Opelousas Chief of Police Donald Thompson asked the city council to ban sagging pants, showing that racism is still alive in Louisiana.
People who break the ordinance could pay up to $200 in fines and go to jail for up to 30 days.
“It’s something that I think that’s very disrespectful here in this city for citizens of Opelousas,” Thompson said to Lafayette’s broadcasting station, KATC. “It’s inappropriate, and it’s time that some city ordinance is put in place to enforce that.”
I find it more inappropriate to systemically force opinions on people for no reason. Thompson doesn’t offer any substance to his proposal. He wants to ban sagging pants because he doesn’t like that fashion choice.
Thompson also said he feels so strongly about this ban he’d be willing to go to court over it.
The ironic part about this story is Thompson is an African-American man, the obvious target for this sagging ban.
And yes, this ban is still a form of racism even if an African American proposed it.
It would be like if a gay man supported a bill to make gay marriage illegal just because he didn’t like marriage. It’s still homophobic even though a gay man supports it.
As long as we’re banning different clothing styles, let’s ban lamp shading (wearing an oversized shirt over short athletic shorts) and the use of leggings as pants.
I find lamp shading and leggings to be disrespectful to Louisiana residents. It’s inappropriate, and it’s time that some ordinance is put in place to enforce that.
Now do you see why that wouldn’t work? Most of LSU’s sorority girls would be in jail.
Just like a ban on lamp shading would disproportionately incarcerate sorority girls, banning sagging pants would disproportionately target African Americans.
I know from personal experience that Opelousas has more to worry about than sagging pants.
I grew up there and graduated from Opelousas High School.
The textbooks hadn’t been updated since the ’90s, the lockers were wooden and falling apart and the graduation rate was extremely low. For the most part, students learned outdated material.
My mom works at a school that can’t afford toilet paper for their students. Teachers have to stand outside the stalls and ration out toilet paper to students.
Outside of the schools, Opelousas was much worse. Rundown buildings dominated the city. Home Security Shield rated Opelousas as being the sixth most dangerous city in Louisiana, the crime rate being 90 per 1,000 residents. You have a one in 11 chance of being a victim of a crime in Opelousas.
According to City Data, the median household income for Opelousas residents is $20,741. That’s less than half of Louisiana’s median income of $42,944 and below the federal poverty line for a family of four at $23,850.
But instead of worrying about these problems, Opelousas officials are trying to act as fashion police and make a clothing style illegal.
A ban on sagging pants won’t keep Opelousas residents from going hungry. It won’t educate the people in that city, and it won’t fix any of the economic problems for its residents.
This ban will just divert time and taxes away from dealing with real problems in the city and toward this ridiculous ban.
The people in Opelousas don’t need fashion police. They need better education and more revenue.
Cody Sibley is a 19-year-old mass communication freshman from Opelousas, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter at @CodySibley.