The NAACP is now claiming that legislation to ban students from wearing low-riding pants is unconstitutional discrimination. That’s right. The Civil War and the 14th amendment have been reduced to vindicating the rights of people to wear low-riding pants, leaving their skivvies exposed to the light of day.
The Florida branch of the NAACP says a bill that would ban students from wearing their pants too low could lead to more legal trouble for black males. Orlando Senator Gary Siplin’s bill was approved 28-11 last week by the Florida Senate. The bill calls for no criminal sanctions, but it would prohibit students from wearing pants low so that they expose undergarments. Violators would receive a warning for a first offense, and suspensions from school would be issued for each subsequent infraction. NAACP President Adora Obi Nweze called it a “clearly discriminatory bill.” Other groups such as the Advancement Project, a Washington social advocacy organization, say the proposal is directed primarily at black males and could lead to arrests.
Needless to say, the claim of discrimination is questionable as a matter of Constitutional law. Although many of the legislators who have introduced these bills represent predominantly black neighborhoods, the laws are framed in racially neutral terms. I would also argue it is unclear that they will have a discriminatory effect since plenty of white youths have appropriated this fashion.
