…and it wasn’t for St. Patrick’s Day, either.
My wife works at an affluent high school that “buses in” students from one of the most gang-infested cities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Many of those students wear gang colors — typically red and blue.
Last week, my wife noticed something new and thought to ask about it. She wrote:
“Is it me or have others noticed that students are no longer wearing
“red” but “green” these days?? Maybe in the past you didn’t notice but
now that you’ve read this email you’ll see what I am talking about…”
Is it a new gang? Have the existing gangs become environmentally conscious? Has Greenpeace or the Green Party started a more aggressive recruiting drive?
The answers, plus the entertaining cluelessness of the school staff, are below the fold….
The answers varied, but a number of folks “in the know” pointed out that wearing green means the students come from the “Gardens” area in [gang city] — with “gardens” related to floral-themed street names in the area.
Some of the more interesting actual responses she received are below. I find them a fascinating window into the thinking of some California high-school adult staffers faced with gang culture.
“The students who live in the “G” (G-Town / the Gardens) in [gang city] wear
green. It’ s not so much a gang or drug thing. Just the students
representing where they live. Like Blue for the “Vill (Village) Red for
“the Mid” (Mid-Town) and so on.”
“I just came from a Gang awareness Seminar at the CABS (California
Bilingual Education) conference and the presenter of the seminar seemed
to insinuate that green was linked to drug dealing in the gang culture.
I am not sure of the validity of this because the colors change
occasionally, nor do I think that every student who wears gang colors
is in a gang. Sometimes they are just trying to fit in. This, however,
is dangerous if a rival takes them seriously and I have heard personal
accounts from my students about this. I don’t understand the gang
culture at all but I am sure that is because I am reasonably
well-educated, gainfully employed, and married. It is hard for me to
relate to what our students go through every day. I feel really out of
touch most of the time.”
“I am one person who would support more faculty education on this
matter because I just don’t get it and I want to learn more.”
“I will suggest to admin to address this issue. Green definitely is an
identifier and often means the students come from the “Gardens” in [gang city] (gardens referring to street names.)”
“St. Patty’s??????”
“Let’s just assume it’s for environmental green, so we don’t have to
ban that too!”
“it’s almost St Patrick’s Day !!!!!!!!!!! Of course they’re wearing the
green !!”