Thomas Sowell stands up for Geraldo re hoodies

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As Berkeley linguistics professor George Lakoff described the strict father model of conservatism:

"In addition to support and protection, the father's primary duty is tell his children what is right and wrong, punish them when they do wrong, and to bring them up to be self-disciplined and self-reliant...In this way, he teaches his children to be self-disciplined, industrious, polite, trustworthy, and respectful of authority...Once his children are grown -- once they have become self-disciplined and self-reliant -- they are on their own and must succeed or fail by themselves..."

Thomas Sowell played the strict father in his latest column, "Geraldo's Point", in which he defended Geraldo Rivera's controversial comment that blamed Trayvon Martin's hoodie for the shooting death of the Florida teenager:

There is no point in dressing like a hoodlum when you are not a hoodlum, even though that has become a fashion for some minority youths, including the teenager who was shot and killed in a confrontation in Florida. I don't know the whole story of that tragedy, any more than those who are making loud noises in the media do, but that is something that we have trials for.

People have a right to dress any way they want to, but exercising that right is something that requires common sense, and common sense is something that parents should have, even if their children don't always have it.

I guess Sowell prefers umbrellas and earmuffs, since any clothing not formal enough for his old-fashioned sensibilities = HOODLUMS. In the meantime, he related a personal anecdote of how he would dress as an undergrad years at Harvard (which would be during the late '50s):

Many years ago, when I was a student at Harvard, there was a warning to all the students to avoid a nearby tough Irish neighborhood, where Harvard students had been attacked. It so happened that there was a black neighborhood on the other side of the Irish neighborhood that I had to pass through when I went to get my hair cut.

I never went through that Irish neighborhood dressed in the style of most Harvard students back then. I walked through that Irish neighborhood dressed like a black working man would be dressed — and I never had the slightest trouble the whole three years that I was at Harvard.

Now here's the part where I'm on the fence. It seems that Sowell was doing just like most other people would do: not display valuables unnecessarily to avoid inviting trouble. For example, most people would hide electronics, money, or jewelry in the glove box of their cars to avoid attracting thieves. However, I find Sowell endorsing Rivera's view the same as saying that women shouldn't wear tight clothing to avoid being raped (a view that has become more taboo in recent years).

Sowell also told another story about pointing a gun at someone:

Much has been made of the fact that the teenager was unarmed. The only time I have ever pointed a loaded gun at a human being, I had no idea whether he was armed or not. All I knew was that I could hear his footsteps sneaking up behind me at night.

Fortunately for both of us, he froze in his tracks when I pointed a gun at him. If he had made a false move, I would have shot him. And if it had turned out later that he was unarmed, I would not have lost a moment's sleep over it.

No one ever wants to be creeped on. I remember the controversy over Rebecca Watson getting a sexual advance in an elevator late at night. But I have a hard time being convinced this scenario is comparable with what allegedly happened between Martin and Zimmerman.

Those personal anecdotes about clothing and self defense aside, he also attacked the public reaction to the shooting:

We do not need Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton or the President of the United States spouting off before the trial has even begun. Have we forgotten the media's rush to judgment in the Duke University "rape" case that blew up completely when the facts came out?

Uhh, again another stupid comparison. Did Sowell not know about the police intimidating witnesses into changing stories or Zimmerman possibly lying about his injuries? And yes, innocent-until-proven-guilty is an undeniable value of American justice, but isn't the most decent instinct of people to react with much sympathy to the victim whenever crimes like this are reported?

Sowell closes by asserting that those who now think Zimmerman is guilty are racist:

Have we forgotten the Jim Crow era, with courts making decisions based on the race of the defendants, rather than the facts of the case? That is part of the past that we need to leave in the past, not resurrect it under new racial management.

Who is really showing concern for the well-being of minority youngsters, Geraldo Rivera who is trying to save some lives, or Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and others who are hyping this tragic episode for their own benefit?

"the past"???? Well, in this post-racial justice system, why are blacks far more likely to be arrested for drugs than whites, even though drug use rates are hardly different between the races? Or how racial composition of juries affects convictions of suspects depending on suspect's race?