Store May Stop Selling Controversial T-Shirts
A vice president of Miller’s Outpost said Thursday that his company would be willing to pull T-shirts off the shelves if they are shown to reflect a gang culture.
Fred Ford, senior vice president for human resources at the company’s headquarters in Ontario, said, “We’re not going to sell apparel aimed at gangs. . . . If it is, we’ll pull it out of the store. We don’t promote gang activity. If 13 is a gang symbol, I’m pulling it today.”
Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Diana Gomez told The Times on Wednesday she planned to draft a letter to Miller’s Outpost after seeing T-shirt images that say, “Mi Vida Loca,” which means, “My Crazy Life,” smoking guns, happy-face skulls and the number 13, symbolizing the letter M, the 13th letter of the alphabet. That letter, she said, is widely recognized as the symbol of La Eme, or the Mexican Mafia.
On Thursday, Gomez and other gang prevention experts welcomed Ford’s statements as a first step.
“That’s good. I’m going to propose if he’s really serious about that, that a police officer and myself go to Miller’s Outpost with him and point out to him what is gang literature,” Gomez said.
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