2 brothers suspended for flashing "peace" sign, police officers waited for them at school

[The Straight Story]

2 brothers suspended for flashing "peace" sign

Associated Press - September 1, 2009 1:35 PM ET

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Two Albuquerque brothers are suspended from school after officials said they flashed gang signs during a football game last Friday.

The brothers, Dana and Donavon Delouth, said they were giving their version of the peace sign that looked more like the Texas Longhorn sign that the normal "V."

The Albuquerque Public School District doesn't see it that way and gave the brothers 10-day suspensions from Valley High School.

The brothers said that when they went to school Monday morning school police officers were waiting for them out front.

http://www.newswest9.com/Global/story.asp?S=11027599&nav=menu505_2

I think I will use a sharpie, put a peace sign on my ass, and fax it to them.

[Pangolin2]

1. That wasn't the peace sign, it was a backward 'hook em horns' sign.

Probably used by gangs there.

[rucky]

3. You mean this sign?

A gang symbol?

[Warren Stupidity]

7. Only if your ass is black

[rucky]

8. Valley High is mostly Hispanic

same effect, though. I went to a neighboring school, and the gang problem was blown way out of proportion back then, too.

[Uben]

10. They knew what they were doing......

.....and now they'll have to pay the price for it. Fuckin dumbasses.

[Pangolin2]

13. No, the reverse of it.

(Back of hand away from the signer) Subtle but significant.

[martymar64]

26. Maybe they're Ronnie James Dio fans.

I didn't know it was against the law to be a metalhead.

[Sebastian Doyle]

33. Chimpy's a gang-banger?

damn... and all this time I just thought he worshipped Satan :evilgrin:

[Warren Stupidity]

6. so what?

[Pangolin2]

14. So it obviously pissed off someone.

I assumed that was intuitively obvious to even the untutored casual observer.

[Raineyb]

2. Far be it for me to inject race into this but I'm willing to bet these brothers weren't white.

Because this early in the school year I find it hard to believe they could have done so much that this alleged gang signal was the straw that broke the camels back and schools systems are notorious for having a hell of a lot less patience for the hijinks of children of color.

[Mystayya]

5. gangs are a huge issue in some places.

Flashing gang signs at a football game could cause death or injury. Especially if the schools are from rival areas.

[Raineyb]

11. Except we don't know it's a gang symbol. n/t

[Pangolin2]

16. It doesn't matter if we know it, what does matter is if the gangs do

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s1114674.shtml?cat=516

[Raineyb]

17. It does matter if we know it.

If it's not a gang symbol there's no need to punish the boys. Or is it now SOP to punish anyone who makes a hand signal we may or may not have seen correctly. And it looks just like that other sign pictured in the story with the difference being the color of the hand that's making the sign.

So let me get this straight white student makes a hand gesture = sports fan, black student automatically = gang sign?

:thumbsdown:

I'm so not surprised my initial impression of this story was correct.

[Pangolin2]

22. You weren't being honest in your first post...you knew perfectly well what their ethnicity was

or you would not have called them 'brothers.'

Can you detect the difference between one finger and 2?

You can't possibly honestly claim the gesture was intended to be completely innocuous. Or perhaps you can...some people are willing to excuse any misbehavior if it's performed by (insert name of gratuitously oppressed group...

an example:

[Raineyb]

51. Excuse you but you are the one being disingenuous here. I referred to them as brothers not because I

knew their race but because they are male siblings. Because I unlike you, I actually READ the article. (Which included no pictures so I had no idea what their ethnicity was although I suspected that it was either black or Latino.) So you might want to check your reading comprehension skills next time so you don't sound so fucking ignorant. And I don't know anything about the gesture that would make me assume it was not innocuous. But I know his skin color would certainly do the trick.

[Raineyb]

60. What a surprise no answer when called out on their bullshit.

Figures

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. It is here

[Sanity Claws]

4. Why is that called a peace sign?

It's not. The Texas Longhorn sign is done with the index and pinky fingers. The peace sign is done with the index and middle fingers.
Why isn't it called what it is, a gang sign?
Sounds like the writer wants to equate the peace sign with a gang sign. Ugh!

[TokenQueer]

9. It's not a peace sign nor is it a gang symbol...

... unless there are an inordinate amount Crips and Bloods that are fans of 80s hair bands. :D



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNgZ3a-zng4

On edit: typo :dunce:

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

29. That wasn't the sign though.

[Pangolin2]

15. Exactly. And the longhorn sign is done with the palm facing the recipient.

Some people will excuse any stupid behavior, though.

[Gold Metal Flake]

12. No specific description of the gesture in the story.

All we get is this vague description: "they were giving their version of the peace sign that looked more like the Texas Longhorn sign that the normal "V."" It does not say that it was definately the Hook 'em Horns sign (same as the vendetta/metal sign that Dio started). The bit about it being "their version of the peace sign" sounds like the reporter simply transcribed from the police report what the suspects said. Just a lame excuse or lie from the arrestees after the fact. No real specific description of the gesture. Hell of an article. Another top-notch reporter who can't be bothered with facts when he/she can rush the word "gang' into print. A "news report" with the intellectual weight of over-the-fence gossip.

"APS officials said the students did other things that contributed to their suspension, but declined to elaborate." What, killed kittens? Sold 20 pounds of pot with a street price of seventy million? Made terroristic threats to a judge with strong republican connections? No straight story here.

[blogslut]

18. One of these things is not like the other...

This is Damon Delouth:


http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S1114674.shtml?cat=500">link

These are famous white people:

[Pangolin2]

23. You don't notice the difference in the gesture?

:eyes:

[blogslut]

24. Yes, I noticed the difference in the gesture

Did you notice the difference in the skin tone of the accused?

As for all this "gang sign" hub-bub, I think the fear is overblown. I find it interesting that the school administrators are keeping the young mens supposed other "crimes" secret yet have no problem of accusing them of flashing gang-land hand signals they know nothing about. This is frigging Arizona for chrissake.

The question is, would these young men be in trouble if they had pink skin?

[Pangolin2]

25. The answer to your question is dependent on how the gesture was perceived.

But of course it being Arizona, nobody there has any brains whatsoever, so I'm sure you are right.

[blogslut]

28. Perceived by whom?

I think you're dancing around agreement with me. The "gesture" was perceived as a gang symbol because it was made by brown-skinned young men.

The gesture resembles hand signals for both the Latin Kings and the L.A. Brims. However, it more closely resembles UT's hook-em-horns signal - which is exactly the same as the hand signal for the devil.

Ultimately, the point remains, if these young men were white they wouldn't be in trouble for configuring their hands into anything but the infamous bird or the two-in-the-pink-one-in-the-stink gesture.

I would very much like to know these "super secret other things" they did that school administrators are askeered of revealing in public.

[Pangolin2]

34. Well, not knowing the 'super secret' things certainly didn't dissuade you from excusing them

by playing the race card.

[blogslut]

37. The race card?

I shall not waste any more time on you. You're objectives are obvious.

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Regret My New Name]

19. Peace sign or not, I don't get why would be suspended for a stupid little hand gesture.

I'm guessing if the other things that contributed to their suspension were more serious then they would be sure to make mention of them. :/

[Posteritatis]

21. Or the school could have a colossal stick wedged somewhere

One in my neck of the woods would toss students out over handshakes for awhile, claiming all physical contact was inherently violent.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

30. Stupid little hand gestures routinely get people killed.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

39. Guns don't kill people, hand gestures do?

Talk about stupid and little.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

43. Gang members with illegal firearms kill people flashing another gangs sign. Is that clear enough?

and I agree it is stupid and little to kill people over gang signs.

[Name removed]

46. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Raineyb]

52. And where is your evidence that 1. A gang symbol was flashed

2. These young men belonged to a gang and 3. They were armed?

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

53. I never claimed to have evidence of any of the three.

[proud2BlibKansan]

56. For once, we are in complete agreement

:toast:

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

57. Ahh, common ground.

and to think I was accused of being a Klan member for that comment. :toast:

[proud2BlibKansan]

58. I deal with gangs nearly every day at school

People who don't (like many who are commenting here) just don't understand how dangerous a simple hand signal can be.

We allow no hand signals at school. No doodling on their books or papers either since we found several of them drawing gang graffiti. The graffiti is just as dangerous as the hand signals.

It's not about dress anymore either. So you can't tell by what a kid wears which gang he is with. The kids figured that out about the time we started making them wear uniforms. Yet I can't tell you how often I hear those who don't spend time around gangs talking about how gangs dress differently.

One of my kids came to school last week with a knife wound. He is 13. He arrived the first day with several fresh bruises. He claimed he fell. Same with the knife wound. It was a fall.

This is scary stuff. And it isn't isolated to urban low income areas. I see gang graffiti in the middle class suburban neighborhood where I live.

[Deja Q]

20. Were the palms facing the police, or away from?

(facing = peace. Away from = disparaging insult.)

And anything used as a gang symbol; I don't care. Gangs are not good things. Then again, one gang did swipe mickey mouse from ditzee corporation and ditzee is too afraid to slap a lawsuit on them... but a kindergarten class wants to do a kiddie school play of "The Lion King" and ditzee demands big bucks. Corporate cowards.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

31. Palms facing away from the police and index and pinky used, not index and middle finger.

[Libertas1776]

27. Either they were flashing a gang symbol...

or they were Texas Longhorn fans giving the hook em' horns, superstitious Sicilians warding off evil, heavy metal rockers saluting the devil, or Spider Man spinning a web. :crazy:

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

49. We can rule out all but the Sicilians.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

32. One of the kids said it meant Deuces. What ever that means.

[Pangolin2]

36. Or, douches perhaps?

Whatever... the subtle connotations of these idiotic juvenile hand signals are quite obviously interpreted by those who saw them and chose to take offense. Nowadays whoever bitches the loudest gets the first round.
:shrug:

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

40. Most of the gang crime cops I know are well aware of different gangs hand signals.

In this case, since the kids stories are inconsistent and make no sense, I'll believe the cops.

[cherokeeprogressive]

47. Purely coincidence that there's a 2nd Street less than a mile and a quarter away.

Did I hear someone say Deuces?

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

48. Thanks for the local input.

[BalancedGoat]

50. Deuces means the peace sign.

At least according to Urban Dictionary. But again, the symbol he "flashed" was not the peace sign.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

54. Interesting.

[proud2BlibKansan]

59. Probably a reference to a local gang

[BlooInBloo]

35. I don't get it. The longhorns sign looks nothing like the peace sign.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

41. and they didn't do the longhorns sign.

[BlooInBloo]

45. (shrug) Ok.

[proud2BlibKansan]

44. You left out a pretty important part:

"APS officials said the students did other things that contributed to their suspension, but declined to elaborate."

[Lex]

55. oh yeah, the evil secret stuff

they did :eyes:

Not buying it.