I’m wondering if there is any real crime in Flint. Ofcourse I know the answer is to this question is yes so then the next question becomes  “do the cops in Flint not have more to worry about than the harm of saggy jeans”. Who hires these idiots, everyday people are being murdered, raped and a host of other violent crimes and you want to harrass people who wear their pants sagging.

It’s indecent and immoral, ok I hear you but what about the drugs being sold on the streets of Flint, the armed robberies, crimes that actually affect the well being of our communities. Make those crimes your priority not saggy jeans which is no more than a tacky fashion statement that I myself used to partake in.

Unless the real reason behind this saggy jeans thing is more remniscent of the broad view of racial profiling. The broad definition allows that you utilize race and other factors; ie. geography, dress, location, age and other factors to profile certain individuals. People who don the style of baggy, saggy jeans are more likely than not, young black males so this would give the police ammunition to approach young black males. Why? Because they fit the description and by wearing these saggy jeans, they are breaking the law.

So maybe the police chief has bigger hopes in mind. Maybe while taking these young black men off the streets for such a petty crime they will find drugs or some type of other criminal activity afoot during their harassment of these males. Just something to ponder!

Michigan police chief: Wear saggy pants, get arrested Flint’s top cop calls it ‘immoral self-expression,’ but others fear racial implications By BRYN MICKLE Newhouse News Service Published on: 06/27/08

This city’s new police chief is saying no to crack.

Interim Flint Police Chief David R. Dicks announced this week that officers will begin arresting people wearing pants or shorts that sag too low, exposing rear ends. “This immoral self-expression goes beyond free speech,” Dicks said in a statement released Thursday.”It rises to the crime of indecent exposure/disorderly persons.

” It’s a style that irks many — a few cities nationwide have outlawed the rear-revealing pants (the Atlanta City Council proposed a ban amid much debate, but the plan was ultimately tabled). However, the order also raises serious questions about how it would be enforced, whether it disproportionately targets young black men and whether ultra-low riders should be considered constitutionally protected.

Is Dicks going too far?

Greg Gibbs, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney in Flint, said how people wear their clothing is a form of expression but cautions that not all of those forms are protected by the Constitution.

“The issue is: Does it violate the First Amendment?” Gibbs asked.

Some Flint residents are all for busting those who go bottoms out. “It’s overdue,” said Sam Berry, 73, of Flint.

Gwendolyn R. Allen, 72, of Flint agreed: “It’s so disgusting … It’s disgraceful.” Claude Carter, 49, of Flint sees the issue differently, though. He said wearing pants in that manner is a fad — not a crime. “I see young and old wearing their pants that way,” said Carter. The crackdown on buttocks is an apparent response to “significant” complaints from citizens, according to Dicks. Under the chief’s orders, any sworn officer who sees “sagging/exposing buttocks” will have probable cause to make an arrest under the city’s disorderly person ordinance — a misdemeanor punishable by a $500 fine and three months in jail.

Flint NAACP President Frances Gilcreast is no fan of the style but worries about police focusing on young black men.

“My concern is how (the policy) will be applied equitably,” Gilcreast said. Some Flint police officers, however, aren’t too sure how they will enforce it. “What about ‘plumber’s crack’?” said Keith Speer, president of the Flint Police Officers Association. In the past, Speer said, officers would issue warnings if too much skin was showing but reserved the handcuffs for full moons. “Most of the time, if they’re wearing sagging pants, they’re also wearing boxers,” he said. Memo notwithstanding, Speer doesn’t expect any big changes in how officers handle the issue. “It’s like issuing a memo telling officers to enforce the law,” Speer said. “Are we going to get a memo every time somebody complains?”

The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme. - Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Louis Farrakhan is not my enemy. He did not put me in chains, he did not put me in slavery - Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Hillary is married to Bill, and Bill has been good to us. No he ain’t! Bill did us, just like he did Monica Lewinsky. He was riding dirty. - Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Living in Philadelphia from 2002 to 2007, I watched the neighborhood which surrounded Temple University transform. Blacks were moved out and whites were moved in; we had many town hall and discussions about this topic as concerned students. Depending on who the speaker was we would hear different terms used to describe this process. If white property owners were speaking ,we learned that what was happening to the community was a “beautification program”. If Black community members were speaking, this displacement was called “negro removal”.

No matter how you frame the situation, gentrification was happening in a community that was historically black and becoming increasingly white. I have many thoughts on this topic that I will save for now but I want to share with you something I recently read. This piece is an honest reflection of what it’s like for a caucasian man who moves into one of these neighborhoods that is not quite gentrified yet. I bring to you the words of famed author Marty Beckerman and his well written piece “Gentrify This”.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

When I moved to New York, I only had two days to find an apartment. Rents in “affluent” neighborhoods with numerous “young professionals” are considerably higher than in “up-and-coming” neighborhoods. Whereas I lived in a luxury building in D.C. with a gym, pool, doorman, deck, chandeliered lobby and (most lavish of all) dishwasher, I was suddenly—thanks to my desperate rush and journalist’s budget—in a neighborhood where the only appetizing-looking restaurant is a McDonald’s, save for a Mexican eatery that gave me a gastrointestinal holocaust.

To read more of this article go to:

http://www.jewcy.com/index.php?q=post/gentrify

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJusbALMMKI&hl=en]