School Bans Sesame Street Gang T-Shirts
from the AP
BROCKTON, Mass. — Brockton High School has banned T-shirts with Sesame Street characters. But these are no regular pictures of Bert and Ernies.
On some, Oscar the Grouch emerges from his garbage can, wielding a 9 mm handgun. On others, Bert and Ernie are standing in a gang posture, armed with automatic weapons."We were amazed," said the school’s principal, Susan Szachowicz. "You focus on the Sesame Street character. But the more we looked at it, the more we saw the things in it, the guns, the gang stuff."There have only been a few shirts at school, but officials said students are being told to stop to stop wearing them because of the pro-gang message. School officials also said they violate the school dress policy.Last week, Brockton was awarded $685,000 in state anti-gang funding.
