Saggin'

I can't understand why so many African American and Southeast Asian prisoners sag their pants. They wwear their paints or shorts halfway down to their buttocks. What kind of fashion statement does it make by exposing the cracks of their buttocks for all to see?!

Back in the old days, a prisoner saggin' his pants was an invitation for sexual advances. With the Pepsi generation, it's fashionable; it's cool; it's being a gangster.

For some prisoners, saggin' can be a shield for his safety. He can be wearing a tight pair of jeans and others would think that he's a homosexual. If he sagged his jeans with buttocks exposed, people just think he's crazy or in with the fashion. It's about group identification.

What I can't figure out is why prisoners who are in their mid-thirties think that exposing their buttocks is cool. It's the same reason why I don't understand how some African Americans use the word "nigga" and not feel degraded just being it's spelled differently.

There are a couple of Southeast Asian youngsters who I hang out with who sag their pants. When they come around me, I pull their pants down to their ankles. They pull their pants up instead of saggin'. They know what statement I am making. However, when they're on their own, the crack of their buttocks is exposed for all to see.

Where is the self respect?