Monday, August 8, 2011

Letter from a college student - SAGGIN' PANTS




Letter from a college student to Young Black Boys and Men Who Wear Saggin' Pants

The other day, a friend of mine visited me in the lobby of my dorm
just to chat while her laundry was drying. As we were chatting, two
young freshmen came by. One of the 2 boys wanted to 'talk' to my
friend (as in date). She asked him how old they were, and both of
the boys replied 18. My friend and I both laughed hysterically
because we are both 22 years old.
After my friend left, the young men were still hanging around and
one wanted to know how he could gain her interest.

The first thing I told him to do was to pull up his pants! He asked
why, and then said he liked saggin ' his pants. I told him to come
over to my computer and spell the word saggin'. Then I told him to
write the word saggin ' backwards.

S-A-G-G-I-N
N-I-G- G-A-S

I told him the origin of that look was from centuries ago. It was
the intent of slave owners to demoralize the field workers by
forbidding them to wear a belt as they worked in the fields or at
any other rigorous job. In addition, men in prison wore their pants
low when they were 'spoken for'. The other reason their pants looked
like that was they were not allowed to have belts because prisoners
were likely to try to commit suicide. And, saggin' pants prevents
you from running.

We as young Black people have to be the ones to effect change. We
are dying. The media has made a mockery of the Black American. Even
our brothers and sisters from Africa don't take us seriously.
Something as simple as pulling up your pants and standing with your
head held high could make the biggest difference in the world's
perception of us. It is time to do right by ourselves. We need to
love and embrace each other. No one is going to do that for us.

It all comes down to perception. What people perceive is what
reality to them is. We have to change not only the media's
perception of us, but we need to change our perception of ourselves.

Remember all eyes are on you Black Man. All eyes are on you Black
Woman. All eyes are on your Black Child. People point the finger at
us and expect us to engage in negative and illegal activities, to
manifest loud, boisterous behavior, to spend our hard earned money
in their stores, buying goods we don't need, or really want. We have
allowed not only the media, but the government and the world to
portray us as a 'sub-culture. ' They have stripped our culture down
to the point where the image of Black people is perpetuated as
rappers, athletes, drug users, and consumers of junk food, expensive
tennis shoes, expensive cars, expensive TVs, cell phones and not
investing in homes for our families.
We are so much more!!!!!!!

To all our Black Men : It's time to stand up. There are billions of
Black Women who want to do nothing more than worship the ground that
you walk on. We are so in love with your potential. We want to have
your back, we want to love, support and cherish every ounce of your
being. But with that you have to show that you are willing to be the
head of our households. You have to prove yourselves worthy of our
submission. We need you to be hard working...Not a hustler. We need
you to seek higher education, to seek spirituality. We need you to
stand! And trust us; we will have your back. We know that it gets
hard. We know you get weary. Trust and believe that there is nothing
that a Black Man and a Black Woman can't handle with GOD on their
side.

To all our Black Women : It is also time for you to stand up. It is
time for you to stop using our bodies as our primary form of
communication. It is time to be that virtuous woman that Proverbs
spoke of. You cannot sit by the wayside while our men are dying by
the masses. You are the epitome of Black Love. It starts within you.
You need to speak with conviction to let not only our Black Men
know, but the world, that you are the Mothers of this world. You are
so powerful. You are so beautiful. You need to love and embrace
every blessing God has given us physically, emotionally and
spiritually.

For all our Black Children : We need to love them. We need to teach
them. We need to stand up for them. We need to protect them. We need
to show them that there are no 'get rich quick' schemes. We need to
tell them that they WILL die trying if they submit to a life of
crime and deceit. We need to teach our children that no one will
love them the way we can. And being a basketball player, a rapper,
or a drug dealer is not reality. It's not realistic and only a small
percentage of people ever make it as a rapper or professional
athlete. We need to teach our children that we can be more than
rappers and athletes. We can be the owners of these sports teams. We
can be the CEO's of OUR fortune 500 companies. We need to believe in
literacy.

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