Treated: Teenager Who Created ‘Gang Related’ City Sticker Speaks

Damn, they’ve got this poor kid on ABC 7 crying.

Young Harvey (that’s what we’ll call him) had his winning city sticker design disqualified once word got out that it looked like the hands included on the artwork were throwing up the rakes.

I mean, six pointed stars, and rakes? Yeah I could see how it might confuse some people. They instead gave the sticker design to the runner-up. Treated. Well, #2 is #1 on this one. All I know is that kid is NOT an organization member. Let’s hope this thing doesn’t hit WSHH.

Citing concerns over possible gang symbolism, Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza said Wednesday the city’s next vehicle sticker has been tossed out.

The clerk’s office started getting phone calls Tuesday after an Internet blogger identified the hands drawn on the sticker as symbols flashed by members of a street gang.

The controversial stickers were not printed yet.

Mendoza said the runner-up sticker design, entered by a Resurrection High School student, will be used instead. She said she was shocked by the allegations and, most of all, she hopes they’re not true.

“Unfortunately, whether or not the design was meant to include potential gang symbols, the perception that now exists is that the artwork could be misinterpreted as containing gang related symbols,” Mendoza said.

The winning sticker was designed by 15-year-old Herbie Pulgar who attends a school for troubled youth. He says he is disappointed and is defending his work.

“I feel mad,” Pulgar told ABC7. “I cannot be mad at the world because the world didn’t do nothing to me. I can be proud of myself.”