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"