The 'Hoodie Experiment'

By Deric Muhammad -Guest Columnist- | Last updated: Mar 21, 2012 - 4:48:04 PM

(FinalCall.com) - If Jesus came back to save the world how would he be received if he chose to show up in a “hoodie?” If the “cover of darkness” that he decided to come under were a Black fleece hooded sweatshirt and he arbitrarily walked in and sat on the back row of the church, synagogue or the mosque, how would we respond? These are questions that swim around in my head every winter when I pull my hoodies out and decide that I don’t want my bald head to freeze over. There is something about a young, Black male in a hoodie that makes everyone want to double check to make sure their doors are locked when in reality some of us are just trying to keep our ears warm.

As a member of the Nation of Islam, I was trained to wear a suit practically every day. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad dressed his followers in business attire, because he wanted to prepare us to meet with the business people of the entire world. He also taught us that “opposites attract”; that we should not go among our people offering what we have been taught looking exactly as they do. These are profound lessons that every Black man in America can benefit from.

When I am “dressed up” in a custom suit I am usually treated with some form of distinction. White people can’t help but at some point ask “excuse me, sir, you look so sharp and well-spoken, what do you do?” That’s their way of saying with political correctness, “you don’t look like the rest of the nigg**s.”

When I am “dressed up” in a custom suit, I am usually treated with some form of distinction. White people can’t help but at some point ask “excuse me, sir, you look so sharp and well-spoken, what do you do?” That’s their way of saying with political correctness, “you don’t look like the rest of the nigg**s.” If I am recognized for my activist role in the community, I am sometimes treated with some form of honor. However, when I am “dressed down” in my jeans, sneakers and my “hoodie,” I get the opportunity to see how young Black males are treated for real. People double-lock their doors, clutch their pocketbooks, decide to wait for “the next elevator” and can be generally rude. It’s a more profound experience when you change from your three-piece suit to your hoodie on the same day. It’s as if the world becomes a different place. And while I recognize the power of presentation and how wearing a suit and tie can afford you some visible advantages, I also recognize that not every brother has a suit or tie and I am more concerned about the way my people are treated “dressed down” than the way I am treated “dressed up.”

I know what some of you are thinking. Some of you are thinking this treatment is justified, because “these youngsters just need to pull up their pants.” I agree, in part. Walking around with your boxer stains on display is not the way to earn respect. But, the truth is we feel this way because the Black male image has been hijacked, repackaged and villainized by the mass media. When we see a Black male wearing a hoodie, we automatically think of “O-Dog” from the movie “Menace to Society” shooting the owner of a convenience store because he said something about his mother.

We don’t look at the man in the hoodie and think “Wow, I wonder if that’s Brother Deric under there.” The reality is, it just might be.

And a more important reality is that the biggest thieves, murderers and robbers in the country wear suits, not hoodies. You should be even more afraid when you see them coming.

As a young student of revolution, I studied the life of the late-great Libyan leader Col. Maummar Ghadafi. An unforgettable story is told about his early days as the leader of the country when he was about 28 or 29 years of age. He used to slip away from his security, dress up in disguise and disappear into the streets among the homeless, destitute, poor and hopeless people of Libya. He, the president and leader of a nation, used to live on the streets for weeks at time. He was trying to better connect himself to their experience so that he could make effective decisions for them. This afforded him the opportunity to see firsthand what their needs were. It better equipped him to be able to serve them which, despite what is written about him negatively, he did. Ghadafi was willing to put himself in the shoes of the least, the last and the lost in order to see what his people were suffering at the moment. I found this to be a very powerful tool.

There are various ways for leadership to do this. Pastors and ministers should go to great lengths to find out how common people are treated when they enter the doors of their churches. A church, mosque or synagogue who treats the least member the same way the pastor or minister is treated is one that God would be pleased with. Leaders should call anonymously to their own organizations and get a feel for how common, everyday people are treated. News reporters should just go and anonymously stand in a line to recieve “food stamp” assistance and see how mothers who may have hit a tough time in life are treated. What a story that would make! We live in a society that doesn’t give a damn how common people are treated, because people in leadership are too busy worried about how they, themselves, are treated. It is the culture of a society that was built on slave labor; only I am not simply speaking of the way Whites treat Black people, I am speaking of the way we treat one another. If you have lost your compassion for the way everyday people are treated, then your leadership will be short-lived. God is turning the page as we speak.

Jesus set the standard for nearness to him by saying that the mistreatment of “the least of these, my brethren” represented the mistreatment and neglect of Jesus himself, (Matthew 25:40). Go and read it for yourself.

Leadership is only as good as the treatment afforded to the least of those that they are supposed to be serving.

If every Black male in a hoodie were unintelligent then Jay-Z wouldn’t be a multi-millionaire. If every man in a suit were to be trusted then Bernie Madoff wouldn’t have become a multi-billionaire scheming hard-working families out of millions of dollars.

More crimes are committed in Brooks Brothers suits than in Roc-a-wear hoodies.

I’m simply saying, be careful not to base your opinions of others on the images you see on TV. Jesus might just decide to make his return wearing a hoodie just to see how we treat “the least of these our brethren.”

I encourage all professionals, preachers, parents, politicians, leaders and others to take the “Hoodie Experiment.”

Just put on a hoodie one day and get a glimpse of how our young people are treated. If you choose not to do that, just find a way to put yourself directly in the shoes of the people you are supposed to serve. When you see how they are treated it may give you some insight into why they act the way they act. Most of you think you know their experience, but you really don’t. Truth is, no individual can rise above the condition of his or her people. So even, if you wear a suit most days like me, or President Obama (ahem!), at some point, society will remind you of this.

Our president is a well-dressed world leader, but considering the way he is treated by a certain demographic in America, he may as well wear a hoodie every day.

Learn to look beneath the hoodie and beyond the cuff links. For, if we are unwilling to look beyond the surface we will never be able to find the substance. And we need the substance in order to survive.

(Deric Muhammad is a Houston-based Activist/Organizer in the Ministry of Justice. Visit his website at www.dericmuhammad.com.)

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