ALBANY, Ore. (AP) – A pair of Albany teenagers suspended for “gang-related behavior” because they were wearing crucifixes say they were only wearing gifts from their mothers. Jaime Salazar, 14, his friend Marco Castro, 16, were suspended from South Albany High School recently after they refused to put away the crucifixes they were wearing around their necks. Salazar said Principal Chris Equinoa saw his necklace and told him to put it away. “I was like, why?” Salazar said. “He says it’s related to gangs.” Salazar said he argued and was sent to the office. Instead, he went home. Later, he received a note saying he had been suspended for five days for “defiance and gang-related behavior.”
Castro, a junior, was suspended for three days after refusing to take off a string of milky rosary beads, with a crucifix and a tiny picture of the Virgin Mary, that he was wearing around his neck. His mother gave it to him, he said. Equinoa said religious items are not banned. But, as principal, he reserves the right to ask a student to remove, or cover up, any item he feels could indicate gang affiliation even a crucifix. Bud Bunce, spokesman for the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Portland, said his office has received no reports of gangs using crucifixes or rosaries to identify themselves.
It appears we have come full-circle.
Reminds me of my idiot principal in Jr. High in the early 80’s. He banned people carrying blue bandannas (who he said were drug buyers) and red bandanas (who he said were drug sellers). So we all went out and bought green bandanas.
I bet the romans saw Jesus and the disciples as a gang
Hey, being an idiot is just another type of diversity. Gotta tolerate them.
So, was Jesus a Crip, Blood, or La Raza?
Maybe they’re from this gang:
http://www.godhatesfags.com/
#4
Jesus was a Blood.
It keeps talking about his Blood all the time in the bible.
Cursor_
So the Pope, Mother Theresa and all those nuns are in a gang huh?
Where do principals like these come from…
So I guess it is true… If Christians bitch about being persecuted long enough, it will become a self-fulfilling prophesy…
Oh well…
The rosary is a symbol for gangs, esp. the one he is wearing in the blue and white colors of MS-13. They are one of the most violent gangs in our country and they use this symbol often and then rely on the religious meaning and their right to religion to wear it. Catholics do not wear rosary beads around their necks.
I taught and worked with many members of MS-13, so I know quite a bit about their symbols and traditions.
Christianity is a violent “gang”. How many millions were killed during the Crusades, Inquisition and Witch Hunts?
I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but I’m a bit anti-religious. Even so, I say let them wear it. If you can’t stand to see it, avert your eyes. It’s really just a big “I’m an idiot” badge anyway.
I have no problem with this ruling as long as the policy is consistant over the whole dress-code.
IMO, schools should have a strict dress code so that subjective judgement never comes into question.
Blue dockers or jeans.
Conservative tops, short sleeve or longer, no cleavage.
No open toe shoes.
No jewelery, hats or accessories at all.
No makeup or orange/blue hair.
School is not about self-expression, its about education and discipline. Think of it as going to a place of work. After school hours, run around naked with your piercings if you want.
“Salazar said he argued and was sent to the office. Instead, he went home.”
So the kid skipped the rest of school instead of going to the office? Get whats coming to him.
I’ve never heard of the rosary being worn as jewelery.
#12 – School is not about self-expression, its about education and discipline.
School is compulsory. Reasonable dress codes to prevent conflict or to ensure safety are reasonable things… but hair color simply isn’t in the school’s oversight.
School isn’t about discipline. I, as the parent am about discipline. As the taxpayer, thus employer of every last government official, including teachers and administrators, school is about giving my kid the tools to succeed in college where the real learning happens. They are not there to pass judgment on my kid’s fashion statements.
My kid is a kid 24/7/365… And he is a kid in a world that is working hard to take being a kid away from harder and faster than ever before. He’s a student, compelled by law, from 7 to 3 just about 9 months out of the year. The school might want to enact a policy banning green hair, but if that conflicts with my kid’s desire to have green hair, then this school has a problem with me.
Schools and parents seem to bitch a lot about real problems (drug use, violence, dropping GPAs) and imaginary problems (hair color, open toe shoes, black trenchcoats). It seems that schools address both real and imaginary problems the same way… by clamping down with tighter restrictions on the students, zero tolerance policies (that always fail), and other lame-ass turn-key micromanagement schemes that reduce the use of judgment and increase the automation of the discipline process.
What is the result? As rules get tighter and discipline gets harsher… the problems, both real and imagined, increase…
Any connection? Very likely, the tighter you turn the screws, the greater the desire to rebel and push back becomes. Kids are several things: young, strong, resilient, creative, and able to see straight through our bullshit.
I’m surely not helping. I taught my kid to never accept another person’s arbitrary bullshit as his own.
#10 –
Not near as many as by atheistic regimes within the last 100 years.
#15, rectagon;
Stop spewing your bullshit and prove that statement.
Rectagon likes to ignore that Hitler and Mussolini were Catholic, and were in cahoots with the Pope.
I’m not saying that Stalin and Mao didn’t kill a lot of people, but a lot of people were and are being killed for religious reasons. See Yugoslavia and the Middle East (alQuaida and the Taliban, Sunnis-Shiites-Kurds)for starters, and Northern Ireland for an older example.
You don’t wear rosary beads. I don’t know anything about it being gang related but someone should tell them that you aren’t supposed to wear those.
#13 & 18
You are correct, you do not wear rosary beads. In fact, what is shown in the picture is not rosary beads. Rosary beads are 5 sets of 10 beads separated by a single bead. The crucifix hangs from a small chain 5 beads.
Maybe he’s hiding behind a religious symbol to show gang affiliation, but what was the principal thinking? Was he trying to make the news or just stupid? As my father always says, dead right is still dead.
Aahh, stupid Principal. The very first clause of the Bill of Rights is
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof :
In this case, the operative is the second half, “ prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. In the short blurb I’ve read, it sure sounds like the Principal screwed the pooch on this one.
BTW, it doesn’t matter what the difference between a rosary and crucifix are. The student held a reasonable belief in an acceptable expression of his faith.
The validity or intelligence behind that faith are beside the point here. He is allowed to wear the symbol PROVIDED it does not interfere with the educational purpose of the school.
This is what happens when you put clueless people in positions of authority!
#10 – A whole heck of a lot less people than those killed by the atheistic communist societies during the 20th century.
Makes me embarrassed to live here in Albany.
It’s all over the news here locally, but I’m a little surprised to find it on DU.
I suppose I shouldn’t be all that surprised since they ran that story about phallic shaped traffic posts in Keizer Oregon a few months back.
Anyway, what I think should have happened, if the school policy does not explicitly forbid it, is to have allowed the student to wear the cross but ask him, with respect, to simply wear it on the inside of his shirt (citing whatever reasonable justification needed.)
That should satisfy all parties. If the student complies, then great, if not, contact the parent and work it out with them. If that does not work, then start considering extreme measures such as suspension.
Everyone wants their schools to be safe, but not at the risk of becoming a Stammlager!
Geez!
—RASTER
“What is the result? As rules get tighter and discipline gets harsher… the problems, both real and imagined, increase…”
Absolutely incorrect. Schools have gotten more passive over the last 20 years with dress policies and we have seen an increase in these issues.
Many of the schools, especially in the past, that have a school uniform policy and more discipline don’t have the problems we are seeing today.
If 10 teens prefer their green hair over a disciplined dress code, it would surprising to me if more then 20% of them will ever get a college degree. A liberal parent probably wouldn’t care as long as their kid stuck it to the man. Give me a break.
Gang violence in schools, metal detectors at the door. It’s no joke. Trying to keep these places safe has got to be a BIG job. I have no doubt that the adults involved are capable of distinguishing a devout catholic boy from a murderous little punk. A school needs to keep rivaling factions from showing their colors to control gang violence in school. Who reads anything else in this is probrably a childless liberal.
I wonder what sort of gang would use The Flying Spaghetti Monster for their symbol? The Raving Pastas?
By definition, you’d have to be sane to join the gang, which would severely limit membership and most members would probably be over 50, so they’d be very dangerous indeed!
#14 – You can’t be a liberal and also believe in parental responsibility (or any other kind of responsibility) – they’re mutually exclusive.
Here is the solution since just about all colors are used by one gang or another blue, red, purple, yellow,…this should be the new dress code:
black shoes/boots
tan slacks
tan shirts
perhaps a red armband
I know that principles have dictatorial power at their school and that sometimes it’s necessary. However, if you ban anything that COULD be gang related kids would have to go to school naked.
I got a crap load of neighbors that wear crucifixes and rosaries, they also use “F” or “MotherFker” for every other word. They sell dope, mostly meth and dress their kids like gangsters. I usually avert my eyes