Atlanta, GAMetro area negroes crowded into a recent Atlanta City Council meeting to voice belligerent opinions and contempt for a proposed amendment that would make "sagging pants" a crime.
Some asserted that the amendment is "racist" apparently based on the fact that sagging pants are a part of "black culture", because White people don't wear their pants that way. LOL.
Some asserted that the amendment is "racist" apparently based on the fact that sagging pants are a part of "black culture", because White people don't wear their pants that way. LOL.
Quote:
Some call it a fashion trend and a cultural expression, others say it's simply indecent exposure.
The Atlanta City Council heard more public comments Wednesday night over a controversial amendment to ban baggy pants in Atlanta.
For Chris Franklin, it’s a cultural image, a strong statement, an undeniable part of his identity.
“Cause I’ve been doing it for so long, like for so long. I ain't going to stop sagging my pants cause they made a law. I'm still going to sag my pants, you know,” said Franklin. “It's just natural. The black culture do it - everybody you see. Most everybody from the black culture you're going to see them sag their pants.”
But it's a reflection of hip-hop and what Franklin and his friends call "the black culture," which could make them criminals under a proposed amendment of Atlanta's indecency laws.
One city council member says what's on display is not a matter of culture or self-expression, but one of indecent exposure and destructive self image.
“It is ridiculous, so disrespectful, so unnecessary because many of these same people don't have enough money to go to college. You know we say 'heads up, pants up, grades up,'” said Atlanta City Councilman for District 10 C.T. Martin, who sponsored the amendment. “Why are you doing that, when the majority of people in the world are not walking around with their underwear showing?”
Councilman Martin says the proposed penalty for not covering up was recently downgraded from paying a fine to doing community service. But the ACLU calls it a discriminatory "dress code," one that critics and Chris say targets the black youth culture.
“It might be a racist thing because I don't see no white people sagging their pants, because they have their pants up, right here, to above their stomach. They might have it way up here you know,” said Franklin, motioning to his stomach. “But black culture they ain't going to have their pants way up here that ain't something you can make a black person do, pull up their pants. They ain't going to listen to ya'll. They're not going to listen.”
And it's an image, a statement, and an identity, Franklin says he's going to keep wearing.
The City Council's Public Safety committee has not determined how much community service violators would have to serve. Councilman Martin expects the City Council to vote on the proposal at the end of February.
Original story here.
