“Brown pride” cultural symbol or gang badge separates Hispanic students and school officials

The video, which has gone viral, exposed a clash between students and school authorities in Idaho over whether the term “brown pride” is a symbol of cultural pride or a sign of gang affiliation.

The video, viewed by more than 1.6 million people on TikTok and later shared on other platforms, shows students at Caldwell High School in Idaho protesting the right to wear culturally significant items of clothing with elements such as the words “brown pride.”

In the video, Hispanic high school student Brenda Hernandez says she was ordered by school authorities to take off her “brown pride” sweatshirt as it could be considered racist and akin to wearing a “white pride” shirt.

Hernandez, Sr., said in a phone interview that the January 17 protest followed an incident in early December. She was in her fifth economics class when she was called to the principal’s office and escorted there by school staff.

Hernandez said she had no reason to suspect that she would be in trouble. She said a staff member informed her that the visit was due to her hoodie.

“He told me, ‘You can’t wear it because it has ‘brown pride’ on it. It’s like wearing a white pride shirt. People might see it as racist,” she said.

Hernandez said the director described the garment as gang-related and she received a dress code violation.

Brenda Hernandez waves the Mexican flag on the day of the protest on January 17.
Brenda Hernandez waves the Mexican flag on the day of the protest on January 17. Contributed by Brenda Hernandez

Caldwell High School’s dress code policy prohibits “wearing, using, wearing or displaying any other gang clothing or apparel, style, jewelry, emblems, badges, symbols, insignia, codes, tattoos, or other things or objects indicative of membership or Gang affiliation is prohibited on any school grounds or at any school sponsored event at any time.”

NBC News contacted Caldwell High School officials and was directed to Caldwell School District Director of Public Affairs Jessica Watts, who responded in an emailed statement: “In making this decision, our research shows that the term ‘brown pride’ is associated with street gangs currently active. in North-west. Therefore, under district policy, students are not allowed to wear gang-related clothing. We understand that some students may be concerned about this Policy.”

Char Jackson, public relations officer for the City of Caldwell, the Caldwell Police Department and the Caldwell Fire Department, said there are two main gangs in the region they deal with – the Norteños and the Sureños.

According to Jackson, Caldwell police found that the Brown Pride Sureños were a subset of the Sureños and that they had become active in about the last two years.

A clothing brand subject to a “stereotype”

Sonny Ligas, director of the Idaho chapter of the League of United Latino Citizens (LULAC), is also the owner of Jefito Hats, the local community brand that created the “Brown Pride” sweatshirt and first opened its doors in 1997.

The store sells hats, clothing and accessories in the Chicano style. The item has become popular with young people and is often worn by students at several high schools.

“It really annoys me when they can create a stereotype, for example, saying that it is associated with a gang,” Ligas said. [stain] culture with its palabras [words] that they don’t know anything about anything?”

Hernandez, who is a model for Jefito Hats, said she wore the same hoodie to school before and never experienced a dress code violation until last month.

Participant in a student protest with a "Brown Pride" banner.
Participant in a student protest with a “Brown Pride” banner.Contributed by Brenda Hernandez

Hernandez said she believes wearing culturally significant clothing is a place of comfort, a way to show her pride. She said that she organized a peaceful protest at the direction of the school principal.

She estimated turnout of 100 students that morning before classes began. They wore rosaries, bandanas and clothing inspired by Hispanic heritage and brown pride, she said, and some students brought Mexican flags. Ligas also participated in the solidarity action.

But Hernandez said tensions escalated after they weren’t allowed to protest by entering the building — something she and the headmaster agreed to earlier, she said — because they might interfere with other classes. The group was taken outside and not allowed to go back inside unless the members had removed their pride-related brown clothing.

Ligas and several students have said they view the school policy as a form of censorship and discrimination.

“Brown Pride” is not about racism; “It’s completely different,” Ligas said. The term is associated with the longstanding Chicano and Mexican-American movement for culture and civil rights.

According to Caldwell School District Spring 2022 data, 62.5% of K-12 students are Hispanic. Over 99% of all enrolled students come from low-income families.

A quarter of Canyon County’s population, including the city of Caldwell, is Hispanic. According to the 2021 Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs report, Hispanics account for 24% of the state’s population growth over the past decade.

Lilly Mainen, a Hispanic freshman at Caldwell High School, said the term “brown pride” is something students should be proud of. Asked if she thought the term could have negative repercussions, she replied, “I knew it could, but no one I’ve ever seen took it negatively.”

Another student, Alexis Childers, said she was suspended for participating in the protests. The school district said it “cannot comment on student discipline.”

Childers, who is white, said students are subject to racial profiling.

“If they’re going to take the rosary because they think they might be connected to a gang, then just like people think some other religious groups are cults, they should also take the cross from every other student,” she said.

“I think it was very peaceful,” Childers said of the protest. “The school is trying to say that all these kids are just gang members. And when you have such a diverse group of kids, you can’t say that every single one of those kids is a gang member.”

NBC News asked local charter school Elevate Academy about its dress code policy after several students said it banned pride-related browns and rosaries. The school did not respond.

Two days after the protest, Caldwell High School was vandalized marked “white power” and a white van was vandalized marked “fucking brown pride”. Local authorities initially said they were investigating a possible hate crime; They later announced that they believed it was “an act of intimidation between two rival Latin American criminal street gangs from Caldwell”.

The Caldwell school authorities’ response to the protest is also a problem, said the students, who said they were mistreated and that their parents and the media did not get the facts from the school.

Content Source

Dallas Press News – Latest News:
Dallas Local News || Fort Worth Local News | Texas State News || Crime and Safety News || National news || Business News || Health News

Related Articles

Back to top button