In the wake of the Trayvon Martin tragedy, I decided to show my solidarity with his family by wearing my black hoodie and a black beanie cap to the English class I teach at a high school on the East Side of San Jose. The day was cold and windy, appropriate for such attire. As I walked into class, a student wearing almost exactly what I was wearing (black hoodie, sagging pants) says, "Damn, Felipe, you look like you're going to rob somebody!"
If this young man pictured me as a criminal, despite the fact that I had been his teacher for several months, then how does society see me and others that look like me? How can we as a society change our preconceived views of the criminal black/brown man that have been so embedded in our psyche that on first sight we are criminalized?
These assumptions of the criminal in a hoodie have permeated society so deeply that schools in the East Side Unified High School District have adopted a strict dress code. Children are no longer allowed to wear "gang colors" (red, blue, gray, even pink!), and some schools have banned hoodies, too.
School officials maintain that dress codes are for the protection of the students and staff. I disagree; I say it is another form of the hypercriminalization of people of color, and another piece of the school-to-prison pipeline that has turned