Back in the early 1990s, Tupac Shakur revealed his social consciousness with a track called “Brenda’s Got a Baby.”
When a peer shrugs off the news of the pregnancy by saying: “That’s not our problem, that’s up to Brenda’s family,” Shakur responds with: “Well let me show you how it affects the whole community.” He fleshes out how neglect, isolation and exploitation factor in, and how the smallest of issues needs attention to prevent them from becoming crisis-level events.
Dallas City Council member Dwaine Caraway is taking a similar approach, pushing forward with a larger focus and strategy in his crusade to change the mind-set and behavior of those choosing to sag their pants.
Obviously, as an aunt to teenaged nephews and a mother of a teenaged son, I applaud the official’s efforts. They don’t participate in the tacky trend (Darius’ jeans fit snugly at the waist, thank goodness). But many of their peers do, seemingly oblivious to how unkempt they look as well as where the popular practice originally comes from.
“We need more men and women to step in,” said Caraway, who spoke with me by phone while re-scheduling an upcoming “Sagging Summit” to the first week of August because of growing interest and media coverage. “Do I overlook it and not do anything, fully knowing the effect that it’s going to have on youngsters, or do I, as an elected official, speak out?”
After recently shopping at a grocery store and being subjected to the sight of dingy underwear courtesy of a young man’s pair of “how-low-can-they-go?” drooping pants, Caraway decided that enough was enough. He decided to renew the campaign with an emphasis on knowledge and peer pressure.
“A lot of these sagging folks have dads who aren’t involved with them, yet some of these kids do have fathers in the home and still sag. And because there are single moms out here pulling double duty, I asked for the men to step up to the plate. Sometimes these guys need to have a man talk to them, and then it wouldn’t be just ‘old Dwaine Caraway,’” he said.
“It’s not about me being an elected official, it’s about society, respect for women, and showing these young men to have respect for themselves. Hopefully, we’ll be able to dialogue at the summit and reach the point where 90 percent of them will sag no longer.”
It’s disquieting enough that a style necessitated for prison life has caught fire in both urban and suburban areas. A style that originated from inmates who were unable to wear belts is now proudly worn as a symbol of “keeping it real.”
Eschewing potential dates or job opportunities isn’t “gangsta,” and no point is being made and it’s not at all amusing or funny.
I hear what the detractors are saying: Sagging isn’t as bad as unemployment, teen pregnancy, generational poverty or the abysmal high school dropout rate.
But in time, mimicking the haphazard dress of newly-released criminals can contribute to those maladies. And as Shakur and Caraway have so astutely pointed out, ignoring symptoms only leads to a greater outbreak of larger problems. Problems that, in this case, can impact more than just those who choose to waddle around in their oversized pants.
