TheBanyanTree: Hoodies **gentle political commentary**

[Teague, Julie Anna]

Not sure how I missed this when it came to my inbox.  My life gets so 
crazy sometimes.  But this is excellent.  Go Margaret.

Quoting paul <paul at remsset.com>:

> Margaret,
>
> I've read this several times since you posted it.  I still don't have
> the words I want to use to reply with something that means anything.
>
> I don't have any answers......  I just don't.
>
> I do want you to know I read everything you post to the Tree.  And
> it's, to me, all good stuff.
>
> paul
>
>
> Margaret R. Kramer said the following on 3/31/2012 4:13 PM:
>> Our great spring has slowed down for a few days.  It's nasty out there this
>> afternoon.  The sun is hidden behind thick mean looking clouds and even
>> though the wind is from the south, the warm air is just not getting here.
>>
>>  It's a good afternoon for laziness, so Joe and I are sitting in the
>> kitchen,
>> each of us with our laptops open, with our heads buried into the screens.
>>
>>  I shot around the house this morning, doing laundry, watering plants, and
>> paying bills.  I have a couple of closets that are asking to be cleaned out.
>> Even though I'm not a hoarder, I feel like I have way too much stuff.  It's
>> amazing how much crap I have crammed into little odd corners of the house.
>> A cool spring afternoon is probably a good time to do a little decluttering.
>>
>>  Joe and I didn't win the MegaMillions.  He hasn't checked his
>> ticket yet, so
>> he doesn't know if he might have won one of the $250,000 prizes or not.  I
>> checked my ticket and I know I didn't win anything and I shredded my ticket.
>>
>>  If I would have won, about 90% of that money would have been set up as some
>> sort of charitable foundation.  I don't need a lot of money nor do I want a
>> lot of money.  But it's nice to dream about a new car or unlimited travel or
>> going back to school.  That's one thing I would do if I won a lot of money,
>> go back to school and get my master's degree in library science.  It doesn't
>> make sense because there are not many librarian jobs, but that's what I'd
>> like to do.  I haven't had a cold for years, but I got one last
>> weekend.  I'm not sure if
>> it was the cashier at Target, who, when ringing up my items last Friday
>> night, was continually sneezing, although not on my stuff, but turning her
>> head and letting loose with a few good ones.  I'm sure those germs found
>> their way to me, and slithered into my body, and infected me with a nasty
>> cold.
>>
>>  I called in sick to work on Monday, and did something I so rarely do, spent
>> most of the day on our new sectional reading, sneezing, wiping the snot from
>> my nose, and drinking juice.  I finished Anne Rice's new novel, The Wolf
>> Gift.   It's one of my Kindle Fire books.  And the neat thing about
>> my Kindle Fire
>> is that I can read books in the dark with it.  No need to turn on a light.
>>
>>  And if I order a book, I can get it right away.  I don't have to go to a
>> bookstore or wait for it to be delivered in a package.  I only have three
>> books on my Kindle, but I'm sure my virtual library will grow.
>> Currently, I sell my "real" books on amazon.com, so with the virtual
>> library, I won't be able to sell books any longer.  I usually made about
>> $100 a year or so selling books, and now that income will be cut off from
>> me.  So sad.    The Kindle Fire is kind of like a poor man's iPad.
>> I can check email,
>> Facebook, Twitter, download music and videos, plus read books.  I'm still
>> getting used to reading a book that isn't a book.  There is something
>> special about being to crack open a new book and letting the pages settle
>> back as I turn them.
>>
>>  My oldest grandson was on the A honor roll for this semester.  He's almost
>> 13 years old and in 7th grade.  He's a little math whiz.  I use him as my
>> human calculator for about anything.  He just does the problem in his head
>> and within seconds, he has the answer.  He's been a competitor at Math
>> Masters in grade school and will sub in on the junior high math team when
>> needed.  He didn't join the math team, because he wanted to be on the
>> basketball team.  Go figure.
>>
>>  And he wears a hoodie.  So do I.  I've worn hoodies for years.  I love the
>> zipper, the pockets, and being able to pull up the hood when it's cold or
>> rainy.  I'm sure as middle aged white woman, if I have the hood pulled up, I
>> won't be thought of as a gang member.  And I'm sure George Zimmerman
>> wouldn't have followed me and shot me.
>>
>>  Obviously, I don't know what happened on that rainy night, but the events
>> that unfolded are so similar to many other rainy nights in the past.
>> Someone is identified as a threat, gets killed, and the person or person(s)
>> who killed are not charged.  Think of lynching for example.
>>
>>  Remember those photos from the 1960s when black children were trying to
>> integrate southern schools and surrounding them were white men and women
>> with faces so full of hate that you could barely look at them without
>> cringing.
>>
>>  Think of Rodney King.  Stopped by the LAPD for speeding, resisted arrest,
>> and was cuffed and beaten and beaten and beaten.  If someone had not
>> videotaped that event, do you think the police officers involved would have
>> ever been charged?
>>
>>  A few years ago, in Wisconsin, a Hmong hunter was hunting on someone else's
>> land.  Several white men jumped on their ATVs with guns at the ready, and
>> surrounded that young hunter.  That hunter opened fire and killed several
>> people.  Not to justify the killing, but can you imagine how frightened that
>> hunter was?  He lashed out before he would have been killed.  Of course, he
>> was charged and sent to prison for life.   But if the situation
>> would have been reversed, would the white people who
>> might have killed the Hmong hunter, been charged with his death, or would it
>> have been justifiable homicide?
>>
>>  It's difficult for us, as white people, who have always been the dominant
>> race, to understand what it's like to be on someone's radar just because of
>> our color.  My son, who is mixed, was followed around in stores, and
>> probably still is, just because he is black.   I had to give him
>> "the talk" when he was going through driver's education,
>> and so did his instructor.  My son is stopped often by the police, not for
>> doing anything wrong, but just because he is black.  And in many white
>> minds, when you're black, and especially young and male, you're up to no
>> good.
>>
>>  Joe grew up in the 40s and 50s.  He was in the Air Force.  If he was
>> stationed in the south, he was unable to ride in the same cab as his white
>> fellow soldiers.  Or stay in the same hotel.  Or go to the same restaurants.
>>
>>  The "Jim Crow" laws have changed, but the attitudes have not.
>>
>>  Joe is a black man, and he has a permit to conceal and carry a gun.  Some
>> white people can't handle that.  In their minds, blacks should not be armed.
>>
>>  Except maybe with Skittles.
>>
>>  Trayvon's parents are right to demand answers.  Just from the few things
>> that have been released, especially the police surveillance video, show that
>> Zimmerman was more than likely the aggressor.  Because his father is a
>> retired judge, I suspect there were some "favors" done behind the scenes
>> that let Zimmerman go.
>>
>>  And the police, or perhaps the prosecutor who told them not to press
>> charges, probably thought the whole thing would be swept under the rug and
>> forgotten.
>>
>>  But this incident and so many incidents like this one should be not
>> be swept
>> up and forgotten.  This is our country's legacy and it's time we start
>> taking steps to change the "master hunting down the wayward slave"
>> mentality.
>>
>>  I'll continue to wear my black hoodie, hood up or hood down.  Maybe I'll
>> start carrying packets of Skittles.  I'm going to do my part to help change
>> my country's incredible racist attitudes.
>>
>>  Margaret R. Kramer
>>
>> margaretkramer at comcast.net <mailto:mmargaretkramer at comcast.net>
>> www.linkedin.com/in/margaretkramer
>>
>>  Corpse pose restores life. Dead parts of your being fall away, the ghosts
>> are released.      - Terri Guillemets
>>
>>
>
>
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