Saggy Pants and Black History Month

Saggy Pants and Black History Month

The city fathers and mothers of Long Beach, CA, have taken it upon themselves to neaten up certain young Long Beach residents by insisting that they “pick ‘em up and keep ‘em up,” (“em” being their pants.)

More precisely, “Bishop William Ervin along with Carson City Councilman Mike Gipson are calling on black children and teens to ‘pull up their pants on their waist’ as a sign of respect during Black History Month.” As a white elder, that insistence is as perplexing as Black History Month.

What Bishop Ervin and Councilman Gipson seem to be implying is that young black boys and men–young black girls and women seem to know where their waistlines are–are somehow demeaning black history by exhibiting their underwear. That fashion statement, whatever the nature of that statement is, and that concern, are baffling since there are so many other black issues the bishop and councilman could be addressing.

Other words of wisdom offered for black youths by the Long Beach community include, “You can have the swag without the sag” and a reminder that “the [pants-uplifting] plan is not just for cultural purposes, but may have legal benefits as well: sagging pants are often used for profiling purposes by law enforcement agencies:” http://tiny.cc/xllys

The “cultural purposes” reference eludes me but the lesson is that you can swagger without the sagger and if you insist on the sag look, you risk being arrested during, before, and after Black History Month.

I doubt many black youths are being arrested for saggy pants but untold numbers are being arrested for burglaries, robberies, aggravated assaults, rapes, motor vehicle thefts, gun possession, etc.

It’s unfortunate that Ervin, Gipson, and the other community leaders didn’t see fit to caution them on that aspect of life . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=3682)