It's also laughable that 'hoodie profiling' is now being distinguished from racial profiling. They are bound up intimately. The meme has always been that no one thinks anything of a young white man in a hoodie.
I was getting the impression that Parks was arguing the defense case, that the suspicion Zimmerman had was based on objectively reasonable factors. He didn't come right out and say that, but he also didn't say that "hoodie suspicion" was a bad thing. He brought up walking in the rain, for example.
The press, earlier yesterday, seemed to be caught off-guard at Parks "this is absolutely not a race case" stance; and Parks was about as clear as can be that he meant it (at least for now), this case has no racial component at all. O'Mara was proved correct, and Nelson incorrect, that "profile = racially profile." The press has that equivalence firmly implanted. If there is profiling, then there is a race component. If there is suspicion without a race component, then it is not profiling.
At any rate, no argument from me that hoodie was similarly associated with racism in this case. Just adding another two cents worth of thoughts. With Parks specifically denouncing the racism angle, it seems to me that a tipping point has been reached. He's going to have more tamp-down effect than O'Mara could possibly have. Maybe Sharpton and Jackson can come to town and contribute to unwinding the unjustified tension.
