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Boys Say '305' Hand Signs Referenced Rapper Pit Bull
MIAMI SPRINGS, Fla. -- Six days before graduation, three South Florida high school students have been suspended after school officials said they made what could be interpreted as gang signs in a yearbook picture.
Miami Springs Senior High School senior Jean Morales, his brother, sophomore Adrian Morales, and another student were suspended after the three used hand signals to make the number 305 in the varsity baseball picture published in their school's sports yearbook.
The three students said the hand signals were meant to show their love of rap music, not to incite gang violence.
School officials saw the hand gestures as a gang sign and suspended the three students.
"It is something that I think everyone, including them, acknowledges could be associated with, you know, sort of threatening gang intimidating kind of activity, and we need to get to the bottom of it," said Joseph Garcia, of the Miami-Dade School District.
The three students said that is not true. They are fans of local Cuban rapper Pit Bull, who uses the number 305 to depict Miami-Dade County. It is also the date of Pit Bull's son's birth.
"They sell hats (with 305 on them). My brothers have hats. We buy posters with 305 on it, shirts with 305 on it. It has nothing to do with a gang," Jean Morales said.
On Tuesday morning, the three students and Pit Bull were invited to radio station Soul 95 to make their case.
The three said that they are hard-working students -- Jean Morales has a GPA of 3.7 -- who love baseball, not trouble.
"(Pit Bull) has the whole of South Florida doing it, but them we get in trouble for it at school," Jean Morales said.
"I don't want them to get fired or anything. I just want an apology because I'm not a gangster ... I go to school. I do my thing to play baseball. That's what I love," Adrian Morales said.
School officials said the principal will meet with the students and their parents Wednesday morning. The principal will decide whether the suspension stands.
Boys Say '305' Hand Signs Referenced Rapper Pit Bull
MIAMI SPRINGS, Fla. -- Six days before graduation, three South Florida high school students have been suspended after school officials said they made what could be interpreted as gang signs in a yearbook picture.
Miami Springs Senior High School senior Jean Morales, his brother, sophomore Adrian Morales, and another student were suspended after the three used hand signals to make the number 305 in the varsity baseball picture published in their school's sports yearbook.
The three students said the hand signals were meant to show their love of rap music, not to incite gang violence.
School officials saw the hand gestures as a gang sign and suspended the three students.
"It is something that I think everyone, including them, acknowledges could be associated with, you know, sort of threatening gang intimidating kind of activity, and we need to get to the bottom of it," said Joseph Garcia, of the Miami-Dade School District.
The three students said that is not true. They are fans of local Cuban rapper Pit Bull, who uses the number 305 to depict Miami-Dade County. It is also the date of Pit Bull's son's birth.
"They sell hats (with 305 on them). My brothers have hats. We buy posters with 305 on it, shirts with 305 on it. It has nothing to do with a gang," Jean Morales said.
On Tuesday morning, the three students and Pit Bull were invited to radio station Soul 95 to make their case.
The three said that they are hard-working students -- Jean Morales has a GPA of 3.7 -- who love baseball, not trouble.
"(Pit Bull) has the whole of South Florida doing it, but them we get in trouble for it at school," Jean Morales said.
"I don't want them to get fired or anything. I just want an apology because I'm not a gangster ... I go to school. I do my thing to play baseball. That's what I love," Adrian Morales said.
School officials said the principal will meet with the students and their parents Wednesday morning. The principal will decide whether the suspension stands.
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