Gang Sign

Nick wrote two excellent posts at his blog

http://ilovefranklinave.blogspot.com/

which is dedicated to Brooklyn New York City in general, and to the Franklin Avenue Street there in particular.

The first post (titled: Whose symbol? Star of David in Crown Heights) mentions

1. R7 inside a Star of David representing African-American gangs founded originally in Chicago (Folks gang) and Los Angeles (Crips gang).

2. Blue (Crips gang) Star of David juxtaposed with a skull

3. Gold six-pointed star and chain representing also African-American gangs.

Nick brings possible reasons for the spread of the use of the six-pointed star by gangs:

1. To honor David Barksdale, the Chicago gang leader who founded the Black Disciples, and who died in 1974. He was Dubbed "King David" by his followers.

2. African-Americans moved into formerly Jewish areas, which had already Stars of David on different locations.

Nick’s second post (titled: Stars over Crown Heights) mentions artist Kerry James Marshall who researched the adoption of the Star of David by gangs, and who added another possible reason for this phenomenon: its usage by Rastafarians.

Note: I previously showed numerous examples of Rastafarian stars on this blog.

Picture is courtesy of Nick

Copyright: Nick 2009

   Here are more examples from Flickr of the star of the Gangster Disciples

 CC picture by "edkohler"

 CC picture by "reallyboring"

CC picture by "hitormis"

Star of David between two Crosses

Picture of a graffiti on a Jerusalem Church door near Zion Gate, which looks to me, like an expression of Jewish religious intolerance.
Copyright: HADI ORR 2009
Thanks to Dobush from Kfar Aza for referring me to HADI ORR