× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

Rival gang members Travis Bennett and Markail Channel were about to fight each other in high school five years ago. But then their Millard South High School principal sat them down and had them talk out their differences — conflict resolution using dialogue.

It’s a tactic Omaha police officers wish gang members would use instead of guns and violence.

Now, Bennett and Channel call themselves brothers, and on Friday they decided to show off their friendship at the Black Lives Matter protest with red and blue bandannas tied together as a sign of harmony.

Bennett, a former Bloods gang member, held the red bandanna. Channel, a former Crips gang member, held the blue.

Multiple photos of the two emerged on social media — one has received more than 24,000 likes and has been shared more than 32,000 times.

“We did not think we were going to get so much love like that,” Bennett, 21, said of the viral online attention the photos have received. “We’re tired of all the violence. There’s two things that come with that (gang) lifestyle: prison or the grave.”