Feature Story

By Eric Ervin

Contributing writer

Junior Carter walks through Mobile’s Bel Air Mall on a recent Sunday afternoon wearing a pair of designer jeans and an oversized T-shirt. Carter’s jeans are too big for his tall, slim frame. As he strolls through the shopping center trying to collect as many girls’ phone numbers as possible, the 17-year-old occasionally stops to pull up his pants. Carter’s large T-shirt doesn’t do much to hide his underwear from the other mall visitors, either.

Sagging – wearing pants below the waistline – is the preferred style of dress for many young people these days however, politicians across the country are tossing the fashion trend in the dirty clothes hamper. They say it’s sloppy, indecent and a bad influence on impressionable youth. Opponents say such ordinances possibly violate First Amendment rights and raises concerns of due process guaranteeing life, liberty and property rights under the 14th Amendment.

Sporting pants below the waist and showing unmentionables – or something even more personal – will land you up to six months in jail in Delcambre, La. and carries a $500 fine. In June 2007, the Delcambre City Council approved an ordinance making the style of dress illegal. In Pine Lawn, Mo., violators face up to a $100 fine. Their parents could face up to a $500 fine or serve 90 days in jail. In Mansfield, La., a measure passed in August 2007 making it a crime to strut around with pants hanging below your waist.

Similar legislation is being considered by city councils in Huntsville, Ala., Atlanta, Cleveland and Trenton, N.J. The Dallas and Forth Worth city councils have recently joined forces with HipHopGovernment.org and launched a “Pull ‘em up” campaign complete with billboards.

On that recent day at Bel Air Mall, pants were falling off young and old asses alike. Most wore oversized T-shirts to cover the top portion of their underwear, but it didn’t do the trick.

“I don’t know man, I just buy them (pants) like that,” Carter says. “I don’t want my pants too tight.”

Carter, of Mobile, estimates his waist size to be around 29 inches, but “I really don’t know because I always buy them big,” he says. A quick check of the jeans’ measurements reveals a 38-inch waist, nearly 10 inches too big.

The trend’s origin

Exactly who started wearing their pants south of the waistline is up for debate. Some say it started in prisons where inmates were issued uniforms with no belts as a way to prevent hangings. With no belts, their pants would hang below the waistline. When the prisoners were released, they carried the style into the streets.

Others say it welcomes gay sex, a backside wink to other guys that says “I’m available.” The style has also been adopted by many as the preferred uniform of hip-hop culture.

Michael Dixon of Mobile says saggy pants don’t offend him as long as the bare ass isn’t showing. Dixon, 45, says he sees a lot of young men sagging their pants.

“All of them do it,” he says.

The national movement to pull up saggy pants hasn’t hit Mobile, and there’s no indication members of the Mobile City Council plan to take up the issue. Members say it’s never been brought before them – either as proposed legislation or in the form of a complaint from constituents. Most members disagree with the idea of government playing the fashion police. Some were reluctant to say how they’ll vote if similar legislation crossed their paths in the future. Councilmember William Carroll did not return calls for comment.

“I’ll have to see more at this time,” says Council member Reggie Copeland. “I can’t just vote on an idea.”

Indecency vs. Fashion Statement

Council member Connie Hudson believes the city’s indecency law is enough to cover the issue.

“I think we have an ordinance in place that defines indecency,” Hudson says. “I think if it reaches a point that it becomes a problem (people seeing something they shouldn’t see), then people can call the police. I don’t think government should enforce how low someone is wearing their pants.”

Officer Eric Gallichant, a Mobile Police Department spokesman, stopped short of saying how police would enforce such an ordinance. However, he says the police department would uphold the law no matter what it states.

“We don’t generally deal in hypotheticals,” Gallichant says. “If it was a law, then we would have to enforce it.”

Hudson believes such legislation infringes on a citizen’s life. She says this is where city councils should draw the line.

“Government cannot be all things to all people all the time,” she says. “I don’t want to see the government get involved in every aspect of people’s lives.”

Councilmember John C. Williams agrees pants should be pulled up, but believes indecency can be perceived both below and above someone’s waistline.

“I think I would side with the higher the pants the better,” Williams says. “But it’s a matter of what is indecent. What might be indecent to one person might not be to another.”

Williams believes there are more important issues facing council than how someone wears their pants.

“Right now the most important thing we can do is improve our parks and streets, then if we have the time worry about how low people are wearing their pants.”

Councilmember Fred Richardson believes the issue can be exhausted overnight by parents and business owners.

“I see it as a social issue, not a council issue,” Richardson says. “If I had a business, I could say do not enter with saggy pants. They do it with T-shirts, shoes and other things. If I had a girl, I could tell her not to go anywhere with a boy who wears saggy pants.”

Councilmember Clinton Johnson says if such legislation was presented to council, he would study it just like he does any other proposal and make a professional decision. Johnson says he never lets his personal feelings factor into his vote.

“I would have to leave that in limbo,” he says.

Councilmember Gina Gregory was surprised to hear about saggy pants ordinances being adopted across the country. She wondered how they would be enforced.

“Are we going to have cops arresting people?” Gregory says. “I think it’s something that we as city council shouldn’t come up with. There are a lot of things that are indecent. What about the women and what they wear?”

Asked if he would abide by an ordinance banning saggy pants, Carter quickly says, “Nah man.”

Tell us what you think about saggy pants at blog.lagniappemobile.com

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