PANTS HANGIN' DOWN

Hooray for U S Airways: It is reported that a University of New Mexico Football player was denied passage on his flight to Albuquerque because he refused to pull up his pants. At some point he was arrested for indecent exposure and taken to jail.

He was interviewed on national television where he stated that his pants not below his buttocks and were only a few inches below his waist line....HUH. Don't look like it to me.

His mother then spoke on a video in his defense saying that he had just come from the funeral of a friend, and was emotionally distraught.....HUH?

Well,, this is a good example of what I intend to talk about. I don't recall just when or where I learned this, but I have been unde the impression for several years that low hanging pants were first seen in the ghettos where many, if not most children wore trousers that were too large for them because the only clothes they had available were "hand-me downs" from older and larger siblings.

But why did it become a "fashion statement"? I was totally surprised when the grandmother of young white relative purchased the low hangings pants for her grandson. She definitely could have afforded several traditional trousers, but she wanted him to have "fashionable" clothes, HUH?

OK, so I am a senior citizen, and the new "fashion" look gives me a chill when I see a young, healthy man wearing pants that would fall to his knees if he failed to hitch 'em up every once in awhile. It has been so closely associated with "gang" life that I would be fearful if there was no one else around. Then hang an annoying, loud and offensive boom box spouting "rap" deragoratories of "Poolice", calling their "women" Bitches, etc., Oh well, guess you got the picture.

Where the Hell are the mothers and grandmothers of these young folks? You can be sure that any child that I would have had responsibility of, would NOT be going outside the house with their "pants fallin' down". I hired a very nice young man a couple of years ago to help with my yard work and weeding. He came to me asking for the work, and I was more than happy to have him. He came with his pants hanging down. We talked a lot and he was a child who needed someone to be responsible for him. He and his mother were being evicted from the place where they lived with the mothers "boyfriend". Then things went from bad to worse for him as his mother broker her ankle and ended up in the hospital over the weekend. He said they had moved, but didn't say where. In the meantime he had earned enough money to buy a new lawn mower. He was proud of the lawn mower and he made a good purchase.

Soon after that I asked him to wear a belt the next time he came to work, he didn't seem offended. At least as much as I was as his butt crack showed every time he bent over. He left that day and left the lawn mower here. Trying to reach him on his mothers cell phone#, I finally got an answer. It was unintelligable, she was either drunk or drugged up, sidn't even know who I was talking about when I asked her to tell him that I wasn't angry with him and if he needed too he could leave his lawn mower here until he needed it. He did not come by or call for the rest of the summer and I was worried about having his lawn mower. On the advice of another of my relatives I called the police to check on the serial number to make sure it wasn't stolen. And it was not. I thought perhaps he and his mother were in a homeless shelter. But early the next spring the young man showed up to collect his lawn mower. He was proud that would be graduating the following month and that he was living in a nearby community and had two jobs he was working also. He was dressed appropriately, but was accompanied by another lady and her daughter. I assumed that he was now in foster care. He was a nice young man who needed someone to guide him and to keep him off the streets. I hope he as followed through.

But back to the young athlete who is a college student and a football player: He needs more people like U S Airways to let him know that his attire is not appropriate, not a mother who supports this kind of dress or his actions. I also wonder if he had been to the funeral of a friend, was his friends' death due to Gang violence?

Dressing in Gang recognizable attire does not make one a Gang Member, but it could also be recognized as a "Gang Wanna Be". So in an attempt to dress, or allow your children to dress in this way may be opening the door to a violent amd drug using future.