Caught with your pants down
p2pnet news | Freedom:- Pants with the crotch around your knees are said by a lot of people to have originated in jail where inmates turned badly fitting prison-issue garb into kind of counter-culture fashion statement.
But some people in Pine Lawn, Missouri, “a mostly black municipality outside St. Louis,” definitely don’t like it, says Associated Press.
So they’re legislating —- or trying to legislate —- against it.
But Pine Lawn isn’t alone. It’s, “among a growing number of U.S. cities enacting laws that ban low-slung pants,” says the story,
“People have a right to express their identity through speech and action,” AP has Neil Richards, a First Amendment expert at Washington University in St Louis, saying, going on, “On the other hand, municipalities have a vague power to control the health, safety and welfare of citizens.
“The question is what is motivating these laws? … What is so threatening about it?”
However, Benjamin Chavis, ex-executive director of the NAACP who now heads the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, “said in August his coalition would challenge the ordinances in court,” according to AP.
Pine Lawn mayor Sylvester Caldwell, “has said he began seriously contemplating the ban last summer, when developers discussed how the impoverished town could improve its image and boost its redevelopment potential,” says the story, also quoting David Hudson Jr, from the Nashville-based First Amendment Center, as saying finds it bizarre that cities spend so much time regulating clothing.
“I’m not sure what it really serves,” he says. “They should solve some real problems.”
Meanwhile, “Sagging can even be taken a step further by wearing the droopy breeches backwards,” says Snopes.com.
Totally Krossed Out, the 1992 debut album of Kriss Kross, shows the pair of 13-year-old rappers doing this and, “By 1995 the style had seeped into mainstream teen culture — one no longer needed to be a wannabe ‘gangsta’ to sling ‘em low.”
“While sagging is embraced by a number of young people, it is far removed from being the subject of widespread approval outside that demographic. Various communities have attempted to ban this form of fashion statement,” says the story, adding:
“In February 2005, for example, the Virginia House of Delegates passed the so-called droopy drawers bill, legislation that would have imposed a $50 fine on people who wore their pants so that their underwear was visible in a ‘lewd or indecent manner.’
“That bill was killed by a senate committee two days later. In May 2004, Louisiana lawmakers attempted to say no to plumber’s crack by passing House Bill 1626, legislation that would have made it a crime to wear clothing in public that ‘intentionally exposes undergarments or intentionally exposes any portion of the pubic hair, cleft of the buttocks or genitals’.”
That bill, too, was also rejected by the state’s senate.
In Trenton, New Jersey, “getting caught with your pants down may soon result in not only a fine, but also a city worker assessing where your life is headed,” says another AP story, going on in Atlanta, “a law has been introduced to ban sagging and punishment could include small fines or community work”.
But if you live there, relax. There won’t be any jail time.
Also See:
Associated Press – Saggy Pants Bans May Not Be Lawful, December 2, 2007
Snopes.com – Sah Harbored, October 15, 2005
AP – Baggy pants crackdown goes national, September 17, 2007
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December 4th, 2007 at 10:45 am
While we’re at it, we should build re-education centers and train the Thought Police.