But the comments struck a nerve with many young men who see hoodies as a wardrobe staple. They, too, have been victims of the suspicious glares of passersby who clutch their purses tighter or cross the street to avoid contact. The message when they wear hoodies, they said, is “you’re not welcome here.”
“It’s like Trayvon wasn’t a person under the hoodie,” said D’Weston Haywood, 29, a doctoral candidate at Northwestern, where he participated in a rally Wednesday night. “Rivera’s comments really reflect the difference that a hoodie has when it’s on a black or brown body as opposed to a white body.”
