If you are planning a trip to Flint, Michigan in the near future remember to keep your pants pulled up. The city's new police chief is cracking down on sagging pants that expose to much skin or boxers. Chief David Dicks feels that "this immoral `self expression' goes beyond freedom of expression; it rises to the crime of indecent exposure/disorderly persons." Under the order, anyone with exposed buttocks could be arrested on "a misdemeanor charge of being a disorderly person, punishable by up to a $500 fine and three months in jail."
Dallas enacted a similar ordinance in October 2007, with the "That's Not Hip Hop" campaign. Now city officials are using an innocent granny as the focal point of a new campaign. Billboards around the Dallas area admonish saggers that Granny says "Pull Em' Up. Dallas officials said they used the grandmother figure because she is the most revered and respected member of our community.
I must say that personally I have never liked the style of dress that exposes ones "drawers" and "ass"; however I am not for censoring the way individuals dress because it leads to other censorship and soon we are living in Nazi Germany. I thought when people realized that the look originated with prison gang members who were given "one size fits all clothing" as a way of saving on incarceration expenditures it would mark the end of the look, but it was not to be. The trend has been going strong for well over a decade with no end in sight.
As for Flint (which happens to be my home town), there are much bigger problems than the dress code all one has to do is go there and have a look around. The joblessness and dilapidation in the city began long before baggy pants. Flint's crime rate exploded back in the 1980's, correlating with the closing of plants by General Motors and the outsourcing of jobs.
Flint's police chief needs to rid the streets of the criminal element and the mayor and city council should be looking for a way to bring in new employment opportunities to a city that has lost so much in the last two decades. Sagging pants are the least of the city of Flint's worries.
As always I welcome your thoughts and opinions on this issue.
