Newsday.com

Parents: Yanks should axe gang caps

 

By David Freedlander, amNewYork Staff Writer

 

dfreedlander@am-ny.com

 

August 24, 2007

 

A group of concerned East Harlem parents are calling on the New York Yankees and Major League Baseball to stop selling hats from a cap manufacturer that adds gang colors and symbols to some of their wares.

 

The hats, festooned with a crown above the "NY" or with a red or blue bandannas stitched in, are well-known short-hand signs for street gangs such as the Latin Kings, the Crips, and the Bloods, according to the Johnny Rivera, president of the Coalition to Protect Our Children, which is leading the fight.

 

"These corporations are capitalizing on known friction within communities of color," Rivera said.

 

"Any 11-year-old could buy one of these and get jumped if they walk in the wrong neighborhood because they don't know the signs."

 

New Era Cap Co., the maker of the hats, and the New York Yankees, did not respond to repeated requests for comment, but a spokesperson for Major League Baseball said: "Major League Baseball was not previously aware of the symbolism of the cap design and, of course, is very concerned about the issue."

 

The group is also calling on area retailers to pull the hats from their shelves, but so far only one, Tom Dick and Harry's, a sneaker store on Third Avenue, has done so.

 

The manager of the store, Isaiah Hill, said a friend of his was jumped after wearing one of the bandanna hats in the wrong neighborhood in East New York.

 

"I don't think kids should get beat up because of a hat," he said.

 

Gang prevention experts said the caps could trigger a dangerous reaction.

 

"A lot of times a young person not in a gang will wear one of these items because they like the way they look and people who are gang members respond and react as if the kid is in fact in a gang," said Lisa Taylor-Austin, an area counselor.

 

Alex Alonso, the creator of Web resource streetgangs.com, questioned why manufactures would make the caps.

 

"They are not being responsible," he said. "They know the audience and they know who is going to buy it. They are making far too much money to do something like that."

 

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/..._rail_headlines

Thug life!

w.e kids do everything against the law anyways. If the law can't stop people from smoking weed and doing drugs, then they can't stop them from wearing what they want. New ERA just wants to make money, let the idiots buy the stupid hats.

Anyone who buys a hat that ugly SHOULD be jumped.

Anyone who buys a hat that ugly SHOULD be jumped.

:lol

 

Yeah, I'm with you there.

LMFAO eww.. i gotta agree with u guys on that.

the black one is tits

New Era should know better

New Era should know better

Agreed, I doubt these hats last another two weeks on shelves. At which point they become a collectors item. Thumbs up to New Era

Damn those things are ugly!

They have also already been pulled from shelves.

 

 

Way to post a story that is irrevelant at this point though.

 

 

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Gang_Caps.html

 

 

NEW YORK -- A lineup of team logo baseball caps denounced as tailor-made for gang members was ordered removed from store shelves by its manufacturer Friday after complaints from baseball officials.

 

"It has been brought to our attention that some combinations of icons and colors on a select number of our caps could be too closely perceived to be in association with gangs," said Christopher H. Koch, CEO of New Era Cap. "In response, we, along with Major League Baseball, have pulled those caps."

 

The three styles in question used colors and symbols linked to three gangs: an all-white cap with a blue bandanna, the trademark of the notorious Crips; an all-white cap with a red bandanna worn by the rival Bloods; and a black cap with a gold team logo and an embroidered crown, a symbol favored by the Latin Kings.

 

"We encouraged and now fully support the decision of cap manufacturer New Era to pull these caps and any others that feature offensive or concerning symbols," read an MLB statement.

 

The New York Yankees had joined an anti-gang group, Peace on the Street, in denouncing the hats.

 

Both MLB and the Yankees insisted they were unaware of the symbolism in the cap designs, with the New York team noting they were never given a chance to review the new hats until they were already for sale.

 

The team was "completely unaware that caps with gang-related logos and colors had been manufactured with the New York Yankees logo on them," said a Yankees statement. "The New York Yankees oppose any garment that may be associated with gangs or gang-related activity."

 

On Thursday, protesters demonstrated about the new caps outside several Manhattan stores carrying the merchandise. The stores were selling a version of the hats bearing the familiar interlocking "NY" logo of the Yankees.

 

Richard Garcia, a karate instructor who works with Peace on the Street to provide youngsters with alternatives to gangs, said he immediately recognized the hats' colors from his work with former gang members.

 

"My fear was that the wrong kid was going to wear the wrong hat in the wrong neighborhood and get hurt," he said.

 

New Era said it would increase its efforts to ensure it had a better working knowledge of gang symbols, names and locations. The Buffalo-based company has produced hats for Major League Baseball since the 1930s.

 

posted 24 August 2007

 

 

But thanks for alerting us to old news and not posting the appropriate followup story.

http://cgi.ebay.com/YANKEES-NEW-ERA-LATIN-...1QQcmdZViewItem

the latin kings one looks hard

 

 

always thought those other 2 are disgusting.