Rosaries, a Latino Gang Symbol or Discrimination?
Latino Students in Idaho have reported discriminatory practices within the school district. These specific practices target Latino students by punishing against the usage of outfits consisting of cultural and ethnic symbols that have been labeled as “gang-related symbols' '. This is specifically being seen in Caldwell and Nampa school districts.
Among the so called “Gang Related Symbols” are Catholic rosaries, Brown lives matter shirts etc-, Black aztec eagle known as La Huelga Bird (united farmer workers symbols used by civil rights leaders such as Cesar Chavez) and various other punishable apparel such as wearing clothing colors that are blue or red and even popular sports team apparel such as the LA Dodgers or Boston Red Sox.
Many Latino students have come out to say they have faced discrimination and have been continuously accused solely based on their racial identity. Many have come to say that they are punished for wearing specific things other students commonly wear without issue. This unnecessary dress code not only stereotypes a large margin for students, but they have also been interrogated, suspended and has created a hostile environment for various students.
One of the biggest issues with this is that parents of Latino students might find it difficult to speak up for their children due to language differences leading to a big discrepancy in missed class time and educational opportunities. Enforcing these specific school policies fosters a culture in which latinos students are disproportionately disciplined.
Many latino students have begun to hold protest in response to the schools discriminatory practice even getting the attention of local news stations to cover the issue.
Wow! This is still an issue. I grew up in South Florida in the 1990's and gangs were so prevalent that we had to take classes to learn how to identify gang members based on their clothing and jewelry. And not surprisingly, Rosaries were an item of choice even then. What I would be interested to find out is if the Rosaries in Idaho are color coded like those in South Florida were. Each level in a gang had certain colors associated with it, like new members only wore white rosaries and someone of a higher status in the gang had gold beads in various patterns. I went to a Catholic high school and we had a lot of Puerto Rican, Cuban, and South American. Students were pulled aside all the time for wearing their Rosaries because of the issues in the area, but it wasn't just the Latino students. There were numerous lawsuits over the issue from Florida and New York if memory serves.
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