The Battle Against Saggin'

Last year communities across the country passed laws seeking to confront an urgent national menace: saggy pants. The belted righteous took a hit last week in Mississippi, however, when the Jackson City Council voted against an ordinance that would have made it a crime to allow one's pants to droop below the beltline. Mayor Frank Melton, however, seemed unphased by the Council's ruling, and suggested he would enforce the statute via executive order. "I certainly respect the Constitution," Melton said, "but we have some issues that are much bigger than the Constitution."

When asked for his thoughts shortly before the election, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, no slouch to Constitutional law, called sagging-pants ordinances a "waste of time." But, he added, "brothers should pull their pants." Even Dallas rapper and ordained minister Dooney "Da Priest" weighed in, urging brothers to "Pull Your Pants Up!"

Despite the stereotype, saggin' is not simply a fashion trend among urban African-American males. Suburban mall-dwelling white teenagers with an irrational fetish for their nine-year-old sister's jeans are also letting their pants droop well below the waist. Perhaps those are the kids who will kill the trend once and for all.