Black Education, black youth and black parental issues. Our goal is to cover any and every issue that you find most relevant to you as an African-American, particularly as it pertains to education. Our school systems are in jeopardy, and it's critical that our people find a way to help our children learn.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Saggin Pants? Does it justify racism and exclusion?
Is the saggin pants issue bad for black men or just a form of self-expression? Give us your thoughts.
I think they should pull them up. Self expression is fine in a given time and place. But walking through stores with you boxers showning appears foolish.
I concur with the previous comment. I also want to say that despite how much the sagging really annoys me, it should not result in someone being sentenced to the fringes of society. I had college teachers and knew colleagues (educators in the New York City Board of Education in the 1980s) who sagged, and often times wore pants that revealed more than the average teen with saggy pants, and they were in professional roles. These people were never called to task, and often times were looked to for mainstream opinion. Two standards for two different groups. What else is new.
Every generation can take credit for some crazy fad. This one just won't go away. If you own your own business or have so much education or skill that you csn afford to dress as you darn well please then I say go for it. However, if you have to go before one of our blue eyed soul brothers or sisters for a job..you better get to dressing neutral. It would seem everything we do is used against us as a people. Ebonics. Our parents and grandparents are still spreaking with a foreign accent. We talk funny because we spoke another language before being brought to America.
However, nobody holds it against the Chinese for saying "shimp lied lice" when we order shrimp fried rice. Yet, if you go in talking ebonics chances are you won't get the job or business. So, when we're standing on the other side of the counter as owner or boss..then we can sag, drag or shag. Until then, do what you must to eat everyday. Whatever you need to do short of selling out. Doing things as the Romans do while in Rome is altogether different than being a Tom or sellout. Do what you need to do to eat..but always stay able to look yourself in the face when you brush your teeth in the morning.
Let's be practical and pull our theoretical arguments out of the clouds. Also, please realize that we should begin to control our own destinies by divorcing ourselves from what others think. We have our own sense of right and wrong borne out of what has worked for us in the past, the things that strengthened our communities.
Let's remember the protectionary policies of our grandparents. They were in much more challenging and dangerous times without near as many laws to protect them. Yet they got us here. The problem is we have lost our connetion to that wisdom and given it to others through the media and greed. Let's take it back, slow down, and once again claim our dignity.
I heard that 'saggin' started in prisons as a way of advertising that you are willing to have anal sex. I think it was started by cops to make black kids easier to catch. Who knows. Leave them alone. It's good for a laugh.
7 comments:
I think they should pull them up. Self expression is fine in a given time and place. But walking through stores with you boxers showning appears foolish.
I concur with the previous comment. I also want to say that despite how much the sagging really annoys me, it should not result in someone being sentenced to the fringes of society. I had college teachers and knew colleagues (educators in the New York City Board of Education in the 1980s) who sagged, and often times wore pants that revealed more than the average teen with saggy pants, and they were in professional roles. These people were never called to task, and often times were looked to for mainstream opinion. Two standards for two different groups. What else is new.
Every generation can take credit for some crazy fad. This one just won't go away. If you own your own business or have so much education or skill that you csn afford to dress as you darn well please then I say go for it. However, if you have to go before one of our blue eyed soul brothers or sisters for a job..you better get to dressing neutral.
It would seem everything we do is used against us as a people. Ebonics. Our parents and grandparents are still spreaking with a foreign accent. We talk funny because we spoke another language before being brought to America.
However, nobody holds it against the Chinese for saying "shimp lied lice" when we order shrimp fried rice. Yet, if you go in talking ebonics chances are you won't get the job or business. So, when we're standing on the other side of the counter as owner or boss..then we can sag, drag or shag. Until then, do what you must to eat everyday. Whatever you need to do short of selling out. Doing things as the Romans do while in Rome is altogether different than being a Tom or sellout. Do what you need to do to eat..but always stay able to look yourself in the face when you brush your teeth in the morning.
And we wonder why white folks think we are in our own world.....
Huge ditto anonymous!
Let's be practical and pull our theoretical arguments out of the clouds. Also, please realize that we should begin to control our own destinies by divorcing ourselves from what others think. We have our own sense of right and wrong borne out of what has worked for us in the past, the things that strengthened our communities.
Let's remember the protectionary policies of our grandparents. They were in much more challenging and dangerous times without near as many laws to protect them. Yet they got us here. The problem is we have lost our connetion to that wisdom and given it to others through the media and greed. Let's take it back, slow down, and once again claim our dignity.
As a white business owner, I would never hire someone who looked like that. The behavior of black men should be an embarrassment to all of you.
I heard that 'saggin' started in prisons as a way of advertising that you are willing to have anal sex. I think it was started by cops to make black kids easier to catch. Who knows. Leave them alone. It's good for a laugh.
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