Trayvon Martin Would Be Alive By Geraldo Rivera Summary

Fox News debuted an article on the Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman case on March 23, 2012, titled Geraldo Rivera: Trayvon Martin Would be Alive. This article allowed for Rivera the opportunity to analyze the circumstances that surrounded the Trayvon Martin’s case. Rivera argues that if Trayvon Martin was not wearing a hoodie on the night that he was murdered he would be alive today. Rivera supports his claims by explaining how the overall culture of the ghetto produced these types of results. He even goes so far to claim that Trayvon Martin’s death was not attributed to his skin color, but because he was wearing a hoodie late at night. Comments such as “ghetto” and “ghetto wannabe wise-ass” are the words to describe the clothing and the

Crime, Citizenship, and the Court’s analyzation of Incarceration, Inequality, and Imagining Alternatives have revealed the prevalent racial profiling that exists in the African American community. Bruce Western emphasizes the prominent levels of incarceration in minority neighborhoods elaborating on the negative effects that these rates have on families, communities, and lifestyles. He reiterates that “incarceration deepens inequality because its negative social and economic effects are concentrated in the poorest communities” (Western, 297). When we analyze Fox News media portrayals of Martin, we could begin to understand why African Americans change their methods of transportation, clothing, and routines. These men adapt to the reality of racial profiling in fear that one day, they may contribute to the high incarceration rates within their communities. A good example of this fear is Peter’s story. Peter is an African American male who decides “to get from place to place by mass transit and walking” because he is in fear that “riding a car with friends might get him arrested” (Western, 299). Hence, the constant fear of racial profiling based on clothing or the paranoia of getting stopped for walking or riding in a car with friends serves as an overarching theme of the social

Males like Martin, are constantly profiled to be threatening or dangerous, which makes males that look like Martin more likely to switch their behaviors, so they do not get involved in altercations or contribute to the high incarceration rates facing the minority communities. In turn, the concept of racial profiling and mass incarceration in the black community is alive and problematic in combating the biological social construct of