Sagging pants? Can't stand them. Think it is the dumbest looking fashion statement anyone ever came up with. But criminal? That's pushing it a little too far. Obviously if there is no underwear, the sagging pants will reveal bare bottoms, and that might not be legal. But as much as we may not like it, seeing someone's boxer shorts will not hurt any of us.
Corporations should be allowed to decide for themselves what they find to be an appropriate dress code. But without having this in writing, how should they enforce it without falling in to the traps of discrimination and racism?
Deshon Marman, a defensive player for University of New Mexico, was recently asked by a US Airways ticket agent to pull up his pants. He stated he would comply once he reached his seat. Instead of that being the end of the story, the captain had him kicked off the flight, arrested, shackled and jailed - after he was in his seat, and his pants were pulled up.
US Airways admittedly has no written dress code for their passengers, and only six days prior to the episode involving Mr. Marman, they allowed a white male to fly wearing women's underwear and nothing else....and that is not offensive? Can you say double standard?
The local District Attorney's office did not pursue the charges, determining that criminal charges were not warranted. However, the airline stands by its staff's behavior calling it "professional", and has so far refused to issue an apology (and the refund they promised him). Nor have they answered the charges of discrimination made by Mr. Marman's family and the San Francisco NAACP.
ColorOfChange.org is calling attention to this matter stating "The double standard faced by Deshon is connected to a larger problem Black youth face with a legal system that punishes and criminalizes them at higher rates, even when there is no difference in behavior. We cannot allow businesses like US Airways to follow the trend. We must hold them to a standard of conduct that does not discriminate, condone double standards or violate anyone's civil rights." You can read more about their movement here
Outside of telling us where and when we need to cover up - at least certain body parts, I truly think we are all capable of deciding for ourselves how we want to and should dress. If however, the cities with ordinances against sagging pants win in the court system, I strongly urge them to also consider adding speedos on the beach, wrongly fitted bras, wrong style T-Shirts for body type, and squeeze tight jeans so low the underwear shows, to the list of "illegal" clothing.
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