Wednesday, December 22, 2010

It’s a sagging shame…even in the age of Obama, they still won’t dress the part.


There are many inventions that we need to make our lives better. I would even accept a waffle maker that doubles as a clock radio. Some inventions aren’t worth the paper they were drawn on. The concept of “Supply and Demand” means that people need a product so you must make it. But this thing right here is the worst!!! Harlemnite inventor Andrew Lewis must be trying to make Black History. And that is saying something because Lewis is a White Man!!!

Lewis has shamed the ancestors of The Harlem Renaissance and created “Subs”. No!!! Not the deliciously hot or cold sandwiches that you can eat at either end!! Sub’s are suspenders that you can wear while still keeping your pants sagging. In layman’s terms this is an “Outside the Prison Gates” garter belt. Millions of young black men can now let their pants sag without them falling off their behinds. It’s especially beneficial to young drug dealers that spend their days running from the cops. It’s just what we needed: Another reason to not dress appropriately.

Just when I think it can’t get any worse. People somehow find ways to be more ignorant. This is the part where we have collectively thrown up our hands. We can’t keep our children’s pants up. Young men don’t want to keep their pant’s up. And some men in jail wish they didn’t have to wear pants (easy access). Every fad that is imitated by (insert generic urban name here) doesn’t need to be turned into a fashion statement. This doesn’t provide anything of worth to our youth.

You can’t wear sagging pants to a job interview.

You can’t wear sagging pants to the bank to apply for a business loan.

You can’t wear sagging pants to meet your girlfriend’s parents (unless the dad wears sagging pants).

And if you end up in jail, you shouldn’t want to wear sagging pants (easy access).

I hear my younger contemporaries always talking about how people don’t respect them.

Well you won’t get any wearing something like this. Even Jay Z is wearing suits now!! For all the black folks that thought an Obama Administration would change how young black men viewed themselves, you were sadly mistaken.

8 comments:

msladyDeborah said...

I have been hoping that this particular fad would eventually fade out into nothingness and never return.

When will it end!

Glen Antoine Palmer said...

As Biggie Smalls so eloquently mumbled in Notorious, "We can't change the world unless we change ourselves." All we can do is pull up our pants and try to set good examples.

Citizen Ojo said...

msladydeborah - alot of us had that same hope.

Glen Antoine Palmer - A man as classy as you has more than 1 belt. You might have to give 1 of them up....ha ha ha

the uppity Negro said...

Saggin pants, baseball caps, doo-rags are all cultural signifiers of this. I think when older adults take this hard line of reasoning behind it it's an excuse to not think critically. Many adults have other issues with this hip hop and post hip hop generation and they take it out on the simple things that can easily be changed--in this case it's outer clothing wear and attire. It's easier to make the false claim that one's pride is caught up in a cultural idea ergo, if you pull up your pants, you'll have pride in yourself. But it's much harder to try and influence one's consciousness--if they pull up their pants then so be it.

We need to stop the false idea that this has to do with pride or something: this is purely about aesthetics. Some folks just don't like the way it looks. I mean, some people don't like dredlocks, but you don't see them trying to ban them. Some people think women wear their shirts or blouses too low cut, but they're not trying to make laws about it.

Pulling up my pants is going to do nothing but make me more resentful toward an older generation.

I don't see the problem with it if its just walking around down the street. Honestly, if you don't like it turn the other way. We not fining and arresting the random women who are 5'4" and 250lbs wearing spandex showing crack and nasty cleavage why are we supporting this of our young black men?

Honestly, black males have all of this stacked against me, and we're supporting jailing and giving a record to our black males simply because we don't like how they're dressed?!!?

GTFOOH!

ImABlackPoem said...

LOL! I hate hate hate these suspenders. I don't like sagging pants. But I also hate seeing women with pink/purple/green/all other unnatural hair color wigs. I hate seeing women with ill-fitting bras - breasts bursting from their tops. How come no one wanted to ticket those trashy women (many of whom were white) who showed their thongs while wearing "low-rise" jeans? What about the beautiful brown skin sister with the gray eyes (we know they aren't hers) - she's a disgrace to the culture, too - she's "ashamed" of her "natural" beauty. What about the tattoos? What about the women with clown makeup? What about nappy hair? Those things do not always look good, lets crack down on that, while we're at it.

Let us all become fashion nazis and dictate what is appropriate dress. Who's offended by sagging jeans? What have sagging jeans ever done to you? They don't affect me. I don't wear sagging jeans and I do not know anyone who does wear sagging jeans, but I will defend each person's right to express him or herself however he or she sees fit.

We complain about these fashion atrocities, but I know CEOs who wear the same clothes everyday to work. Do we ticket them for their fashion faux pas?

I don't want to seem narrow minded and I understand that these acts of self-expression are degrading in some ways, but if it doesn't really affect anyone negatively, then I really don't see the problem.

Citizen Ojo said...

uppity Negro & ImABlackPoem - The Youth have spoken!!! And as predicted they always side with the youth...ha ha. News Flash: It is an age thing!!! My Generation finally has something that we can complain about with our parents. My problem is that it looks tacky. I'm never seen a kid with his pants hanging down that looked neat or clean (i.e. Hygiene). There are a slew of other fashions/styles that I personally would ban but I have no clout and I'm only 1 Man. So I will have to deal with it. My Generation grew up on Hip Hop (Real Hip Hop) so it's not that we only like our local radio stations "Quiet Storm". Sure we have bigger problems but my Generation doesn't have to co-sign with the "it's a fad or style" reasoning. If we don't like it, we just don't like it.

Reggie said...

I've always wondered if they do the same thing in prison. Seems like it would be easy access if they did.

It's a generational thing and our generation will never understand the thought process involved in this.

Citizen Ojo said...

Reggie - Very easy access....