangers. But then again, Chachi from Happy Days wore one. If memory serves, Fonzi was the bad-boy, when the series began.

Then there was the Air Jordan issues. People were being robbed on the street for their shoes, when this self-created gang-style came out. Even though, more non-gang members bought them, mostly because people wanted to "Be Like Mike".

Baggy pants, well, they just look stupid and quite frankly when I see the crack of someone's rear, when the wear their pants like that, I want to toss my cookies. I don't think anyone wants to see that.

Look, I am no prude, nor do I condone gang-related lifestyles. What I do know is, that as a parent, it is up to you to make sure you kids leave the house looking decent and behaving like a decent member of society. And if someone thinks that clothes are the root of problem, as Geraldo does, then it is up to you as a parent to correct that behavior.