A hoodie is interpreted differently when it’s worn by a black man.
The comparison was made, among other examples, by Soledad O’Brien Thursday night as part of her Black in America tour.
O’Brien compared the perceptions of the people who wear hoodies, from Trayvon Martin, a black teenager from Florida, when he was shot and killed in February 2012, to the white male featured in the “Greatest Hoodie Ever Made,” a column that appeared in Slate, an online news magazine.
Soledad O’Brien, former host of Starting Point, a CNN morning news show, and CEO of Starfish Media Group, was in Athens on her fourth stop on her five city tour.
“I was really pleased,” O’Brien said of the event. “We’ve had a really successful tour. It’s been really packed in every city we’ve gone to and then people have felt free to stand up (and talk).”
The event, held in Baker University Center Ballroom, lasted about an hour and a half. The first 45 minutes were dedicated to a lecture by O’Brien, who projected clips from her series Black in America and statistics about America’s African American population.
The second half of the show O’Brien devoted to asking and answering questions. She invited panelists on stage, including Arthur Cromwell, associate professor in the School of Media Arts & Studies and two OU students, Seaira Christian-Daniels, a senior studying journalism, and Tessa Scott, a senior studying communication studies.
She first asked them some questions about race on OU’s campus and then all four took questions from the audience.
“There’s a discussion (about race on campus), but it’s not happening as often as it needs to in the context that it needs to,” Christian-Daniels said.
O’Brien said she thought the conversation that took place was very productive.
“It’s never about ‘what is the conversation?’ It’s about ‘was there a conversation that people wanted to have?’ Every place we’ve gone, it could have gone on for another hour,” O’Brien said.
The event was sponsored by the Scripps College of Communication, the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and the School of Communication Studies, the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, the Department of African American Studies, the Office of Multicultural Programs and the Multicultural Center.
“I was really proud of our campus community,” said Scott Titsworth, dean of the Scripps School of Communication. “The turnout was incredible.”
OU representatives estimated that more than 600 attended.
Titsworth said the kinds of questions asked by students, faculty and community members show OU takes the topic of race in America seriously.
“She is an example of the journalist who is making it work in all the new platforms and the traditional platforms so she is a great role model for journalism students in this day and age,” said Robert Stewart, director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.
One student panelist said she hopes OU remembers the conversation.
“Although this was just for today, I hope the conversation continues,” Scott said. “We can’t move forward unless we help each other.”
@Mariadevito13
md781510@ohiou.edu
