Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for March 3, 2008 TO WEAR OR NOT TO WEAR

Maybe school officials should give the students a choice...remove the rosary or say the rosary!

First time offenders could be let off with three Hail Mary's and three Our Father's...

Education - A crackdown on the prayer tools brings national attention to Oregon and concerns about rights

ESMERALDA BERMUDEZ

ALBANY -- Never did Jaime Salazar imagine that wearing a rosarylike crucifix to school would provoke a national stir.

But when the 14-year-old and his 16-year-old friend Marco Castro were suspended recently for refusing to remove the religious beads because they were "gang-related," it thrust Oregon into the headlines and has triggered questions over the evolving role of rosaries in religion, fashion and street gangs.

In the latest cultural take of a symbol that's gone from Catholic altars to Britney Spears' bosom, the rosary is blurring the lines of liberty and safety on campus.

Some call the rosary-gang connection a stretch and urge caution. But for educators and public safety officials charged with blocking fluid gang trends, rosaries in the past few years have become one more marker to track suspicious activity.

"It's become part of the look," said Victor Castro, a detective and school resource officer who leads gang awareness training in Hillsboro. "They use it as a reminder of protection."

Salazar and Marco Castro said the necklaces were gifts from their mothers, worn mainly for sentimental reasons and because they liked the way the necklaces look.

Officials at South Albany High School, where Salazar and Castro returned to school last week, said policy prevents them from offering details about the suspensions.

"There's more to the story, but because the boys are minors, we can't talk about it," said Jim Haggart, assistant to the superintendent for the Greater Albany Public School District.

Changing trends

Surrounded by rosaries at The Rosary Shop in McMinnville, shop owner Seth Murray is troubled by the idea of such a sacred symbol associated with gangs.

He said public officials should focus on behavior, not rosaries.

"If someone is engaged in violence, it doesn't matter whether they're wearing a rosary," he said. "You should not seek people out for that reason."

Over the years, the shop owner has grown all too familiar with the changing face of rosaries in contemporary culture. As celebrities such as Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan have taken to donning rosaries on coffee runs, Murray said other Oregon rosary makers began to grumble over the use, calling it inappropriate.

One customer asked Murray to fashion a dark rosary similar to the Dolce & Gabbana one sported by a shirtless David Beckham on the cover of Vanity Fair.

"If somebody would like a rosary, we'll provide it," Murray said, adding that when he sells it, he remains hopeful that the buyer will become curious about God and "it will turn into more."

In Albany, Salazar said he knows exactly what a rosary is, and that's not what he was wearing. It was a baby blue, beaded crucifix, he said, that makes him think of his mother.

Salazar said his problems began Feb. 15 after breakfast when Principal Chris Equinoa asked him to put away the crucifix, which he was wearing as a necklace.

"He told me it was a rosary, and it was gang-related," said Salazar, who now carries the crucifix in his pocket. "I told him 'No, it's not a rosary. It's a necklace and it's Catholic.' "

When Equinoa asked him to go to the office, Salazar said he went home. Later, he received a letter notifying him he was suspended for five days for defiance and gang-related behavior.

Marco Castro did not return calls for comment, but he told the local Albany paper that Equinoa approached him Feb. 14 about his rosary, a white string of beads with a cross and an image of the Virgin Mary. He put it away but wore it the next day, then refused to remove it. He was suspended for three days.

Salazar said he is not a gangster and does not dress like one. Now that he is back in school, the track and field competitor said, he worries he will not be able catch up with schoolwork.

The suspension attracted much attention on television and online, but it is not the first of its kind. A similar case involving two students in New Caney, Texas, who were prohibited from wearing rosaries because they were considered gang-related ended up in a court in 1997. The judge ruled in favor of the boys, calling the school policy vague.

Haggart said the incident in Albany "is not a matter of religion," but about two kids wearing something as a gang symbol.

Changing gang trends leave educators to rely on advice from public safety officials and their own discretion, he said. In this case, school resource officer Ken Fandrem informed the school to be on the lookout for rosaries, a tip he collected in August from Victor Castro in Hillsboro.

"We tell them to look at the whole package," Fandrem said. "Not just one article of clothing. Rosaries was one thing we talked about."

At H.B. Lee Middle School in East Portland in 2006, a school resource officer began taking rosaries from students who would hang them from sagging pants.

Castro takes a more subtle approach with rosaries, striving to be sensitive about cultural and religious traditions.

"I say, 'Do me a favor. Wear it inside your shirt close to your heart. There's a bad element out there that uses it in a different way.' "

David Fidanque, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon says educators should proceed with caution. Their intentions may be valid, but they run the risk of violating students' rights, he said.

"When it comes to restricting any form of expression, school officials have a pretty high bar to cross," he said. "They better have very specific evidence that's more than just a hunch."

Sacred roots

Tradition holds that St. Dominic's devotion for praying the rosary in the 13th century popularized rosaries among Catholics, many of whom were illiterate, said Patrick Gaffney, a Catholic priest and associate professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame.

"It's a way to increase your capacity for meditation, to be more deeply rooted and grow closer to God," he said.

Over time, as priorities in society have shifted, the beads have taken on other meanings, such as a lucky charm, an amulet or an exotic or nostalgic way to honor family or culture. In the 1980s, Madonna played a hand in making the praying tool trendy.

At the Three Monkeys shop on Northwest 23rd Street, rosaries have sold steadily for decades, said store manager Chrese Evans. A collection of about 30 rosaries -- sterling silver, wood, mother of pearl -- are available.

"I'd say most people are wearing it as a fashion statement," Evans said of her customers. "People have gotten more comfortable with it."

Marta Aguirre is not one of those people.

The 33-year-old Catholic keeps her rosaries tucked inside religious books and hanging on her bedroom wall next to images of the Virgin Mary and Jesus.

When her 16-year-old daughter tried a few years ago to wear her rosary to school, Aguirre says she stopped her and said, "No. It's not a necklace. It's sacred. It's to pray, to use -- not to wear."

She watched the news of the Albany students on Spanish television with regret, she said. Though she prevented her daughter from wearing the rosary, she thought it unjust to see kids suspended over it.

"People have the right to wear what they want," Aguirre said, "but they shouldn't use sacred things to do bad things."