Jail Time for Wearing Your Pants Low? Attack on Black Boys/Men?

A big shout out and H/T new African American Female blogger Antoinette, who has posted on an important issue that just may place more young African American boys and men into prison for the clothes they wear. Note: Police have already begun the harassment of black males with baggy and saggy pants.

Here is a first guest blog post from blogger Antoinette of the blog Antoinette's Point of View.

Outlawing Baggy Pants

By Antoinette

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?

AAPP: Great post Antoinette! Clearly there are more than racial undertones of baggy pants laws.There is already a few 'baggy pants' trials going on. I'm glad that people are challenging the baggy pants laws. As one writer said, Society, not a law, will end silly saggy pants trend. Clearly there is a saggy-pants double standard.

Read more from this up and coming black blogger HERE

Cross Posted on Antoinette's Point of View, African American Political Pundit and
African American Opinion