Million Hoodies Movement for Justice is a human rights organization founded in the wake of the murder of Trayvon Martin to confront anti-black racism and systemic violence. By fostering the development of the next generation of human rights leaders, we run campaigns to push back against anti-black racism and mass criminalization, and educate our supporters on the critical issues facing our communities and the right to be safe. Over the last couple years, Million Hoodies’ work has continued to expand in breadth and impact. Our accomplishments reflect this growth—from stopping the criminalization of Black youth from wearing hoodies in public spaces to developing a new mobile program to share compelling Black news and supporting a burgeoning network of new leaders in local communities and campuses across the country. Copyright © 2017 Million Hoodies Movement for Justice — Ascension theme by GoDaddyThe ‘Luke Cage’ Showrunner Didn’t Think His Hero’s Hoodie Would Evoke A ‘Bulletproof Trayvon Martin’

During an early episode of Marvel’s Luke Cage on Netflix, the titular hero takes on a building full of bad guys without anything like Iron Man’s armor or Black Widow’s guns. Instead, he dons a set of everyday clothes, rips a car door off its hinges to use as a temporary battering ram, and bludgeons his way through the stronghold’s defenses without taking a single hit or killing a single soul. Oh yeah, he also wears a bullet hole-ridden hoodie throughout the entire sequence. The symbolism of Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker’s costume choice for actor Mike Colter isn’t lost on him, as revealed by a recent interview with Rolling Stone. In fact, he was apparently thinking about The Terminator instead of Trayvon Martin‘s infamous garment when he picked it out: “It’s certainly not a coincidence,” Coker admits when the garment is mentioned. “You know that by doing this, you are saying: A black man in a hoodie is not just a hoodlum, as depicted by the media.

He’s also a hero. But I think I was being a little naive, to be honest, because I hadn’t realized what sort of impact that imagery would have until that first trailer got that reaction. The shot of Mike walking down the hallway as bullets are bouncing off of him — I’m mostly thinking I’m making a funky-ass riff on that scene in The Terminator. Everyone else who’s watching it? They’re thinking of a bulletproof Trayvon Martin first and foremost. It wasn’t until we put things together that we realized how much this would resonate, especially since things have not gotten better. If anything, things have gotten much worse.” Coker goes on to claim he “didn’t have an agenda going in.” Besides, he adds, “the Black Lives Matter movement had not nearly reached the fever pitch that it’s at now” when Luke Cage was in the midst of production. Yet a show about an African-American superhero whose skin is literally powerful enough to repel gunfire can’t be made today without acknowledging Martin’s death — let alone the country’s ongoing police brutality epidemic.

“You can’t be a black superhero show, in an urban setting, without being in touch with what folks are going through,” Coker explains in the interview. How Kevin Gates Went From Underground To Platinum In A Year And Changed The Game In The Process Look For The Star: How Starter Jackets Became The Iconic Clothing Of The Early ’90sbillabong hoodies south africa ‘Dream, Try, Do Good’: The Oral History Of ‘Boy Meets World’shop bán áo hoodie vans How Frank Barsalona Created The Modern Rock Concert And Got Himself Into The Hall Of Famepikachu hoodie from hot topic The Story Behind Gus Fring’s Stunningly Explosive Moment On ‘Breaking Bad’hustlin hoodies

How Toronto’s Boosie Fade Transformed From A Rap DJ Night Into A Digital MovementIt was the hand-me-down from hell: a Kent State University sweatshirt, faded, hole-filled and splattered with red dye — or was that blood? — offered online by Urban Outfitters last weekend for $129.A scandal ensued — and not because of the price tag. carlo's bakery hoodiesKent State, as you may remember (or have read about in history books), was the site of a historic massacre in 1970, when the National Guard shot 13 students, killing four, in the wake of campus political protests (though not all the victims were protesting). gap hoodies lebanonNews of the sweatshirt made its way to Twitter over the weekend, at which point BuzzFeed got a screen grab of the listing and sent it on its viral way.j dilla hoodies

When the commentariat wasn't dreaming up analogously tasteless items — the Trayvon Martin hoodie, the twin towers hologram dress — or bashing Urban Outfitters for exploiting a national tragedy in the pursuit of revenue and hipster cred, it was demanding answers: Who designed this shirt? How did it wend its way though the company's various channels? Was this a cynical marketing ploy or just the result of some clueless young executive thinking that a faded Kent State sweatshirt with red splotches on it represented nothing more than a really cool look?Considering the widespread indignation, it's surprising that more people didn't notice that the shirt was a single, used item, not mass produced with stains and holes. It had probably been floating around for years until an Urban Outfitters buyer spotted it. It was sold on the company's "urban renewal" site, essentially an online flea market. Admittedly, it's impossible to know whether the splotches were there in the first place or put there after the fact.

When I dug up a job listing for an Urban Outfitters "renewal buyer," I noticed that buyers are supposed to "come up with creative ways to reinvent vintage apparel by utilizing dye techniques and applique treatment." Amid the controversy, the company issued a statement saying that the red splotches were merely "discoloration from the original shade of the shirt." And while that does suggest that the splotches are the product of an in-house arts and crafts project, there's still no telling whether the utilizer of those dyeing techniques had enough knowledge of history to know what he or she was doing.To many, it didn't much matter. Urban Outfitters has a long history of selling items that cause publicity-generating opprobrium. And if that really is a deliberate strategy — if one ratty sweatshirt can cause a viral sensation — you have to admit it's pretty effective. Everyone who ranted about the Kent State shirt on social media this week only made that strategy more effective.In the end, though, I suspect the outrage isn't really about this particular of piece of clothing but about current clothing attitudes in general — or at least one of those attitudes, which essentially says, "When I get dressed, I respect my freedom of expression more than I respect those around me."

I'm not singling out any one fashion trend. I'm talking about sartorial choices that draw attention to the wearer while essentially saying that everyone else might as well be invisible. I'm talking about men with their pants hanging practically to their knees and women wearing sweatpants with "kiss my" written on the backside. I'm talking about airline passengers who wear T-shirts bearing curse words and then make a stink when they are asked to cover up the shirt or leave the plane. I'm talking about baby onesies that say, "I'm proof that my mom puts out" (I didn't make that up).I realize our forefathers fought for our freedom to dress as atrociously as we can get away with. But the collective effect of all this messaging is that the line between expressing oneself and provoking others has become blurred. Worse, provoking others is no longer considered rude or aberrant behavior. All day, every day, we are provoked — by clickbait news headlines, by racy billboards, by trashy attire for all ages.