The Facts Behind The Saggin Pants Craze.
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Posted By: WILLIAM W. HEMMANS III on August 15, 2007 There was a time when having your underwear exposed might have caused great embarrassment. Today people show their underwear on purpose and with pride because it's deemed fashionable. And it's called saggin', wearing pants below the waist so that underwear is in full view. The fashion actually transitioned from prison culture, said author-youth advocate Judge Greg Mathis of the "Judge Mathis" show. "In prison you aren't allowed to wear belts to prevent self-hanging or the hanging of others," said Mathis, who at 17 once served eight months in jail. "They take the belt and sometimes your pants hang down. The same with no shoestrings in your shoes. You aren't allowed to have shoestrings. Many cultures of the prison have overflowed into the community unfortunately." Saggin' also has sexual connotations in prison. "Those who pulled their pants down the lowest and showed their behind a little more raw, that was an invitation," said Mathis. "[The youth] don't know this part about it. I always tease and tell them that they better be careful because some man who has been in prison 30 years who comes home and doesn't know any different may think it's an open invitation." Pastor Dianne Robinson of Jacksonville, FL, is a crusader against the saggin' look. "I think it is a very disrespectful act," she said. "Sometimes they have on two and three pairs of underwear and most of the time it's not clean." Advertisement The 64-year-old Robinson, founder of the Nanas and Papas Raising Grands Organization, has launched a campaign to end saggin'. She has started a belt collection for young men called "Pull Up Your Pants--Need Some Help, Here's A Belt!" On June 4, she plans to collect belts at the Ribault Family Resource Center at Ribault High School in Jacksonville. "It has gotten out of hand. People want to say something, but I think they are complacent," she said. "It's like a fad, but they don't understand where it came from. It was easy access in prison and it let the rest of the population know they were taken. It came from being connected to someone. A lot of guys don't know this. Every time I see a young man with saggin' pants, I wonder, 'What are you up to? What are you really up to?'" Robinson isn't the only one fighting the fashion. Last year a Dallas school trustee recommended a ban of the fashion at a City Council meeting. In 2004 a Louisiana lawmaker proposed House Bill 1626, also known as the Baggy Pants Bill. It would have fined offenders up to $175 or given community service. The Virginia Senate considered imposing a $50 free on people who reveal their underwear to the masses. None of the bills passed. A Florida senator is currently trying to sponsor legislation to ban saggin' at public schools. Mathis said the style is part of a destructive subculture. "Young people have given up on society as a result of the obstacles they face. Instead of fighting back, they join the subculture of drugs and crime as a means of what they believe will uplift them from poverty. So you have this inner change of what is cool and hip in the 'hood and what is cool and hip in prison. You have a rotating door." He added, "I want to challenge our Brothers to pull up their pants and lift up their head ... We're no longer slaves. We are free to fight back, and that's what we must do." By Margena A. Christian JET MAGAZINE COPYRIGHT 2007 Johnson Publishing Co. COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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WILLIAM W. HEMMANS III
CRT 1st Response Case Manager, Mental Health Care,, Florida A&M University class of 1995 Member Since February 2004 |
Comments
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I'll be the first to comment here. I was at the Library and I came across the Jet magazine section and had to read this article. This is one of my pet-peeves, the sagging pants thing. When I worked for the Department of Juvenile Justice in Florida, I was well known and respected by the youth there because I would deduct points, comment and write up kids that had their pants sagging. We had a contract with Chicago and the city would ship kids down to us to keep them safe from gang retaliation when they got busted. We had youth that had broken any kind of law you could think of... When the kids would see me coming or knew I was on shift they would warn each other and respected my position on this issue. I see it everywhere from the streets to in Church. My question is if you are not gay why wear a dress??? Riddle me that? Have you not noticed guys and girls that carry themselves as street, gangsta, rough and tough that act effeminate if male and masculine if female? And not taking away from their toughness because they are well known in the streets as not being someone to be taken lightly. It seems like each group of guys that carry themselves as "Badboys" have a guy that has questionable feminine ways they carry themselves and are rumored to go both ways. Is it due as one aspect to wearing pants saggy? If you dress a boy as a girl long enough... I get tired of seeing attractive sisters with education, good jobs, go to Church etc. and their men wear sagging pants, beat on them, make babies, play around, burn them and the young lady states she wants a "Badboy" but a good man??? What a canceling affect, bad (-), good (+) which = a 0 for those of you into science, math etc. Not all but enough to be noticed in most places and then the white youth follow the culture and we see black sisters with sagging pants and boxers, underwear or g-strings but they demand respect? And respect should come regardless but for the average male out there... Any way, just my quick 2 cents of thought on this. Please feel free to comment honestly and respectfully as you like. Wednesday, August 15th 2007 at 4:42PM |
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As a parent of two teen daughters, it disturbs me to see them entertain fellow classmates or peers who wear their pants saggin'. I have said to them and many of their girlfriends that "Boys and young men will only respect you, if you first respect yourselves." Another disturbing site is to see these young men walking around with their pants saggin' so low that they can barely walk. When I've seen them walking around in public, they hold up their pants with one hand and hold on to a (girl, drink or smoke) with the other hand. I have also seen where these young parents who think saggin' is so cool, that they are teaching their babies, toddlers and younger children how to sag. They pull down the diapers or pull-ups, so that the younger child is saggin'. These little ones are at the mercy of these young parents, who are obviously making poor choices for them before they can me their own. I do understand that the culture and possible reasons of saggin' which began in the prison system; and that alone should tell our youth something. Saggin' promotes a prison mentality, not just physically but emotionally and mentally. There is alway going to be some method of imprisonment, whether through the legal system or by self-impose. We no longer can blame the White man or any other culture or ethnic group for the Black man's down fall, the Black man has been and continues to be his own worst enemy. It is my prayers, that our Black men, absentee/present fathers, influential artist, athletes, ministers, law makers, and politicians will step up to the plate and step out of their comfort zones; ban together in helping our youth and young boys/men regain respect for themselves. Be teachers and mentors, not just in your own communities, inner-cities or states, but reach out nation-wide to those in rural and surburban areas. by: EM, Houston, TX Wednesday, August 22nd 2007 at 2:09PM |
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Hi Ms. Erica, appreciate what you added 2 this blog i.e. knowledge, experience and facts. What you write can be a blog that stands all by itself. Hope to see you blog as time permits for you. What else can I add to what you say but Amen and great to see an opinion from a woman's perspective Saturday, October 6th 2007 at 6:12AM |
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Hello, sorry dont undestand your messsage. Please feel free to elaborate. Take care.
Friday, February 22nd 2008 at 1:03PM |
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