Trayvon Martin’s death has put spotlight on perceptions about hoodies

“Did you see what he was wearing?” asked the voice.

“A dark hoodie, like a gray hoodie,” George Zimmerman told the 911 operator moments before he shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, whom he described as “real suspicious.”

Gallery

Trayvon Martin’s death has sparked widespread interest (and debate) about the perceptions surrounding hoodies and those who wear them.

Video

President Obama spoke on the Trayvon Martin shooting briefly while announcing his nomination for the new head of the World Bank.

Out of tragedy, the utilitarian hooded sweatshirt, which first gained popularity in the 1930s as a practical pullover for workingmen, has emerged as a Rorschach test of racial perceptions.

On Sunday, many preachers and their congregations attended services wearing hoodies in a show of solidarity with the slain teen.

On Friday, LeBron James of the Miami Heat tweeted a photo of the basketball team, wearing hoodies and with heads bowed, alongside the hashtag “WeWantJustice.”

The same day, Fox News commentator Geraldo Rivera ignited widespread criticism for saying on the “Fox & Friends” morning show that “The hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was.” He continued his assault on “The O’Reilly Factor,” warning parents of black and Hispanic youths not to allow their sons to wear hooded sweatshirts.

“Who else wears hoodies?” he asked. “Everybody that ever stuck up a convenience store; D.B. Cooper, the guy that hijacked a plane; Ted Kaczynski the Unabomber.”

And Daniel Maree, 24, who spearheaded Wednesday’s“Million Hoodie March” in New York — which was followed by rallies in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Detroit and Washington — said he wanted to draw attention not just to Martin’s death, but to the hoodie and all it represents.

“I’ve had experiences where I’ve been walking down the street in New York, and as an African American man in a hoodie, I can tell you it’s seen as in­cred­ibly suspicious,” said Maree, a digital strategist in New York. “Some people hold their purses a little tighter. When I heard Trayvon was wearing a hoodie, I thought, ‘I’ve felt this before.’ ”

So how did this ubiquitous garment — worn by college students and soccer moms, skateboarders and kids on the street — come to be associated with sinister activity?

“Most pieces of material culture have symbolic qualities associated with them,” said Darnell Hunt, professor of sociology and director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA. “The hoodie is a pretty generic piece of clothing, but because of the contexts and the groups it’s associated with, it took on different meanings. Just like sagging pants, it was a macho, street-swagger symbol of hip-hop culture, even though it originated in medieval Europe.”

A history of the hoodie

Hoods were worn by monks and scholars in the Middle Ages. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has a child’s hooded tunic that dates back to the seventh century. Dante Alighieri, the 14th-century Florentine poet who wrote “The Divine Comedy,” is rarely depicted without his hood. In some climates, the hood was used to contain body heat, while in Northern Africa’s Maghreb region, the unisex djellaba, a long robe with a pointed hood, is still worn to protect the wearer from the sand and sun. And it could always be used to conceal the identity of the wearer.