J.R. LeMar

SAGGIN = NIGGAS

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This is a topic that I’ve meant to write about many times, but always put it off because I wasn’t sure I could write it without offending people. But you know what, to heck with it. If you get offended by anything that I’m about to say then you (yes, YOU) are part of the problem.

I really, and I mean REALLY hate this particular “fashion trend”. Walking around with your pants hanging down, exposing your underwear, it is so effing stupid-looking. And I’m especially getting sick of the Black people I know who insist on defending this ignorant behavior. There’s a line I keep seeing repeated whenever this topic comes up. They’ll say something like “For all of you who think that’s all Black men need to do, is pull their pants up,” or “If you think racism will go away if Black men pull up their pants…”.

Okay, STOP. Who is saying that?!? Seriously, who?!?

Please, if there is someone out there who is actually saying that racism and all the other problems that Black people face today will disappear if Black guys stopped wearing sagging pants, then point them out to me. Send me the link to where they wrote that. Because I would love to join you in mocking them, and calling them idiots, because anyone who thinks that is clearly a flaming idiot!

But it is, in my opinion, equally idiotic, and even more dangerous, to pretend like how you dress doesn’t affect your life. I brought this up on Facebook, when one of my friends said that “Pulling up your pants won’t solve all problems,” and I said “It’s a start.” And he countered “No it isn’t, because even Black men who don’t sag their pants also get discriminated against.” Well no s**t, Sherlock! But for crying out loud, that doesn’t mean you should just walk around looking like a cheap hood and thug. The other day I was driving to work, and while stopped at a light, this young Black boy, looking 14-16, walks through the crosswalk in front of me. He’s got a phone in one hand and is talking on it, while his other is holding up his baggy pants. They were so loose that he had to hold his pants up with his hand in order to walk.

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Hello! There’s this fantastic new invention, it’s called a BELT.

And I wondered about his parents, why would they let him leave the house looking like that? Why even buy him pants that are two sizes too big for him? It’s disgraceful, man. Teach your kids some self-respect, and how to walk, talk, and carry themselves in public in a proud respectful manner. Not like THIS:

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I wouldn’t want these fools hanging out in MY neighborhood.

And lets call it what it is. This is thuggish-looking. Period. This isn’t just some harmless little fashion trend, like bell bottoms or Jheri curls. First, those trends eventually died out. But the saggin pants look has been around since I was in High School over 20 years ago! If anything, it’s gotten worse! It used to be that they worse their pants just low enough so that the waistband of their underwear was show, now they wear so their whole ass is showing!

Why is it still around? And it’s adapted from the look of convicts in prison! They take away your belt in prison, so you can’t use it as a weapon or to kill yourself. So that’s what you’re trying to look like?

No, if you walk around like that, it doesn’t mean that you are a thug, but it does mean that you want to look like one. And if you’re not one, then why the f**k do you want to look like one?!? And can you really get angry if you’re treated like one?!?

And before anyone even wastes my time in saying it, yes I know it’s not just Black males who wear saggin’ pants, okay?

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But I’m addressing Black people specifically here because this is MY community that we’re talking about. So that’s what I’m focused on.

And, for record, the somewhat-Libertarian side of me doesn’t agree with any proposed laws against saggin’ pants. We don’t need the government telling people how to dress. My point is that it shouldn’t even be necessary. We, and by “we” I mean BLACK PEOPLE, need to collectively reject this sort of thing, and say ENOUGH.

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14 comments

  3. First off I will say I am white, I don’t know and live through the struggle you do so I’m not going to act like I do. But I was about to post a blog about girls these days and how they dress and act predetermines how they are treated but it applys to both genders. I think I need to redo and add to that blog after reading this. I have always been opposed to saggy pants no matter who wears them! Please give your input on some of my blogs would like your insight!!

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  5. Why do they still wear sagging pants? Well, you pointed out in your post about how it originated in the prison and therein lies the reason. Our community seems to idolize prison culture and that may be the reason this will never die unfortunately.

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  9. I see so many young men with this saggin pants thing. I heard a black commentator on NPR say to a white person that he shouldn’t be scared of black guys who wear hoodies, but rather he should go up and introduce himself to them. That in the end blacks and whites all want the same thing. But she really missed the point, I don’t think the hoodie is the problem. It’s the look you have pictured above. And I think they want to be unapproachable with that saggin look. It’s laughable that I would go up and introduce myself to a group of guys dressed like that. And then I wonder: Do we all really want the same things? like the commentator said? I don’t know what these sagging men want and why they want to perpetuate this image.
    And I would even make the drastic comment that it’s not skin color. Hear me out. My son goes to school with a lot of kids whose parents are originally from India. When I see a group of boys perhaps with really dark skin but obviously of Indian decent, I think they are probably like the boys I’ve met who are nerdy and studying all the time and thinking about college. And then I think: Wow, we are all alike!
    I’m a teacher so I think education is everything. But I’m really confused about the thug image problem. How much of it is a white person’s perception problem?

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    • But I’m really confused about the thug image problem. How much of it is a white person’s perception problem?

      I don’t really think so. Like I said, the image of sagging pants IS “thug-ish”. It originated from guys in prison. So, no, every young man who dresses like that isn’t a thing, but they are purposely trying to dress like one. That is the image that they want to project. And that’s a problem, in my opinion.

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