Okay, this is...strange:
MERRILLVILLE, Ind. -- Officials have banned pink clothing for the remainder of the school year out of concerns that the color has become associated with gang activity. Administrators last week told students at the city's high school and two middle schools to avoid wearing pink clothing or accessories, said Michael Berta, associate superintendent in the Northwestern Indiana district.
"There is no evidence of gang activity. But because of the growing use of the color pink we decided to be proactive. Girls and boys are supposed to avoid wearing pink," Berta said Monday.
None of the district's 6,500 students have been disciplined for wearing pink, he said. Berta said the issue came up at a recent administrator's meeting when a principal remarked that there were more students wearing pink. "Not only were there more kids wearing pink T-shirts and pink hats, but also pink shoelaces, which was unusual," he said.
Does it make sense to be this "proactive" for something there's been absolutely no sign of, especially when the color is so fashionable among non-gangsters? Since when did gangs decide to co-opt a color that's so....fruity? And if I were a student at this school, my response would be that they'd have to pry my Coach bag from my cold, dead hands. And my pink Doc Martens, too.
Update: ZeroIntelligence has more, much more:
Gang activity? Gangs wearing pink? Does this actually happen outside of an 1980's Michael Jackson video?
Hee hee hee.
Update: Don't miss Protein Wisdom's comments:
C'mon. What kind of self-respecting band of marauding punk thugs would make pink their gang color? The 6th Street Birthday Cakes? The Highland Park Bubble Gum Chewers? The East Side Pepto Bismallers...? Can you even pull a gun out of a pair of pink pants without eliciting a chuckle and a ten-gallon bitchslap? I should think gang members would prefer "menacing" to "he looks like he's a very good dancer."
Posted by kswygert at March 31, 2004 02:50 PM