The Moral Maze

Baggy Pants!

By Rhum Runner

The Caribbean is like a sponge when it comes to American culture; television piped directly into the people's home is a major feature of faux Americana. So it may come as no surprise that fashion, in particular hip hop fashion, is also highly popular. This is not without its challenges. Anyone acquainted with minibuses in the Caribbean, will be aware that space on board tends to be limited. I happened to be traveling on minibus when a guy with sagging pants, exposing his boxers, almost made contact with my face. I had to take evasive action and it got me thinking should we ban the bloody thing?

The wearing of low slung sagging pants (trousers) is fast becoming an issue of some concern in several communities across the USA. An increasing number of these communities are planning to ban the wearing of sagging pants which exposes underwear. For example, in Florida there have been several arrests; all of whom were African American males. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0911081baggy1.html

Some view this as further evidence of the criminalization of black urban youth, an infringement of basic human rights and freedom of expression guaranteed by the constitution. There are disputing claims as to the origins of this fashion, it is said the practice is based on prison culture where the degree of sag was indicative of your availability – homosexually that is. This explanation has become quite popular. I am reminded of my father-in-law's warning to his sagging pants wearing grandson on the eve of his departure to attend university,

"Son you should be careful walking about the campus like that, some people might think you're advertising!"

Now if this is the case, it begs the question as to why this should be something that our supposedly homophobic homeboys would want to emulate. I think this is something of an urban myth and more likely that the practice came about as a consequence of ill-fitting prison clothes and belts being withheld because of their use as weapons or a ligature risk in suicides.
Whatever the explanation, it does beg the question, of all institutions where does the attraction for prison chic come from? Since when has prison garb become the latest must have? Call me old fashioned but as a fashion statement as far as I'm concerned it's a major faux pas.

When the introduction of such a ban was muted in Atlanta, Debbie Seagraves, head of the local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said the proposal was, by its nature, discriminatory because it aimed to forbid something that has its roots in black culture. Black culture??? Gimme a break, are we led to believe that the Black presence in America and the thousands of years of African history and culture has been reduced to a fashion statement in which you metaphorically bare your arse! This has nothing to do with Black culture, this explanation is far from convincing, it's simply a feeble post-cultural definition of blackness, since when has exposing your crack been exclusively black!

The idea of banning saggy pants has been endorsed by a number of Black legislators. However, in truth, the issue is not really about fashion. It represents an attempt by the authorities to try to curb the rising criminality and gang violence and to address black underachievement and over-representation within the criminal justice system. As such it simply highlights the paucity of ideas and lack of an effective strategy to deal with black inequality and inequity. The bottom line is that people have their own ideas about how they should live their lives and ultimately it's impossible to legislate against stupidity.

For some commentators, this fashion is seen as an outward manifestation of the excesses of hip hop culture. However, like the music, the fashion has crossed the ethnic and racial divide and is no longer just a supposed ‘black thing.’ It's not gender specific either, as it's adopted by both males and females, and like many things American… its spread worldwide.

Like it or not we have to assume that saggy pants wearers have adopted the style because they deem it fashionable, for some, it may even be that it marks them out as outsiders, gangstas, gang members and gang bangers. The young have always been rebellious and used fashion as a medium of expression; in the 60's it was miniskirts, now its saggy pants, it's just something that young people do. However, as much as I find it just plain stupid and unattractive, I don't think it warrants banning. If we imprisoned people for bad taste, most of America would be a prison camp.

I felt most uneasy as I viewed the mug shots of the 12 black young men who'd been arrested in Florida; the last thing the African American community needs is legislation to incarcerate more black males. According to data from the US Census Bureau in 2006, blacks made up 41 percent of US prison inmates, but only account for around 12 percent of the population.

Maybe commonsense will eventually prevail, a judge in Riviera Beach, Florida has ruled that a city law banning sagging pants is unconstitutional. It follows the case of a 17-year-old who spent a night in jail for having 4 to 5 inches of his boxer shorts exposed, while riding a bicycle.

People do all sorts of things that I find objectionable but in a democracy it is their right as long as it doesn't harm anyone. How they dress has to be pretty low down on the list of misdemeanors, it might very well be a crime as far as the fashion police are concerned, but the transgression probably needs a major injection of style rather than imprisonment and a fine.

(Rhum Runner is a is a contributor to Island Vibes Magazine and writes about social issues, from his perspective. Check out his blog - rhumrunner.blogspot.com. For comments, please feel free to contact him at rhumrunner@islandvibesmag.com.)