I first learned about the pervasiveness of this gang myth when I lived in Detroit, where do rags are popular among men who absolutely are not in gangs.

Most of my neighbors in Detroit were Black. Many of them wore do rags sometimes, especially if they were getting ready to go out somewhere special later. A good friend of mine was a Black man (one of the very few Black men) who was an associate at a white shoe law firm downtown. He played that role to the best of his ability, including wearing suits that cost more than most people make in in a week, having drinks with the partners even when he didn’t want to, and attending a company picnic or two during the summer.

He showed up at a picnic once wearing a do rag, because it was a humid day, and he didn’t want his hair to get messed up. He had a date later that night.

One of the partners, a white man obviously, pulled him aside and told him to take the gang symbol off his head.

The partner said this to a young Black man with an Ivy League undergraduate, an advanced degree from the Sorbonne, and a law degree from one of the best universities in the United States, a young Black man making well over six figures, who worked at probably the most prestigious law firm in the city of Detroit.

Let me say that again. In the city of Detroit. Where Black people make up an overwhelming majority of the population, and where everybody with a functioning brain knows do rags are not gang signals.