Signs, signs, everywhere signs
J. Kevin Tumlinson

This morning I was confronted with a gang sign. Actually, I had no idea it was a gang sign, and neither did the student who was wearing it. But one of the administrators for our campus knew it. Or suspected it was, I'm not quite sure, looking back. The ensuing event caused me to wonder, though. If it was a gang sign (and I'm not saying it was), WHY was it a gang sign?

The image was this: Two clown masks, one smiling and one sad. Above and below was the phrase "Good days, bad days."

Traditionally, the image of the two clown masks, smiling and frowning, has been a symbol of the theater. I remember seeing it on the front of nearly every single program ever handed out at our high school plays. When did it become a gang sign?

It's likely that gang members have filched it, using it in some twisted but ironic street graffiti. So what? Thespians had it first. It has meant something else for decades, maybe centuries. The student in question got the shirt from his brother, and had no clue that it might be gang related. So why would it possibly matter if some gang member thought it was cool and painted it on a wall?

Recently Target took a line of clothing from its shelves because it was allegedly linked to Adolph Hitler. The decision to remove the line was made based on a customer complaint and rumors about the use of the symbol "88" on the product. The number 8 corresponds with the letter H in the alphabet, and apparently a white supremacist group has adopted it as their clever little symbol for "Heil Hitler." Hoorah for them.

I didn't know that. The collective body of Target's international chain of retail stores didn't know that. In fact, it seems that all but one customer out of the collective whole of everyone who has shopped at Target was completely unaware of it. So, I ask you, does it really matter?

We are the ones who give a symbol power. When we allow it to be used as a symbol for hate or violence, it isn't the gangs but US that give the symbol power. If I wear a red shirt every day for the rest of my life, am I a gang member or just fashion challenged?

I think we're on the road to becoming a society that wears the Star Trek uni-smock. Plain, gray, and completely functional, but there's no expression, no originality. No thanks. I'll stick with my red shirts and plaid pants.

Ok, I'm just kidding about the red shirts.

J. Kevin Tumlinson is a writer and a schoolteacher living in Lake Jackson, TX. All signs point to "yes."..