Dress Wrong, and You’ll Be Fined or Jailed

Access North Georgia website stated they were proposing a new law!

“Proposed amendment would pull up sagging pants in Atlanta”

The Associated Press – ATLANTA

Baggy pants that show boxer shorts or thongs would be illegal under a proposed amendment to Atlanta’s indecency laws.The amendment sponsored by city councilman C.T. Martin, states that sagging pants are an “epidemic” that is becoming a “major concern” around the country.“Little children see it and want to adopt it, thinking it’s the in thing,” Martin said Wednesday. “I don’t want young people thinking that half-dressing is the way to go. I want them to think about their future.”

The proposed ordinance would also bar women from showing the strap of a thong beneath their pants. They would also be prohibited from wearing jogging bras in public or show a bra strap, said Debbie Seagraves, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.

The proposed ordinance states that “the indecent exposure of his or her undergarments” would be unlawful in a public place. It would go in the same portion of the city code that outlaws sex in public and the exposure or fondling of genitals.The penalty would be a fine in an amount to be determined, Martin said.But Seagraves said any legislation that creates a dress code would not survive a court challenge. She said the law could not be enforced in a nondiscriminatory way because it targets something that came out of the black youth culture.“This is a racial profiling bill that promotes and establishes a framework for an additional type of racial profiling,” Seagraves said.

Martin, who is black, said he plans to hold public hearings and vet the proposal through churches, civil rights groups and neighborhood organizations. The proposal will get its first public airing next Tuesday in the City Council’s Public Safety Committee.“The purpose of the paper is to generate some conversation to see if we can find a solution,” Martin said. “It will be like all the discussions we’ve had around the value of the hip-hop culture. We know there are First Amendment issues … and some will say I’m just trying to put young black men in jail, but it’s going to be fines.”

Makeda Johnson, an Atlanta mother of a 14-year-old girl, said she is glad Martin introduced the proposal. She does not want to see a law against clothing, but said she thinks teenagers are sending a message with a way of dressing that is based in jailhouse behavior.Atlanta would not be the first city to take on sagging pants.Earlier this year, the town council in Delcambre, La., passed an ordinance that carries a fine of up to $500 or six months in jail for exposing underwear in public. Several other municipalities and parish governments in Louisiana have enacted similar laws in recent months.

http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=96699

In my opinion, I personally do not like the saggy pants syndrome but it is sad to see that someone thinks that adapting a way of like from a prison is acceptable. However, I do think it is a waste of time to pursue such thing because this has been going on for decades. This isn’t just a fashion statement that started yesterday. I am a designer and telling someone that they are going to be fined for showing there thong or bra strap is absurd. I can’t see them passing a law like this because it’s so many loop holes that they will have to work out. For example if your a female walking down the street and its a hot summer day and you have on a tank top and a bra underneath, will someone run over and give you ticket just because your strap is showing. Or how about when you see someone bending down and by accident you see there underwear’s will you get a $500 dollar fine for that also.

Now don’t get me wrong some people wear there pants sagging to the floor, that is a fashion statement that I don’t agree upon, but this has a very low chance of passing, and even if it does, the ACLU will take it to court and it will get declared unconstitutional anyway.

“Little children see it and want to adopt it, thinking it’s the in thing,” Martin said Wednesday. “I don’t want young people thinking that half-dressing is the way to go. I want them to think about their future.”

“This statement makes me upset because we live in a world where if the adults can’t get what they want they try to use another avenue by using the “children as an example”. I believe it starts from the home, parents need to step up and take MORE responsibility and teach their children some basic teachings about life. Your children won’t think, “half-dressing is the way to go” if you teach them some morals and how to present themselves with dignity and respect. Children go through phases in life…Everyday someone is probably yelling at their kid saying “Dwayne if you don’t pull you pants up on your waist, I’m tired of looking at your ass!!”. Some people break out of that habit some don’t, but majority of the people in the world don’t dress like that.