Jackson Free Press

Sagging may be the norm in the world of rap, but the trend may see an early end if some residents of a small southwest Georgia town have their way.

The Associated Press reports that people in Plains, GA., are up at arms over seeing the underwear of young people who are wearing their pants and shorts low.

So much so that members of the Plains City Council plan on asking the town's attorney to look into whether they have the authority to regulate sagging.

Plains is best known as the hometown of former President Jimmy Country, the nation's 39th Commander in Chief.

Protesters of sagging believe those who engage in the trend could ward off some of the 68,000 tourists who visit Plains each year. The town boasts a population of 600,

"To have a lot of young men walking around like that it creates a bad image of the place," said Plains City Councilman and anti-sagging campaign leader Eugene Edge. "We don't want to infringe on anyone's rights, but ... nobody wants to look at your rear end. I don't think it's too much to ask for a person to wear their pants above their butts."

Sagging pants and shorts have become popular among rappers, who have advocated the trend in videos, concerts and public appearances. Rap fans soon followed suit as youth adapted the style and made it their own.

Nevertheless, officials have tried to ban sagging. Although attempts by schools in Columbus, OH, Kittery, ME, and Red Bluff, CA have been initiated, other efforts ban sagging have met with failure, according to the AP, which cited a case in which "droopy drawers" legislation won approval in the Virginia House in 2005.

Senators later rejected the proposal, saying international news reports on the bill had embarrassed the state.

A similar bill was turned down in 2004 by Louisiana lawmakers after warnings that the bill would make the state a laughing stock. The situation has yet to be addressed in Dallas, TX, where the city attorney was asked to look into a ban by city officials.

As for Plains, the town's attorney, Jimmy Skipper, revealed that he hasn't explored the legality of the ban

Apparently...again...those damn saggin jeans and earrings are the cause of all that is wrong in Plain, GA. Surely the tourists who come to see the birthplace of Jimmy Carter will turn away never to return because of it. Sometimes I simply don't know what to say about our southern brethren. Can this actually be invoked?

Previous Comments

ID

110029

Comment

Got this story form allhiphop.com by the way. Sad but....nope just sad. Am I crazy or something who thinks this backwards?

Author

Kamikaze

Date

2007-01-24T13:02:39-06:00

ID

110030

Comment

Sagging is bothersome. I wonder if they'll include a measure to ensure proper underclothes or much needed exercise to also vitiate some of that type sagging as well. I don't particularly care for young or older folk's sagging!

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-01-24T13:20:31-06:00

ID

110031

Comment

If I were a young whipper snapping person I would show up at council meeting and point out the sagging of every council person as well as bring pictures of sagging residents of the town and opine how bothered I am from that kind of sagging too. And maybe the town will do something about both types.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-01-24T13:23:48-06:00

ID

110032

Comment

I'm not sympathetic to the plight of "saggers" as I had my fill of that look a couple of years ago when standing in a checkout line, I noticed a young man with sagging jeans in front of me and was outraged to see not just the top of his underwear by the crack of his nasty A$$ staring back at me. And he wasn't making any attempt to pull em up either, just walked right out with bare ass just showing. Thinking that was an isolated incident, I ran upon the same thing a few months later when leaving a job site. Bare ass showing out of those sagging jeans. If kids want to go around looking like prison inmates I suppose its their right, which is why this measure in Plains will probably fail, but its not a look I endorse and my boys and my pre-teen nephews all know that they had better pull their damn pants up before they come in my house or I'll light 'em up to remind them.

Author

Jeff Lucas

Date

2007-01-24T13:53:03-06:00

ID

110033

Comment

I know what you mean Ejeff. One of my nephews called uncle Ray about 6 months ago wanting money to get gas to go look for a job in Rankin County. And boy didn't he need lots of gas. When he walked out the house his pants fell to his knees and I said where is your belt to which he said I don't have one. I then asked why is your hat worn turned sideways. He said that's how we wear them. I said that why your ass is broke and won't get a job, too. I gave him the money, he didn't get a job, and he went shortly thereater where people who prefer the look of prisoners go. He only did a month for not paying fines though. Needless to say, uncle Ray doesn't know nothing about being cool, to which I usually retort, jail either. I still would show up at city council meeting pointing out the council person's saggings too, if any. Why not give the town all the help that's needed.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-01-24T14:07:03-06:00

ID

110034

Comment

Let me say that this is not a sexist comment. I have reached 50 and discovered to my great surprise that things sag on men also and from too many common places. Yet, personally, I'm still a lean and mean wrecking machine with a little fat to sexy me up for appearances. Sho Nuff.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-01-24T14:27:55-06:00

ID

110035

Comment

Well now Ray Id have to say you make some good points. But you generalize too. Ive heard the old story that the elders use to try and scare the kids into NOT sagging..The one about it was a sign from one inmate to another that they were "open" for business for lack of a better term LO. And thats all well and good. However, its just not the same now. Its not a gnag statement and is no longer associated with inmates. Guys simply stopped wanting to wear tight-a-- jeans! It puts a strangle hold on your "boys" and its sooooo not the look. Now of course you're not supposed to show crack you're supposed to have a pair of shorts on under or something lest the whole world will see your business. But let's not condemn or characterize. Hell, I wear my pants sagged, have an earring, and arms full pf tatoos and I walk into a LOT of places some suits CAN and CAN'T go. Ive earned that respect. Now a teen probably hasnt earned that yet but its just their way or the way of the hiphop generation to express themselves..its a phase. Im pretty sure I won't be saggin when Im 50. no make that 60 LOL

Author

Kamikaze

Date

2007-01-24T16:36:38-06:00

ID

110036

Comment

I think it's sad many people can't afford a belt. Perhaps that should go up along with "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service" too?

Author

Ironghost

Date

2007-01-24T19:02:19-06:00

ID

110037

Comment

I've told our 8 year old son that if he ever does that, he'll have to answer to his old fashioned momma. And it ain't gonna be pretty.

Author

Lady Havoc

Date

2007-01-24T19:10:25-06:00

ID

110038

Comment

As a teenager in the 1980s, I supported the Jennifer Beals bill that banned ripped sweatshirts and stirrup pants. Had it not passed, such fashions would still be blighting our streets. I fully support this legislation.

Author

Brent Cox

Date

2007-01-25T16:22:35-06:00

ID

110039

Comment

Fashion has its limits.

Author

pikersam

Date

2007-01-25T17:16:05-06:00

ID

110040

Comment

I also think it looks absolutely ridiculous. It's a tiresome argument that "sagging" is a fashion statement. You could make that argument about anything. If you want to run around in your underwear, can you say that that is just a fashion statement? My grandfather used to tell me that clothes make the man. It's an interesting statement. The people that can't seem to dress themselves are usually the people that can't seem to find decent jobs.

Author

LawClerk

Date

2007-01-26T12:09:32-06:00

ID

110041

Comment

I've been known to walk around in my pajamas and a bathrobe until dusk--ah, the joys of telecommuting--which would certainly not get me a job either, but only if I were actually attending job interviews in my pajamas and bathrobe, and I don't. The people who tend to wear sagging pants are disproportionately likely to be young black men who don't wear sagging pants at work (if it matters), but do in their free time. What they wear in their free time, as long as it doesn't violate indecent exposure laws, is their own business. I do not understand the "can't dress themselves" business, as if someone who wears sagging pants is physically incapable of wearing other kinds if the situation calls for it. I have never known anyone to only own sagging pants. And I wear pants without a belt quite often myself, if I'm wearing my shirt untucked. It's more comfortable that way. I don't let them sag mainly because I'm a pretty conservative white guy and, frankly, because I need to do a few deep squats before my sweet bippy is ready for prime time, but older men--especially older white men--who tell young black men what to wear are barking up the same tree their predecessors have in years past re: long hair, facial hair, earrings, tattoos, and so forth. In the final analysis, it's a form of youth self-expression that their elders find outrageous, which is perfectly normal. Show me a generation of youth that dresses exactly like their elders want them to dress, and I'll be scared. Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2007-01-26T14:19:56-06:00

ID

110042

Comment

"conservative white guy" --> "conservative-looking white guy" Obviously, I am not a conservative... ;o) Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2007-01-26T14:20:59-06:00

ID

110043

Comment

Tom: showing your ass to the whole world and walking around with jeans at your knees showing off your underwear is not an age thing, its just plain trashy. It has nothing to do with age or race no more than telling a girl not to wear a very short miniskirt to school with no underwear is. At some point you do have standards despite all the intellectual convolutions used to justify almost anything.

Author

Kingfish

Date

2007-01-26T14:33:28-06:00

ID

110044

Comment

While we are talking about Carter, here is a story about him and the Holocaust: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53954

Author

Kingfish

Date

2007-01-26T14:34:32-06:00

ID

110045

Comment

Wearing a very short miniskirt to school with no underwear would, I imagine, violate most dress codes, and would certainly fall under the "suspicion of indecent exposure" statute. "Showing your a** to the whole world" violates indecent exposure law if the anus is visible. Other than that, I'm not sure what your point is. Many more black than white kids do this, many more youth than older people do this, so saying this "has nothing to do with age or race" simply isn't consistent with the facts. I would imagine that wearing earrings in 1970 was probably pretty outrageous and something people tried to ban, too. And in 1960, wearing miniskirts with underwear was illegal in certain jurisdictions. It's just another generation doing their thing. Next generation it might be sequined lipstick or something, so count your blessings, suck it up, and move on. Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2007-01-26T14:37:37-06:00

ID

110046

Comment

I'd say wearing pants where about 4 inches or more of boxers/underwear are showing is too much. I don't care how baggy they are, but you wear pants/shorts for a reason.

Author

Kingfish

Date

2007-01-26T14:39:15-06:00

ID

110047

Comment

I'm sure many good people thought earrings on men were too much, too. And lord, the miniskirt revolution was a big deal. I'm not saying I like to look at people's drawers either, Fish, but I'm conscious of the fact that this is a continual generational process, a normal part of growing up, and I figure I'll have plenty of time to echo the "those young whippersnappers" rhetoric of my ancestors down the road. No point to starting it before I'm even 30. Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2007-01-26T14:43:25-06:00

ID

110048

Comment

I'm just saying don't show your ass or underwear off in public. Not that hard of a rule to follow and nothing age or race related about it.

Author

Kingfish

Date

2007-01-26T14:49:01-06:00

ID

110049

Comment

I say, let em sag. Hope they can make money rappin' otherwise I think you can now fill out McDonalds job applications online. (provided you want to put forth a little effort and get a job)

Author

colby

Date

2007-01-26T15:03:16-06:00

ID

110050

Comment

If you go to a white frat house party, you'll see plenty of guys wearing loose shorts--probably cutoff pants one size too big--that droop low enough to show their boxers. It's a classic white boy symbol. And I doubt the cops in Plains, GA are going to show up at the Sigma Chi house. The proposed law does strike me as implicitly racist, as well as offensive to the First Amendment. Yes, showing one's boxers is a facile statement, but I believe it is a statement. It's symbolic speech.

Author

Brent Cox

Date

2007-01-27T07:48:27-06:00

ID

110051

Comment

Brent, you've nailed it, as you have a knack for doing. This law is NOT going to be enforced against white fratboys or plumbers, any more than whites with dreadlocks were going to be detained under the St. Tammany sheriff's "dreadlocks and kwee-wee haircuts" policy. I have to admit that I see the sagging-pants thing as more of a black thing than a white thing, but it should be legal in either case. As you point out, it's symbolic speech. We have indecent exposure laws to cover baring of shocking genitals/orifices. We don't need a law specifically applying to sagging pants. King, re showing underwear: That is, almost word for word, what opponents of miniskirts said in the sixties and seventies. You can see a woman's underwear if she's doing anything remotely vigorous while wearing a minimini. So should the village of Plains have banned those, too? Or do we leave that law intact because we kind of like looking at women's underwear, but not so much men's? And besides, no matter how much you dislike the trend, do you really want to see people ARRESTED over it? Dragged away from whatever they were doing--visiting cancer-stricken kids in the hospital or whatever--because you can see their boxers? Please, get real. We have too many damn laws already. Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2007-01-27T15:59:14-06:00

ID

110052

Comment

Here's a can of worms. HSHS had a dress code requiring a belt. The sag was a security issue, and during the time of Woodham to Columbine, we were concerned with concealed weapons. Not sure the precedence of that though. Brent Cox, I'm so glad you handled that ripped sweatshirt/legging thing. Alas, Ann Taylor's fall collection 2006 tried very hard to bring it back.

Author

emilyb

Date

2007-01-28T16:22:46-06:00