Trends are trends - nothing more, nothing less. Although, through mainstream media, this trend has shot from the 'hood to the suburbs faster than wildfire, it still is just a trend. Many people immediately associate gang members, hoodlums, and thugs to sagging pants. What I like to call the "baggy clothes policy."

In all actuality, there are college kids, kids from the suburbs, and blue collar workers sharing the same fashion statement as criminals. One must assume that the negative association with sagging is completely inaccurate. I agree. It's not a professional look, but it is time for America to stop judging books by their cover.

Don't blame the youth; it's the entertainers that convey this message. Many people are just imitating what they see on TV. Kids see entertainers sagging their pants and just follow suit because it's the "in trend." But each generation needs its scapegoat. In the past it has been the hippies and their long hair, now it's the hip-hoppers and their sagging pants.

But when do we as parents start blaming ourselves and stop blaming other people for how our kids dress? Parents see their children day in and day out, so they should be the first to tell them to pull up their pants.

No one can teach your child better than you can. That was Presidential candidate Barrack Obama's main point in last month's speech in Philadelphia. He went on to say, "Go into any inner-city neighborhood and folks will tell you that government alone can't teach kids to learn. They know that parents have to parent, that children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white." (Quoted from Workers Vanguard No. 832, 17 March 2008)

To me, Obama is saying it's up to the parents to raise the expectations of the youth. Basically, if there aren't parents that will take the time out to chastise their son, then why should anyone else?

In the past, the things people have worn should have landed them in jail. From platform shoes to tie-dye shirts, they all should be a crime. But the fashion police don't exist. Or do they?

On June 11, 2007, Alvin O'Neal, Democratic town councilman in Stratford, Louisiana made sagging in the small town illegal. I am as concerned about the reputation of the youth as the next person, but a fine up to six hundred dollars and possible jail time for six months is not the answer. This is a blatant infringement on teens' rights as Americans. There's no doubt that this trend has a negative image on young males, but you can't change how people think if they don't want to.

"It's disgusting," said Dottie Calinda, a 69-year-old Stratford resident. "It's like a contest to see who looks worse. And they all look like thugs or criminals," Calinda told the New York Times.

A common misconception is that jail is where this fashion statement started. It is true that belts are prohibited because inmates hung themselves with them, but it is not likely the fashion originated there.

Where did sagging originate? Most likely sagging originated in West Coast gangs and then became common in jails. Many rappers that came on the scene in the 1990s were West Coast rappers, and with their new fame they brought a new style of wearing their clothes.

So the negative correlation between sagging and crime is understood. But that was in the early '90s when sagging was introduced to the masses through West Coast gangster rappers. However, like many trends it has evolved. It has evolved from a trend that represented gang activity and negativity, to a trend that is worn to be comfortable and which represents nothing.

Recently, I had a personal experience with saggging. I was at a gas station and an older white male approached me and asked me, "Why do people choose to get pants so big and to make their pants saggy?" I was immediately offended, wondering, "Why did he ask me this question?" I was still in my church clothes. Why he approached me left me baffled. Why did he ask me? Could it be that I was the stereotype he was referring to? Either way I answered, "I don't know. I ask myself the same thing."

Of course, in the business world, there is a level of respect lost with this trend. I have no personal vendetta against sagging, but I have no respect for a person conducting business while sagging. How can you respect someone in the business world with their pants around their ankles? You can't. And until the youth understands, society's view on sagging won't change.

I wouldn't expect someone to go to a job interview or church with their pants down to their ankles, and I wouldn't expect someone to go play basketball in tight fitting clothes or dress clothes.

In reality, discrimination against sagging seems to boil down to discrimination against the youth. It might not necessarily be the act of sagging that is being discriminated against, but the teenager that is sagging his pants that is being discriminated against. Sagging is associated with negativity and always will be. So even in your "Sunday best," be prepared to be discriminated against because of the "baggy clothes policy."

Tell us what you think. Write Spectrum at editor@mcckc.edu.

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