One month ago, in Sanford, Florida, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a man who found him ‘suspicious’. Today, many are furious that the man who killed him, George Zimmerman, has not been arrested. Throughout the United States, thousands of people are posting profile photos of themselves wearing hoodies and holding ‘hoodie marches’ to commemorate the young black man, who was wearing a hooded sweatshirt when he was killed.

 

Outrage has grown over the past two weeks after the recording of Zimmerman’s call to the police was released. It revealed that Zimmerman, a neighbourhood watch volunteer in a gated community, thought Martin might be a burglar because he was walking down the street, looking at houses. He told the police the man was ‘real suspicious’ and that he was black and wearing a hoodie. Martin, it has been reported, was walking back to his father’s fiancée’s house after going out to buy candy at a convenience store. He was unarmed. Though the police told Zimmerman not to pursue Martin, he followed the young man and shot him dead.

 

Zimmerman was taken in for questioning, but was quickly released. No charges were filed against him. His lawyer says he acted in self-defence after Martin attacked him. Amid accusations that the Sanford police department had bungled the case, its chief stepped down last week. The Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation to find out how exactly Martin was killed.

 

As soon as this story was relayed by the media, many people started speculating about whether the fact that Trayvon was wearing a hoodie might have made him look suspicious – rightly or wrongly. Television star Geraldo Rivera weighed in last Friday, saying “the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was.” He also suggested that parents of black and Latino children should not dress them in hoodies, which, though they are widely worn in the United States, some associate with trouble-making or gang membership. His comments drew widespread criticism, and inspired “hoodie marches” throughout the nation over the weekend, with more planned for the coming week. Churches even got into the action, with several pastors asking their congregants to come to Sunday mass dressed in hoodies.