You can now get a fine for sagging your pants in a Louisiana town after the town council voted 8-to-1 in favor of an ordinance Wednesday night that makes sagging illegal.
The Council of Terrebone Parish (a council that sounds mystical and awesome, but is being totally uncool here) has brought comfort to old people everywhere who somehow believe that the unstoppable whims of fashion could be corralled by law. A first offense for "sagging" will get the offender a $50 fine, while a third offense (this guy really loves sagging) will merit a $100 fine and 16 hours of community service.
The ordinance, which targets a fashion used mostly by young black men, was supported by the Terrebone NAACP president Jerome Boykin:
"There is nothing positive about people wearing saggy pants," Boykin said. "This is not a black issue, this is not a white issue, this is a people issue."
Wearing saggy pants comes from a prison mentality, Boykin said.
"Young men who were in prison who wanted to have sex with other men would send a signal to another man with his pants below his waist," he said.
Whoa, really? All these kids are just trying to do it with each other? Then we should let them be, man!
The NAACP of Louisiana has sent the parish a letter against the ban, decrying its fairly obvious unconstitutionality:
"To ban a particular clothing style would violate a liberty interest guaranteed under the 14th Amendment. The government does not belong in the business of telling people what to wear. Nor does it have the right to use clothing as a pretext to engage in otherwise unlawful stops of innocent people."
Cities and towns across the country have adopted similar ordinances targeting saggy pants and those who sag, mostly young black men who just have it so easy when it comes to law enforcement.