Rosaries Are The Newest Gang Symbol

[kujo]

[quote]ALBANY, Ore. — Never did hot stuff Salazar imagine that wearing a rosarylike crucifix to school would provoke a national stir.
But when Salazar, 14, and his 16-year-old friend Marco Castro were suspended recently for refusing to remove the religious beads because they were "gang-related," it thrust the issue into the headlines and has triggered questions over the evolving role of rosaries in religion, fashion and street gangs.

In the latest cultural take on a symbol that has gone from Catholic altars to Britney Spears' bosom, the rosary is blurring the lines of liberty and safety on campus.

Some call the rosary-gang connection a stretch and urge caution. But for educators and public safety officials charged with blocking fluid gang trends, rosaries have become one more marker to track suspicious activity.

"It's become part of the look," said Victor Castro, a detective and school resource officer who leads gang awareness training in Hillsboro, Ore. "They use it as a reminder of protection."

Salazar and Marco Castro said the necklaces were gifts from their mothers, worn mainly for sentimental reasons and because they liked the way the necklaces look.

Officials at South Albany High School said policy prevents them from offering details about the suspensions. "There's more to the story, but because the boys are minors, we can't talk about it," said Jim Haggart, assistant to the local schools superintendent.

Surrounded by rosaries at the Rosary Shop in McMinnville, shop owner Seth Murray is troubled by the idea of such a sacred symbol associated with gangs. He said public officials should focus on behavior, not rosaries.

"If someone is engaged in violence, it doesn't matter whether they're wearing a rosary," he said. "You should not seek people out for that reason."

Over the years, the shop owner has grown all too familiar with the changing face of rosaries in contemporary culture. As celebrities such as Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan have taken to donning rosaries on coffee runs, Murray said other rosary makers began to grumble over the use, calling it inappropriate.

One customer asked Murray to fashion a dark rosary similar to the Dolce & Gabbana one sported by a shirtless David Beckham on the cover of Vanity Fair.

"If somebody would like a rosary, we'll provide it," Murray said, adding that when he sells it, he remains hopeful that the buyer will become curious about God and "it will turn into more."

Salazar said he knows exactly what a rosary is, and that's not what he was wearing. It was a baby blue, beaded crucifix, he said, that makes him think of his mother.

Salazar said his problems began last month when Principal Chris Equinoa asked him to put away the crucifix, which he was wearing as a necklace.

"He told me it was a rosary, and it was gang-related," said Salazar, who now carries the crucifix in his pocket. "I told him 'No, it's not a rosary. It's a necklace and it's Catholic.'"

When Equinoa asked him to go to the office, Salazar said he went home. Later, he received a letter notifying him he was suspended for five days for defiance and gang-related behavior.

His friend, Castro, told the local newspaper that Equinoa approached him the same day about his rosary, a white string of beads with a cross and an image of the Virgin Mary. He put it away but wore it the next day, then refused to remove it. He was suspended for three days.

Salazar said he is not a gangster and does not dress like one. The suspension attracted much attention on television and online, but it is not the first of its kind. A similar case involving two students in New Caney, Texas, who were prohibited from wearing rosaries because they were considered gang-related ended up in a court in 1997. The judge ruled in favor of the boys, calling the school policy vague.

Changing gang trends leave educators to rely on advice from public safety officials and their own discretion, he said. In this case, a school resource officer informed the school to be on the lookout for rosaries.

"We tell them to look at the whole package," said Ken Fandrem, a police officer assigned to the school. "Not just one article of clothing.

But David Fidanque, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, said educators should proceed with caution. Their intentions may be valid, but they run the risk of violating students' rights, he said.

"When it comes to restricting any form of expression, school officials have a pretty high bar to cross," he said. "They better have very specific evidence that's more than just a hunch."

Victor Castro, the detective who tracks gang activity, takes a more subtle approach with rosaries, striving to be sensitive about cultural and religious traditions.

"I say, 'Do me a favor. Wear it inside your shirt close to your heart. There's a bad element out there that uses it in a different way.'"[/quote]

Source: [url="http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-03-16-rosaries-gangs_N.htm"]USA Today[/url]

Does this make you want to vomit or what? It pisses me off to see people wearing rosaries, knowing they're merely for fashion's sake.

[prose]

I hope every school bans wearing rosaries as jewelery.

[StColette]

I don't agree with wearing it as a fashion statement. But if for some reason you wear something without pockets and don't have a purse etc. and you are accustomed to having your rosary with you for devotional purpose I see no harm it having it around your neck or wrist.

I also know of several soldiers who have had rosaries tattooed on themselves because they aren't allowed to have them in their possession in certain places overseas.

Edited May 7, 2008 by StColette

[kujo]

[quote name='prose' post='1521529' date='May 7 2008, 05:58 PM']I hope every school bans wearing rosaries as jewelery.[/quote]

Why? I've worn mine since my first retreat in 9th grade. Love it. I either wear it as a necklace or I wrap it around my wrist, depending on what activity I'm doing.

Is there something *wrong* with wearing your rosary?

[quote name='StColette' post='1521531' date='May 7 2008, 05:59 PM']I don't agree with wearing it as a fashion statement. But if for some reason you wear something without pockets and don't have a purse etc. and you are accustomed to having your rosary with you for devotional purpose I see no harm it having it around your neck or wrist.

I also know of several soldiers who have had rosaries tatooed on themselves because they aren't allowed to have them in their possession in certain places overseas.[/quote]

I have been thinking that, once my financial situation stabilizes, that I will get a rosary tattooed around my neck. I originally wanted to get one tattooed on my wrist, the way I usually wear them...but it wouldn't look good professionally, so a compromise must be made.

[cathoholic_anonymous]

I was always given to understand that the reason why a lot of Catholics don't wear a rosary on show (even if it isn't intended to be jewellery) is because 'wearing' the rosary is considered to be a special privilege of priests and religious, part of the holy habit. I carry my rosary everywhere, so if I have an outfit without pockets, as Jennie noted, I put the rosary round my neck. However, I always make sure that it is under my clothes where it can't be seen. I'm not a nun (yet) and I'm not going to wear my rosary as a sister would wear hers.

[kujo]

[quote name='Cathoholic Anonymous' post='1521559' date='May 7 2008, 06:22 PM']I was always given to understand that the reason why a lot of Catholics don't wear a rosary on show (even if it isn't intended to be jewellery) is because 'wearing' the rosary is considered to be a special privilege of priests and religious, part of the holy habit. I carry my rosary everywhere, so if I have an outfit without pockets, as Jennie noted, I put the rosary round my neck. However, I always make sure that it is under my clothes where it can't be seen. I'm not a nun (yet) and I'm not going to wear my rosary as a sister would wear hers.[/quote]

Well yeah...mine is tucked in, if for no other reason that the fact that I don't want it to get caught on something or lay on my desk during class.

I hate (don't hate, appreciate) to see girls with the cross dangling in their cleavage. Makes me think what Jesus would do...I mean, if He turned tables in the temple...

[Galloglasses]

I broke two rosaries by wearing them. =[

[CatherineM]

My father wore his grandmother's rosary around his neck during the war. I wouldn't have wanted to try to take it off him.

I saw a girl on the bus this week who had a rosary tattooed on the side of her neck starting below her left ear. I just stared at it. She was 16-20 years old. I still don't know what to think about that.

[mommas_boy]

Yeah, I've suspected this ever since I saw one of my kids who told me he was a "pharmacist" wearing them at school a couple of years ago.

I teach in a school on the SW side of Chicago that is roughly 60% Latino. Mind you, it's not a very good gang symbol. Many of the kids that wear them are just devout (one of my students, Carolina, pulled me aside in my public school classroom to show me pictures of her trip to see the pope), others wear it only because it is something of a secularized style (not good, but that's what's happened). The thing that makes a gang symbol is that it identifies the wearer as a member of a gang. But you ask the kids, and they'll tell you that it's really more like the gang bangers just so happen to be wearing them, just like anyone else. They say, "I'm not in a gang, but I wear one".

A similar discussion pops up from time to time with jelly bracelets that supposedly indicate sexual favors a middle school girl is willing to perform. You ask the kids, and they say two things: (1) They're familiar with the stories, but can only give he-said-she-said accounts that are never corroborable and (2) that many of them wear them just because they like how they look.

The question is, how much is it really communicating as a gang symbol, if to the vast majority of the population in question, it doesn't mean that?

[Didacus]

Like Madonna I guess. I never liked her for the message she sends out an the name association she took.

[johnnydigit]

i say flood the streets with Rosaries. then these "officials" can't claim it as gang attire because it's so common. don't let the gangs claim Our Lady's gift to promote violence. flood it with love and peace so the gangsters will think it's too sissy to wear!

if you're not ready for the full on Rosary, try a Rosary-Scapular. and of course, promote and pray the Rosary. "if you're gonna preach it somewhere, you gotta walk it there first!"

[Selah]

I hope they use these...might help them.

[Justin86]

I hate to say this, but Rosaries became very popular in gang culture once the ultra-violent MS-13 gang hit the streets. For some reason while they go around finding random innocent people to rape and kill (they're more like terrorists without a cause), they still claim to believe and God and say the Catholic faith matters to them.

I [i][b]HATE[/i][/b] it when people abuse my faith for their senseless desires.

[Ash Wednesday]

Sad.

[dominicansoul]

Wow. This gives a whole new meaning to what I used to do in the Novitiate at Ann Arbor. I was very fond of calling my fellow sisters, my "cholas!"

...little did we know!!!