By Debbie Mitchell
Thank you Geraldo for apologizing last weekend to Trayvon Martin's parents, for your now infamous "blame the hoodie" comment where you said “Trayvon Martin’s hoodie killed him as surely as George Zimmerman did,” .
AND thank you Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton for appearing on Geraldo at Large on Fox News Channel to accept his apology. After a very intense week of public outrage over the comment Geraldo had to speak out and "make it right." I wish I was a fly on the wall for the conversation that led you to finally sit down for the interview. I am sure friends, family and strangers probably advised against talking to Geraldo. But you made your own decision. I did not watch the Geraldo at Large interview but felt a sigh of relief when I heard about the apology, it was an important gesture.
With limited time to tell a story producers are always on the lookout for the incredible "money shot" in video and listening for the strongest soundbite that sums up a message, a feeling or a story in only a few seconds. The public and media found it in Geraldo's comment “Trayvon Martin’s hoodie killed him as surely as George Zimmerman did,” . The power of that one soundbite, which Geraldo maintains is an innocent call to action for parents of African American and Latino youth to protect their kids from becoming victims had the potential to change the focus of this national story.
As you know by now, I worked for Geraldo's daytime talk show for 11 years where we received more than our share of criticism. What can I say Geraldo has always been a lightening rod for controversy and I've spent a lot of time answering people's questions about his controversial behavior. First thing people ask is me when they find out about our affiliation is "were you there for the skinheads fight and was it planned?". Yes I was at the studio and no it was not planned.
Well, I stopped working for Geraldo 14 years ago and people still call and ask me about his controversial missteps, including this recent one. I've gotten emails and phone calls from people asking me "What's going on with your old boss and has he lost his mind? What is he thinking sounds like he blames, Travyvon Martin the victim and is taking George Zimmerman's side?
The Geraldo I worked with always stood up for the voiceless and the underdogs . When I watched the tape of Geraldo during this interview I was really surprised at his comments. I thought OMG he's blaming common street fashion for this kid's death, instead of focusing on Zimmerman's racial profiling and killing of an unharmed black teenager. And while the hooded sweatshirt has become clothing of choice for perps caught on tape it does not mean wearing one makes you guilty of a crime. Something I was reminded of yesterday as I walked the streets of Brooklyn, New York and counted the number of you and old men wearing "hoodies".
The Geraldo I worked with was a passionate journalist, a little over the top at times and a devoted parent. So when I read a story in POLITICO where Geraldo said his oldest son Gabriel told him he was ashamed of his words I knew something was wrong. In the POLITICO interview Geraldo says he wrote to his son to explain that he is on a mission “I wrote him, and I’m telling you that my mission is to save kids’ lives in the real world" He also said that he had no intention of taking back what he said. “No I don’t retract a word of it because I’m concerned with saving kids’ lives.”
African American parents all over the country struggle to keep their boys alive in a time when stereotypes of who is "bad" and "dangerous"is played out in the media daily.
I want to believe the message Geraldo hoped to send to parents was just lost in translation. Now that Travyon's parents have accepted Geraldo's apology they can move on and try to find the proper justice for their son's death.
Years ago when I worked for GR, one of his favorite mantra's to get his staff pumped and motivated was to walk around the office yelling at his producers to FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS!!!!
How about if we all make those words the powerful and memorable soundbite around the Travyvon Martin story?
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Excellent point. We all need to focus on what's important in this story and not get distracted by media driven hysteria.
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