Sagging slacks: Offensive fad or fashion statement? - today > news - TODAY.com#.V0bVd_krI-U: When it comes to fashion, you can always be sure of two things.
The first is that each generation of young people will find a new way to offend their elders.
The other is that grown-ups will try to stop them.
Today, the trend that offends is wearing baggy, drooping pants that ride around the thighs, the better to show off a young man’s taste in boxer shorts. And the grown-up who wants to stop it is Atlanta City Councilman C.T. Martin.
Inspired by his constituents, particularly teachers, who are tired of looking at other people’s underwear, Martin has introduced legislation in Atlanta that would outlaw clothing that shows off underwear, be it boxers, thongs, sports bras or even bra straps.
Nonsense, say civil libertarians. It’s not only an infringement of the First Amendment’s freedom of expression, but because the fashion is most popular among young African-Americans, it’s also a thinly veiled effort at racial profiling.
Martin, who is African-American, denied targeting blacks. “The last time I looked, people of all ages and people of all origins were involved in this,” he said. “That’s not my discussion. My discussion is a way to figure out a way to get this issue talked about.”
The fashion has been around for a number of years. It is said to have had its start in prisons, where inmates are not allowed to wear belts and frequently have ill-fitting pants.
From there, it spread from the inner cities to suburbia.
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The aesthetic appearance and racist, homophobic designs and messages, and traffic disruption are horrible. The whole mess presented by this yard is detrimental to my property values.
M. Ayres Gardner, Decatur, GA
There was a sign saying, "sometimes you have to pick up a gun to put down a gun." I found this very disturbing as is the full-face sock-monkey mask. This person is escalating his disruptive activities. If he "goes off the rails" do we want to look back and say, why didn't someone do something to intervene?
Marian Gordin, Atlanta GA
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Old news but feel the need bringing it up again.
While still working as an occasional relief veterinarian for the owner of The People's Pet, me and young black male technician got into a debate over Atlanta City Councilman Martin's attempt getting a law passed locally outlawing sagging. Terrell was in favor of this law being passed; I was against it. And it surprised me the amount of indifference Terrell's showed toward even hearing possible reasons as to why these young men may be dressing as they were. To Terrell it was all about how this sagging trend was only holding black people back. To me, it was this very attitude the likes of his these young men might very well be using as their justification angering even their own kind. Although I don't care to see it myself, I am able seeing this fashion trend as a non-violent form of protest the best they have been able figuring out how left all to their lonesome fending for themselves. And to outlaw this fashion trend as a way of expressing oneself only creates the possibility of pushing them toward others ways of protesting possible violent.
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