[AnnonUSA]

Posted: Sunday, 16 September 2007 10:42AM

Pull 'em Up: Cities Cracking Downs on Saggy Pants

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- The fashion first took hold in American prisons, where inmates aren't given belts with their baggy uniform pants to prevent hangings and beatings. By the late 80s, the trend had made it to gangster rap videos, then skateboarders in the suburbs and on to high school hallways.
Now, wearing your pants low enough to show your boxers or bare buttocks in a small town in Louisiana could get you six months in jail and a $500 fine. Laws banning sagging pants are also being pushed hard in Atlanta, and in Trenton, where a first bust for low-riding trousers could soon mean an assessment by a city worker on where your life is going.
"Are they employed? Do they have a high school diploma? It's a wonderful way to redirect at that point," said Trenton Councilwoman Annette Lartigue, who is drafting a law to outlaw saggy pants. "The message is clear: we don't want to see your backside."
The Trenton law could come up for a vote as soon as October, Lartigue said.
Those who sag their pants see it as a form of urban expression and hip hop rebellion. Those who want to stop them see it as an indecent, sloppy trend that is a bad influence on children.
"It has the potential to catch on with elementary school kids, and we want to stop it before it gets there," said C.T. Martin, an Atlanta councilman. "Teachers have raised questions about what a distraction it is."
In Atlanta, a law has been introduced to ban sagging and punishment could include small fines or community work, but no jail time, Martin said.
"How can you clean up and hold a job with one hand holding your britches up?" asked Martin. "We've got to do something. Some of them wear them so low in the front that their organs will show."
The penalty is stiffer in Delcambre, La., where in June the town council passed an ordinance that carries a fine of up to $500 or six months in jail for exposing underwear in public. Several other municipalities and parish governments in Louisiana have enacted similar laws in recent months.
Trenton's Lartigue says a second offense could be a $250 fine and a third could dent your wallet for $500. That goes for girls, too, who Lartigue says wear "lowriders" that "expose their thongs."
At Trenton hip hop clothing store Razor Sharp Clothing Shop 4 Ballers, shopper Mark Wise, 30, said his jeans sag for practical reasons.
"The reason I don't wear tight pants is because it's easier to get money out of my pocket this way," Wise said. "It's just more comfortable."
Shop owner Mack Murray said Trenton's proposed ordinance unfairly targets blacks.
"Are they going to go after construction workers and plumbers, because their pants sag, too?" Murray asked. "They're stereotyping us."
The American Civil Liberties Union agrees.
"In Atlanta, we see this as racial profiling," said Benetta Standly, statewide organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. "It's going to target African American male youths. There's a fear with people associating the way you dress with crimes being committed."
Adrian "Easy A.D." Harris, 43, a founding member of the Bronx's legendary old school rap group Cold Crush Brothers, said the saggy pants trend started in the late '80s, spilling out from U.S. prisons to its ghettos.
"For young people, it's a form of rebellion and identity," Harris said. "The young people think it's fashionable. They don't think it's negative."

(TM & © 2007 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO & EYE Logo TM & © 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. In the interest of timeliness, this story is fed directly from the newswire and may contain occasional typographical errors. )

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I don't get it. Now I think that if you wear your pants with your boxers showing, you make yourself look like a complete jackass. The Loose baggy pants that can fit 3 or four people in them make you look like a stupid dick. But do we really need laws to prevent people from making themselves look like assholes?

What say you guyz.

[FilLaB0NGo7]

Glad I don't have to worry.

[TheBagman]

Stupid law. Pointless law. There should be laws against against stupid pointless laws like this.

[Silent Steve]

Society has a dress code now huh?

[TheDriver]

We should encourage more flare, but it shouldn't be a law.

[elroypornlab]

If you want to look like you just shit your pants fine by me I don't look at what peoole wear any fucking way I have no fashion sense. I don't know what i have on half the time. Fuck laws though

[TheDriver]

fashion is gay

[Edubs]

this is obviously an anti-black/cool guy law, I say it will be removed by the Supreme court years from now, and it will be forever noted that those states are fascist

[AnnonUSA]

Originally Posted by Edubs

this is obviously an anti-black/cool guy law, I say it will be removed by the Supreme court years from now, and it will be forever noted that those states are fascist

You think loose baggy pants with rapper Boxers showing are cool?

[ßü††|맧]

Every now and again the kid says something stupid.

[Edubs]

Originally Posted by AnnonUSA

You think loose baggy pants with rapper Boxers showing are cool?

not just cool son, they chill

[katchafire]

stupid fucking law, but yeah I hate hate hate baggy pants! why you ask???? because then you cant check out the guys ass grrrrrr how fucking annoying.

[Edubs]

all hail the red white and blue

[Edubs]

oh yeah, going deep!

[AnnonUSA]

Originally Posted by Edubs

oh yeah, going deep!

Dude, are you fucking losing it?