Hoodie Talk

We can learn a lot from having Dachshunds in our lives.  With our country seemingly at odds with itself over the Trayvon Martin shooting, we found this Dachshund story to be particularly poignant.  Opinion Column by Tom Barton at the Savannah Morning News:

Last week, in the wake of the Trayvon Martin case, I wrote about wearing a hoodie at night while walking my dog and possibly frightening some pedestrians. That prompted an insightful response from Judy Maltenfort.
She said that her mother, a five-foot-tall Jewish lady living in Queens, N.Y., had a dachshund she’d walk every evening when she came home from work. One night, after she got back on the elevator, two very large, dark-skinned men followed her on board. Panicked, her mother stared at the floor until the elevator reached her floor, where she quickly got off.
But the two strangers were right behind her. Then the larger of the two men came around in front of her mother, bent down, picked up the dog and told her that the dog’s nails had not been clipped correctly. Her mother looked up to where the voice came from.
It was Bill Cosby.
The comedian then introduced her to the other man, a New York comedian named Scooey Mitchell, who lived on her mother’s floor.
“They say it takes at least five generations to effect a true change in acceptable cultural habits and standards,” Judy said. “We seem to have a longer road to travel when it comes to the impact of clothing.”