Here’s a fun fact that many people don’t know: In California, if you’re a Latino male between the ages of 12 and 35, you can’t wear a red shirt. Actually, you can’t wear a blue shirt either. Truth be told, wearing a white shirt can also be dangerous in most cases. I did not know that? Well, it’s the truth.

The high school dropout rate among Latinos is appalling. The percentage of Latinos graduating from high school is easily one of the lowest of any ethnic group, but when you consider the scale, it’s staggering. Latinos make up a huge population in California and other states across our country, so when you say a third of them don’t graduate from high school, you’re talking about a lot of people.

Why?

Well, the other day I was talking to a lawyer about this and I said something like this: “You know, being a Latino kid in California is hard. After the age of 10, you ride your bike to the mall, you walk down the street, you do wrong turn and you have kids asking what you’re claiming.

My lawyer friend is Mexican and remembers growing up in Redwood City, never having to worry about getting shot—ever—as a Latino kid living in the neighborhood. You solved the problems with the cuffs, and the mothers got their children back safely every night, if not a little worse for wear. But in today’s world, you could easily come across a kid with a knife or a gun. If you’re lucky, it’ll be brass knuckles or a roll of quarters. Maybe a lighter if it’s your birthday.

So there you have it, a young Latino man walking down the street, you can’t wear a red, white or blue shirt because it puts a target on your back, and if you happen to annoy someone, chances are you’ll get fisted. it’s probably less than 50/50.

Okay, let’s back up. You’re probably thinking, “Why can’t Latino men wear red, white, and blue?” You probably know the answer, but you don’t know the details, you just know that it has something to do with gangs.

In Northern California, red is the color of norteños. Blue is the color of the southerners. If you are wearing clothing dominated by these colors and you are a Latino youth (mainly Mexican, but there are other Latino gangs as well), you are proclaiming your affiliation with one of these gangs. It’s that easy. Again, you might be thinking, “Surely it’s not that black and white. There have to be places where it’s safe to wear whatever you want.” Well, the short answer is, “No.”

I guess if you’re familiar enough with a certain part of a certain city, you’ll be fine. Maybe if you live in the suburbs where there are no gang problems and you are a Latino male, you could probably get away with it. But make sure you’re deep in the suburbs, and make sure you don’t use those things in the city limits, because then you don’t know what you’re going to get. I know of small peasant towns in the Central Valley where you don’t see Mexican children dressed in red. Others in which you cannot wear blue. In the cities, of course, it is worse. You take a wrong turn in Oakland, Richmond, Hayward, San Jose, and you’re a Latino wearing the wrong color, you’re officially putting your life in danger.

So can I just say this: Isn’t that a trip????

As white people, we don’t think about these kinds of things…well, not all of us. We can wear what we want without fear of being associated with a gang. I bet you’ve never thought twice about wearing a blue shirt, have you? Right now I’m wearing a blue shirt and I’ve been driving around the Bay Area all day. But I’m white, so it doesn’t matter.

Still don’t believe me? Here’s a nice little anecdote. Some years ago some teachers from my district took some Latino children to San Francisco to see the murals in the Mission District. It’s a Latino heritage site and Chicano Pride and things like that. Well, one of his students decided to wear a San Francisco 49ers jersey. You see, there was a no red rule at this high school, but the boy thought that since they were on a field trip, he could wear red that day (yes, not allowing a whole high school of 2500 students to wear a single shred of red). It’s common in California, that’s how bad it is [yes, NO ONE can wear ANY red, an asian kid can’t even wear red shoelaces]). So this Latino student went with his class of 15 to San Francisco.

What happened is predictable. The class crossed an invisible boundary and entered a neighborhood in Sureno. Some southerners began to follow them. The teachers noticed and went into a store. The store owner looked at the student and told him that he needed to take off his shirt. The student did so. And yes, sports jerseys do count, in case you were wondering.

And we’re talking about a kid obviously on a field trip with thirty other students who had ADULTS with him. Imagine if that kid was walking through San Francisco with his friends and they crossed one of these boundaries?

Ok, now you believe me about red and blue, and what about white? Well, this is where it gets subtle. In Oakland, if you wear a white shirt with blue jeans, you’re not a northerner or a southerner, you’re representing another gang called the “Border Brothers.” But BB’s are only located in Oakland; I guess the recession is hurting their expansion efforts. So if you go outside of Oakland and wear a white shirt and blue jeans, you’ll probably be considered a southerner, especially if your skin is on the darker side. Of course, that’s not even 100% correct, because it also depends on the TYPE of jeans you wear. If they’re Ben Davis brand, you’re definitely a Sureno. The Ben Davis brand has found a niche market with the Sureños, and is probably making a small profit in California and Texas. Then there are other subtleties, but I don’t want to go into that too much. Yes, there are the Salvadorans who started out as “18” in Los Angeles and have expanded to Northern California as MS13, and they also wear blue, so you have to factor in ethnicity as well as color. As you can see, it’s complicated.

Ghetto is like a fine wine, and so far we’ve only covered Merlots and Cabernets. In Los Angeles there is much more to talk about and more colors to consider. You can read about many of them by reading your gang history, if you’re interested look it up. None of this is a secret.

But back to my original point. Growing up Latino is not the same as growing up white, as you can see. And I know it could be easy to throw up your hands and yell, “Well, why don’t you stay away from gangs?” Of course, it is never that easy. In many cases, not only can’t you stop wearing these colors, you HAVE to wear them. Here are some fun demographics to consider: In Oakland, Southerners control blocks 1-40, Northerners have 40-60, and the Border Brothers control 60-100. So let’s say, if you grow up there, you’ll probably wear their colors, because it would be harder not to. And this kind of thing isn’t just Oakland. Every city has its carefully drawn maps, it’s like these gangs have very experienced cartographers too.

The lines are even carefully drawn in my school district. All the Sureños go to my school, because it’s too dangerous for them in the other high schools that are controlled by the Norteños. There are more northerners in my city, so the southerners have to unite. In fact, that’s a common interdistrict transfer request that’s guaranteed to be approved, Sureno being. So my school has the biggest fights, because the other schools don’t have the rival gangs. And it gets better. Sureno’s designated kick-it spot is RIGHT OUTSIDE MY DOOR! Like I said before, they actually have to split up to let me in the door most mornings, pretty cool huh?

So when we look at our dropout rates, and you can’t understand why these kids are struggling, maybe that sheds some light on you. Our Latino children grow up in a completely separate world, they know it exists, but many of us don’t. A good friend of mine is a 30-year-old Mexican who lives in Oakland, and he tells me that if he put on a white T-shirt and Ben Davis jeans, and came to my house, he would be approached and questioned without a doubt. .

I’m thirty years old, white, and I think I have some Ben Davis in my bedroom drawer. I know I have a lot of white shirts. But if I decide to use them together, no one will stop by my car and ask me what’s wrong.

So I ask you, when you were 13, did your life depend on informed clothing purchases? Because every day your Latino students redefine what it means to be a smart shopper.