Saggy-pants ban backers gain ally

COLUMBIA — Drooping drawers are beginning to look like Public Enemy No. 1.

State Sen. Robert Ford is the latest to try to bust the sag. And as sure as politicians have opinions, he won't be the last to hitch his star to the issue.

Ford said Friday that he wants to take local efforts to ban the clothing style one step further by trying to stop it with a new state law, but a host of critics, including civil liberty groups, have come forward.

The Charleston Democrat said he believes that sagging pants worn below the underwear line — a style widely believed to have come from emulating prisoners who are not allowed to wear belts — is a setback.

"If these guys want to look like prisoners, what's the next step?" Ford said. "We, those of us who fought civil rights battles in the '60s and early '70s, anticipated wonderful things for African-Americans once we broke down a lot of barriers.

"This generation hasn't built upon anything except destructive stuff."

Other black leaders think Ford's approach is all wrong, including Rep. David Mack, D-North Charleston, and Lonnie Randolph, president of the South Carolina State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"What we've chosen to do in our organization is try and teach our young people the right way to dress and the right way to present themselves," Randolph said.

The better approach is for parents, clergy, school officials and community leaders to intervene, Randolph said.

He called Ford's comments on young blacks an "unfair and inaccurate assessment," noting that a majority of young people don't dress like that, and neither is it a style only worn by blacks.

What's more, Randolph said he might not agree with the style, but either way people have a right to wear it.

"Where do we go next? Is a preacher's robe too long? Is a lady's dress too short? We are standing on thin ice and treading in dangerous waters," he said.

Mack said he's discussed the topic during his early morning radio show on WZJY-AM 1480, and the reaction to the idea has been split. His personal take on it is that the state doesn't need a specific law to ban one style of clothing when indecent exposure laws could be altered to deal with all clothing — worn by men and women — that are just too revealing for public.

The matter has been controversial everywhere it has been brought up. Earlier this week, three Charleston city councilmen announced that they want to consider a ban.

Ford said he wants to help James Lewis, Robert Mitchell and Wendell Gilliard in the fight and plans to offer public comments at Tuesday's council meeting.

Similar efforts across the country have faced big challenges with enforceability and constitutionality. Statewide bans proposed in Louisiana and Virginia have failed. An attempt to outlaw the style in Atlanta has been languishing in committee since 2007.

An ordinance in Jasper County is pending final approval. Council instructed the administrator and county attorney to research concerns, and it is expected to be discussed again in September.

"I've gotten a pretty good response, about 70, 75 percent pro," said Councilman LeRoy Blackshear of Hardeeville, who first raised the idea about nine months ago.

Graham Boyd, interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union South Carolina Office, said on a cursory review it seems clear the courts would not uphold an effort to impose a dress code on the general public, unlike in schools.

"The government can't tell the general public how to dress," Boyd said. He noted that the ACLU here has not taken an official stance on the matter.

Still, Ford said he wants to see South Carolina put an end to the style.

"If the civil liberty boys don't have enough sense, let them fight it," Ford said. "We won't stand for it anymore."