Can the style of clothing now send young men to jail? According to one of the newer additions to the criminalized-for-no-good-reason list: baggy pants.
I don't like the way how young men or older men wear their clothing hanging off of their behinds but to give these young men a fine and jail sentences for their clothing is an outrage.
In a proposed bill in Kentucky you will be fined for a thousand dollars for wearing pants below the waist. In Missouri, the parents could spend 90 days in jail. This is an expression as all generations went through of their own style. I don't like their style as I am sure that my elders were not to happy with the styles of the 60's and 70's with the mini-skirts and tube tops and hot pants. But it did not merit a criminal charge against any of us who went through this expression of one's self.
Are we going to arrest the blue collar worker if we are able to see the crack of their behinds while they are working? If you have a plumber at you home and are able to his behind, is this a cause for alarm to call the police and have him arrested for breaking the law. Of course not. When the young and old females are walking down the street and you can see the cleavage from their breast and the low-rider jeans and thongs is this going to cause them to be arrested? Anything that shows any part of the body that is deemed unapproved for public vision is this going to be a cause for alarm and people are going to be fined and imprisoned for this? What about the beach, are we going to go back to the days where you were covered so that your body was not exposed at all.
Is this a law that is meant for everyone, or only for a certain group of young men and boys, or is it for our minority and poor youth, who use this style as their expression? Does this now give a reason for minorities to be harassed by law enforcement, for no cause, except for the clothing on their body.
Is this another way that the budget is going to be fixed, the government on a state and local level will fix their budgets by fining people who cannot afford to be fined and put into prison for not paying their fines are have to many offenses against them for their clothing and now have a criminal record for breaking a foolish law?
What is next are we going to wear uniforms in the streets to show what area we are from, what our stature in life is, what neighborhoods we live in to show if we belong in this area or not. Are we going to be robbed once again of our identify and our style of expression through our hair or make-up. Is this a signal to us to wake up and look at the concentration camps that are being set-up around the United States of things to come?
Where is the Black Caucus and Urban League and not to mention the NAACP, Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson, why are they not out fighting against this new injustice that is coming out against our people? And this is being done because there is some people that are offended regarding the way someone dresses.
How much legal slavery are we going to stand for? Is this going to fix the economy and put the American people back to work, is this going to stop the foreclosures in this country and not to mention is this going to stop the drugs from coming into our communities? Should we not be more concerned about fixing these things, then being concerned over how someone is dressing?
http://criminaljustice.change.org/blog/view/the_racial_undertones_of_baggy_pants_laws
3 comments:
Hi AAPOV. Kentucky is follow suite on this issue with cities in the states Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Georgia. Fortunately, last year the law was reviewed in Florida was found to be unconstitutional.
These laws in my opinion are just another means to put young black people, males specifically, in jail.
My comments can be found here: http://africanamerica.org/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/79160213/m/4141014744/p/1
Yemaya
Hi Ms. Antoinette
I live in Cincinnati Ohio and heard of this law in Kentucky, and I too am outraged that lawmakers found this acceptable to target this, however lets look at this from yet another angle in addition to what you were saying.
I remember when 'saggin' begin, at least here in Cincinnati, it was '92 and at first it was just overly baggy jeans then within a year some of the young men were showing their underwear. I feel now about the subject as I do now that it is unacceptable for anyone, men or women, to show their underwear. It now has become an ACCEPTABLE FORM OF INDECENCY UNDER THE GUISE OF SELF EXPRESSION. Even the fads of the 60's & 70's went out of fashion when that decade was over!
When will disrespecting yourself go out of fashion? As i read in a former blog on the topic of Obama one of the points were young people ever falling standards of respect for themselves, their contemparies, and their elders. The former decades showed us that self expression was beautiful, creative and individual MOREVER the youth of that generation had unquestionable respect for their elders! This generation is taking the expression and turning it into a meaingless rebellion. Whats to gain from this? What gainful employement will you recieve from this? And even more relevent a question that I dare anyone who says it just a form of self expression ask themselves ¨Would you hire a lawyer if his pants were saggin so that you could see his underwear?¨
To respond to the comment of 'wearing uniforms' it is already so though not required. I see most of the youth dressing like one another shopping at the same shops and wearing the items just as they see them on the music videos. Its indicatable the music they listen to, their class system and where they are in life, however it is not something that is not without its exceptions, so I try not to weigh on my first impressions.
Sadly not everyone in the society is like that because we are taught ¨Dont judge a book by its cover¨ and contrary to that ¨Make a good first impression, because you wont get another¨ Oh the conflicts....
In conclusion I say dont let your defiance be someones ammunition. True self expression is innovative and constantly changing.
And if you have been wearing the same style since the pager or beeper & N64 and we now have web capable phones and the PS3, Please change it UP!!!
okay, let's ban mini skirts, short shorts, bikinis and those slutty dresses. Why block one disgusting appearance and not the rest?
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