When I was in high school they did some "serious" law changes in Texas and in Arlington, TX. I remember when you're parent's could buy you cigarettes if you were under 18 and you wouldn't get in trouble. Then in August of 1997, they changed the law! Who cares if you're parents bought them for you! You got a "minor in possession charge" and a rap sheet before you're 18. Well then shortly there after, almost simultaneously, they also made it practically illegal for kids to wear similar colored clothing.
Well, my friends and I were part of a group of kids that all wore lots of black, dark make-up, and listened to heavy metal. We hung out on a corner across from our high schools, then would meet up at the "median" at Six Flags. Oh the memories! Well when they made the law change, it stated the following: "any group of 3 or more people, wearing similar colored clothing, with an initiation, are a gang." So apparently we were all in a gang that the Arlington PD called "The Marilyn Manson Freak Family." Not very gangsta if you ask me. So my genius self decides that I'm not satisfied with the name and tell everyone "Hey how about Freak Mafia?" Everyone agreed, so all the junior high kids start writing FM all over everything in permanent marker. That so didn't help us. On top of it all, I had dated the "leader" for an extensive period of time and was considered by APD the leader at my high school. (I ended up finding this all out in 2001 from some cops looking for an ex-boyfriend of mine). Oops!
In 2005 this all came to a head with a cop in North Arlington who would pull me over daily. By that point I no longer dressed "goth" on a regular basis, you know "a time and place" thing. But my car got searched regularly none the less. The lesson here: there may not be one, the cops can be douches!
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