(CNN) -- As I walked the streets of New York the other day, I saw several white youths with hoodies, tattoos and nose rings. Not one time did it enter my mind that they could be skinheads. While walking into the Howard University Hospital in Washington earlier that day, a few African-Americans rocked various types of hoodies. There wasn't a knot in my stomach; I didn't cross the street out of fear, and no, I didn't nervously look around for a cop or two. As a native of Houston, I grew up in a black neighborhood. Went to a black church. Attended mostly black schools. I've seen every kind of black person possible. The drug dealer. The doctor. The bully. The postal worker. The crack addict. The city councilman. And never have I walked in fear of black folks who have given me no reason to be scared.
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Martin: Stereotypes that we have of people can have deadly consequences
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A black youth should not be a target just because he wears a hoodie, Martin says
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Martin says it's time to renew the fight against racism, bigotry and stereotypes
And in the case of @placeholder, end up dead.