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"Cities Cracking Down on Saggy Pants Sep 16, By MATTHEW VERRINDER TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - It's a fashion that started in prison, and now the saggy pants craze has come full circle - low-slung street strutting in some cities may soon mean run-ins with the law, including a stint in jail. Proposals to ban saggy pants are starting to ride up in several places. At the extreme end, wearing pants low enough to show boxers or bare buttocks in one small Louisiana town means six months in jail and a $500 fine. A crackdown also is being pushed in Atlanta. And in Trenton, getting caught with your pants down may soon result in not only a fine, but a city worker assessing where your life is headed. "Are they employed? Do they have a high school diploma? It's a wonderful way to redirect at that point," said Trenton Councilwoman Annette Lartigue, who is drafting a law to outlaw saggy pants. "The message is clear: We don't want to see your backside." The bare-your-britches fashion is believed to have started in prisons, where inmates aren't given belts with their baggy uniform pants to prevent hangings and beatings. By the late 80s, the trend had made it to gangster rap videos, then went on to skateboarders in the suburbs and high school hallways. "For young people, it's a form of rebellion and identity," Adrian "Easy A.D." Harris, 43, a founding member of the Bronx's legendary rap group Cold Crush Brothers. "The young people think it's fashionable. They don't think it's negative." But for those who want to stop them see it as an indecent, sloppy trend that is a bad influence on children. "It has the potential to catch on with elementary school kids, and we want to stop it before it gets there," said C.T. Martin, an Atlanta councilman. "Teachers have raised questions about what a distraction it is." In Atlanta, a law has been introduced to ban sagging and punishment could include small fines or community work - but no jail time, Martin said. The penalty is stiffer in Delcambre, La., where in June the town council passed an ordinance that carries a fine of up to $500 or six months in jail for exposing underwear in public. Several other municipalities and parish governments in Louisiana have enacted similar laws in recent months. At Trenton hip-hop clothing store Razor Sharp Clothing Shop 4 Ballers, shopper Mark Wise, 30, said his jeans sag for practical reasons. "The reason I don't wear tight pants is because it's easier to get money out of my pocket this way," Wise said. "It's just more comfortable." Shop owner Mack Murray said Trenton's proposed ordinance unfairly targets blacks. "Are they going to go after construction workers and plumbers, because their pants sag, too?" Murray asked. "They're stereotyping us." The American Civil Liberties Union agrees. "In Atlanta, we see this as racial profiling," said Benetta Standly, statewide organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. "It's going to target African-American male youths. There's a fear with people associating the way you dress with crimes being committed." "

Have local gov'ts completely run out of excuses to fine people and throw them in jail? Do they not see what would happen if they put people in prison for wearing baggy pants? They'll keep wearing them in prison!!

"Mothers of River City, heed that warning before it's too late! Watch for the telltale signs of corruption! The minute your son leaves the house, does he rebuckle his knickerbockers below the knee? Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger? A dime-novel hidden in the corncrib? Is he starting to memorize jokes from Captain Billy's Whiz-Bang? Are certain words creeping into his conversation? Words like "swell" and "so's your old man"? If so my friends, ya got trouble! "
-- Harold Hill, The Music Man

9/17/2007 10:30:36 AM

?topic=492203

9/17/2007 10:32:59 AM

honestly, it is stupid both ways

but i cant believe that you quoted a fucking musical in the soap box

9/17/2007 11:22:03 AM

Quote :

""It has the potential to catch on with elementary school kids, and we want to stop it before it gets there," said C.T. Martin, an Atlanta councilman. "Teachers have raised questions about what a distraction it is.""

They're about 15 years too late on that one.

9/17/2007 11:22:51 AM

it's not about butt crack its about outlawing signs of a culture they don't like. Stupid as the trend may be if they can somehow enforce laws against it new symbolic trends will appear and they will have to outlaw them too.

9/17/2007 11:38:35 AM

...then only outlaws will have saggy pants. So nothing really changes from what we are seeing now

9/17/2007 11:55:38 AM

[Edited on September 17, 2007 at 12:09 PM. Reason : double post]

9/17/2007 12:08:57 PM

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"...then only outlaws will have saggy pants."

goddammit you beat me to it

9/17/2007 12:09:36 PM

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"Have local gov'ts completely run out of excuses to fine people"

9/17/2007 12:49:14 PM

why dont they just fine thier parents? That would actually encourage them to, you know, parent.

9/17/2007 12:56:04 PM

I am glad in America we are the country of the FREE.
What are they going to crack down on next. What objective standard would be used to decide on whose pants is too far down.

This is such bullshit and another step of our society turning into a fascist nation.
I do not wear my pants saggy but if someone else wants too I do not see why it is any of my business to tell them otherwise as long as their ass isn't hanging out violating any public nudity laws.

9/17/2007 4:14:23 PM

^ lol

what a hypocritical post

bitch about one law but be perfectly ok with another law that is just as much an issue with freedom

the line has to be drawn somewhere and individual communities have the right to do just that

9/17/2007 4:21:32 PM

9/17/2007 4:22:06 PM

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"bitch about one law but be perfectly ok with another law that is just as much an issue with freedom "

There is a difference between wearing you pants low revealing your "undergarments" and someone running down the street with everything exposed to the world.

[Edited on September 17, 2007 at 4:47 PM. Reason : l]

9/17/2007 4:47:17 PM

hey you said it was the country of the free

i should be able to do whatever i want

but you are drawing an arbitrary line

and are bitching at these communities trying to do the same thing

that is pretty much the definition of hypocrite

[Edited on September 17, 2007 at 4:58 PM. Reason : clarity

9/17/2007 4:56:09 PM

I don't think it's all that unreasonable to require people to NOT put their asscrack on display. While in public, you gotta have certain areas covered.

Still, fighting fashion trends is a losing battle. Unless it's a clear-cut case of public indecency, I can't see a law on saggy pants getting passed.

9/17/2007 5:55:32 PM

most times all i see is someone's boxers. big fucking deal.

like i read somewhere else... are we going to charge Plumbers and Carpenters too? I guarantee i've seen way more ass crack from construction and service workers than ive ever seen from wannabe rappers loitering in the mall.

im not a fan of the style, but to make it a criminal offense is stupid and probably a barely-disguised attempt at racial profiling.

9/17/2007 6:04:23 PM

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" probably a barely-disguised attempt at racial profiling. "

probably?

Of course it is.

How wrong that is though is what's open for debate. Plenty of people where baggy clothes, that's not saggy... is there a distinction?

I can't say i've seen that many people actually sagging recently... this law seems like it would have been more applicable to the mid-90s than today.

9/17/2007 6:07:19 PM

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"most times all i see is someone's boxers. big fucking deal. like i read somewhere else... are we going to charge Plumbers and Carpenters too? I guarantee i've seen way more ass crack from construction and service workers than ive ever seen from wannabe rappers loitering in the mall. im not a fan of the style, but to make it a criminal offense is stupid and probably a barely-disguised attempt at racial profiling."

i actually agree 100% with joe on a subject

9/17/2007 6:43:56 PM

Most people I've seen wearing saggy pants also wear long shirts so nothing's exposed.

9/17/2007 8:59:00 PM

I had a police officer tell me he loved it. He said it makes them easier to catch, and they only have one free hand to grab merchandise with..the other to hold up the pants. Made me chuckle, but he has a point.

9/17/2007 9:03:20 PM

HUR and I may disagree on minor details, but on fundamental issues -- like hip hop fashion -- we're tight

9/17/2007 10:44:56 PM

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"I am glad in America we are the country of the FREE."

All good things come to an end.

9/17/2007 11:34:28 PM

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"its about outlawing signs of a culture they don't like."

Spot on.
The older generation has usually been nervous and suspicious regarding youth-fashion and style. Mini-skirts and Beatle haircuts were quite shocking in their day.

The same anti-establishment hippies who wore bell-bottoms and tie-dye shirts are now fearfully trying to pass laws against the younger generation and its fashions.

9/17/2007 11:36:42 PM

How are all the ex-cons supposed to know who's ass wants a fucking on the outside...its hard enough for them to re-adapt?

9/18/2007 12:18:18 AM

^^So when the saggy pants crowd grows up which fashion trends will they be trying to outlaw?

9/18/2007 8:04:48 AM

THEY CARRY GUNS IN THEIR BIG PANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOW WILL WE KNOW!!!!!!!


oh and ive been seeing more and more black people wearing tight fuckin jeans. Its pretty silly.

9/18/2007 8:09:07 AM

OMG WE'RE NOT FREE ANYMORE.

LOLZ.

9/18/2007 8:58:02 AM

I think that they should leave it alone.

If they make baggy pants illegal, it will just be harder to pick out the stupid people while in public.

[Edited on September 18, 2007 at 8:59 AM. Reason : y]

9/18/2007 8:59:14 AM

Quote :

"I had a police officer tell me he loved it. He said it makes them easier to catch, and they only have one free hand to grab merchandise with..the other to hold up the pants. Made me chuckle, but he has a point."

LOLCANO

9/18/2007 11:02:49 AM

if saggy pants are outlawed, then only outlaws will have saggy pants

when criminals know that public could be sagging, it's a deterrent for crime!

9/18/2007 12:12:20 PM