No Baggy Pants, No Blacks Allowed

23 Oct 2009

Students from Washington University in St. Louis raised civil rights complaints Thursday against a popular Chicago nightclub after six African-Americans were denied entry under the bar’s “no baggy pants” policy — even as fellow students said the bar admitted similarly dressed white students.

“It’s pretty demoralizing,” said Regis Murayi, 21, the senior class treasurer who helped organize the Chicago trip for the college’s senior outing but was not allowed into the bar Saturday night as many of his friends partied inside wearing special wristbands. “We had prearranged this agreement. We had spoken to these people prior. We had brought a lot of business to them.”

Representatives of the Original Mother’s bar, 26 W. Division St., said security concerns, not racism, guided their decision to exclude the six students and four friends.

When I was a kid, there were only a few things one could do to show definitively one’s gang affiliation: you could display a gang tattoo, sport a certain color of bandanna, or throw up gang signs. Sure, you could also wear certain clothes (e.g. a Pendleton wool shirt with three creases in the back and two in the front, plus Dickie or Ben Davis work pants, and Nike Cortez shoes), but that usually wasn’t enough as a lot of other Chicanos appreciated Pendletons and Nike Cortez shoes equally. Much of LA gang fashion was derived from the Chicano (Pachuco) culture that started to erupt in the 1940s. Some of this fashion-sense, as it were, was also shared with African-Americans as the Zoot Suit Culture permeated both communities in those days.

baggy-jeans Even today, a lot of urban black and brown fashion is shared with gang bangers; that’s just the way it is. In Chicago–my current home–baggy pants are a staple of all kids. Yes gangsters “sagg,” but so do a lot of the “cool” youth. It ‘s not even just Latinos or African-Americans. I can’t count the number of white kids who wear baggy pants and listen to hip-hop on their ipods–it’s just normal here. That’s why I was appalled that there could exist a nightclub owner in Chicago that would not understand that. Yes, we deal with de facto segregation every day. Yes, the nightclub is in the Gold Coast, a wealthy and predominately white part of downtown. But a “no baggy pants rule?” Seriously?

Note that the students weren’t even sagging (nothing like the guys in the above pic). Perhaps most tellingly, the black students changed clothing but were still denied access. Also, some of their white friends put on the same baggy pants and returned to the club–they were allowed to enter!!! I’m not a guy who cries racism at every turn, but this certainly smells like it to me.

Tags: Baggy pants, chicago, civil rights lawsuit, hip-hop, Mother's bar (the original), Original Mother's Bar, segregation, St. Louis, Washington University, Zoot Suit

8 Responses to No Baggy Pants, No Blacks Allowed

lowry taylor

October 23rd, 2009 at 9:58 am

I worked for Lodge Management, in the early ’90s, as an African American, working as a Doorman/barback, my job, often was to check other African Americans. Often, I was told to request to see two forms of ID, from African Americans and was not instructed to ask for two from white or non African Americans. I am glad this happened and I hope they, the students pursue this to the fullest.

Angel Romero

October 23rd, 2009 at 10:14 am

Dress like a man not a thug and maybe people won’t judge you as so. Lawsuit? LOL good luck on that one, the right to refuse anyone at the door at any establishment for dress code. Tired of seeing that crap when I go out. You got money for Jordans but not for an outfit to look decent and presentable to go out or even go to a job interview. Step your game up and stop complaining!

Kay-Dogg

October 23rd, 2009 at 10:15 am

baggy pants are and always have been a ridiculous “fashion” statement. yeah, i know, it says, I don’t give a f@!# and whatever. i call them penis pants, which can make for really funny opportunities to observe because if not enough uh package or beltage, the pants fall down or if the ‘drawers’ underneath have a hole in them or if the said penis pants wearer trips and falls, HI-LAR-E-US.

i could go on a tirade about how “fashion” has ensnared our culture. i say, be a person, not a marketing billboard for some overly profitable and exploitative clothing maker by paying them insane amounts of money to paste their logo on your ass.

my “leftist” opinions on this matter aside… the fashion really isn’t the problem here…

if the same “fashion” regardless of whatever it is, is treated differently for different populations, then there’s a problem.

and people are quick to insert their framework on a situation. for example the other weekend, i was working a huge volunteer project and i had a group of teens responsible for painting a letter on a 2′ x 3′ plywood piece. the pieces spelled out the name of the school and we were to hang them on the outside of the school. one of the male students decided he didn’t like his effort and asked if he could repaint his. sure, i said, as his friends tried to convince him it was fine. he wanted to repaint, so repaint we did.

he practiced his letter, “S” and several of his friends were creating different styles for him to use. a teacher came over and saw the examples and whispered to me, “oh, no, they are making gang signs, aren’t you going to stop them?” I was so shocked, it took me a few minutes to process.

assumption, latino male, fifteen or sixteen years old = gang banger. what a burden to impose on any kid. and i don’t know too many gang bangers that participate in school volunteer days with their classmates, fathers and mothers, assumption on my part.

people see “kids” of color in baggy pants and their CSI / Law & Order vision of the world kicks into overdrive. i hear it all the time from my relatives, from grocery store clerks, from cops. they have one encounter or some cases multiple encounters and the brush gets to be very, very broad.

our legal system, constitutionally speaking, can void a law because it focuses too narrowly or too broadly with its brush stroke. and i do believe dress codes hold up in court, but only when the code is imposed equally and the club is one open to the public as a profit making venture.

it amazes me how people are so quick to judge, i understand the concern, we hear everyday (very biased, I might add) stories about another kid getting beaten or killed. people are scared. but if you’re so scared of people or only certain people, you will have to face up to your choices to paint too narrowly or too broadly. especially when you have arranged to have people come into your business prior without notice of any “dress code”.

immutable characteristics (and yes I include sexual orientation all my bible abusing “friends”) do not signal danger, unless of course you’re talking about sociopaths and fox anews–(sorry, philosophical reference)–regurgitaters. see? assumptions…i’m sure there’s someone at fox with a brain struggling for air, surely, somewhere.

oh geez, mr rey, you got me all pissed off this morning. nice work

Rey Lopez-Calderon

October 23rd, 2009 at 10:16 am

Angel, did you read the post, view the video? The guy was wearing a Pea Coat and slightly baggy jeans–the same jeans the shorter white guy put on and was allowed to enter! they weren’t sagging. My point was that even if they were sagging, that does not equal violence or a security concern anymore than being merely a certain color does.

Good point Kayleigh about corporate pimping of folk via fashion. That said I do still remember the baggy pants craze in LA. It was really just wearing pants bigger than normal and letting them “sagg.” The corporations caught on to that rebellious fashion (as you describe it) much later and then mainstreamed it. You’re right this is not about fashion; it’s about race. But wearing baggy pants, like the act of drawing an S in your example, is a convenient excuse to keep people of color in check.

Thanks Lowry for sharing a behind-the-scenes perspective.

Carlos Cumpian

October 23rd, 2009 at 3:16 pm

What is the TRUE origin of this fashion style? My student ***** was out walking in Little Village last week end when a team of opposing gang members step out of the alley and opened fire on him and his father. The large baggy clothes gave the shooters a bigger target and they hit the outside his body bur penetrated his xxxl jacket and xlarge sagg pants.
Is this one of the factors why kids wear these large clownish-looking outfits? What’s your deepest understanding on the matter? Prison inspired extra large no one can cares sizes??? ( from a man who never sagged as a fashion statement.)

Carlos Cumpian

October 23rd, 2009 at 3:38 pm

What a hassle to have to run in a pair of saggy-ass pants…