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(VIA Kevin Fleming, theurbanbuzz.com) – As if I don’t worry about my child already. I would imagine that many parents are hugging and holding on to their children extra close lately; in light of the recent murder of 17 year old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. This very sad story has the whole country talking and I’m sure by now, you know as much about it or more than I do. This incident really hit me hard. I have a son, my only child, who is not much older than Trayvon, and I worry about him. Now I’m thinking, is this some kind of sick backlash from disgruntled folks for having the first Black President of the United States? Or are some people so filled with rage and hate that they believe the life of a young black child means absolutely nothing? Is killing a defenseless human being like sport, the latest red-neck thing to do?

After hearing of this tragedy, I immediately called my son Dylan on the phone. He’s away, experiencing his first year in college, which is wonderful. He attends a HBCU–Hampton University which is in Hampton, Virginia, a great school except for the fact that and we live in Los Angeles—3000 miles away. I must have asked him 10 times if he was alright. “Are you ok?” “Has anybody messed with you?” In the course of a 20 minute phone call I had went from “cool and calm” Dad to that “crazy over-protective” father no 19 year-old wants to be associated with and I had swore to myself I would never be. He’s fine but as parents we still worry. We both have webcams on our computers and my wife and I often do web-convos with Dylan but we have to keep it on the low. I guess he loses cool points with his friends if he’s caught talking to his parents on the computer. I don’t know.

You probably saw the news account of the protest event dubbed “the Million Hoodie March” this week in New York. The perception is that when young black males wear hoodies, saggy pants and baseball caps, that’s some kind of code picked up by law enforcement, hate groups, self-appointed vigilantes, suburban soccer moms and most white people in general that these young men are nothing more than street thugs, dope dealers and vicious criminals; menaces to society that should be harassed by the police and carted off to jail. The funny thing is I see lots of kids, black, brown, white or otherwise wearing “urban-attire”. Kids today dress the way they dress. It’s more of a generational thing than a cultural one. Last summer, before Dylan went off to college, he was going out to the local mall to meet his friends. He had on a hoodie, skinny jeans, Vans and a designer baseball cap. I looked at him and fell for the stereotype. “Dyl, if you wear that outfit to the mall I guarantee you’re going to be followed by security. You look like you’re looking to get into trouble,” I said. He posted up to the mirror and admired himself for a second and then agreed his wardrobe choice was a bit extreme for his mall outing persona.

But, what do the clothes you wear say to other people, especially people from different cultures than yours? If not wearing a hoodie, cap-to-the-back, or pulling up your pants so we can’t see your drawers will save your life then upgrade your look. I know, in the big picture racism is alive and well in 2012. If you’re black or brown you’ll still be black or brown in a hoodie… so micromanaging your kids clothing choices may be a really small thing but sometimes it’s the little things that can make the difference. I just don’t want to see anymore of our children harassed, hurt or killed behind what they wear because of ignorant and hate filled people. Hoodies die hard and it hurts for a very long time.

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