We've all heard jokes about the "fashion police" going after so and so for what they wear. Now the jokes have come true:
It's a fashion that started in prison, and now the saggy pants craze has come full circle — low-slung street strutting in some cities may soon mean run-ins with the law, including a stint in jail.
Proposals to ban saggy pants are starting to ride up in several places. At the extreme end, wearing pants low enough to show boxers or bare buttocks in one small Louisiana town means six months in jail and a $500 fine. A crackdown also is being pushed in Atlanta. And in Trenton, getting caught with your pants down may soon result in not only a fine, but a city worker assessing where your life is headed.
"Are they employed? Do they have a high school diploma? It's a wonderful way to redirect at that point," said Trenton Councilwoman Annette Lartigue, who is drafting a law to outlaw saggy pants. "The message is clear: We don't want to see your backside."
OK, I don't want to see their backsides, either, and if schools want to ban the look, it might cut down on distractions in the classroom. But city ordinances to dictate the way people dress? Mabe we just ought to have city uniforms so police can quickly determine who belongs and who needs to be run out of town.
Unless plumbers and construction workers are going to be targeted as enthusiastically as teenagers, I might find myself on the same side as the ACLU on the issue. More needless legal clutter.
