Quote Originally Posted by BlueCat00
one of my boys wears so called gangsta clothing.....it is just the dress of the day...like bell bottoms in the 60s or black leather in the 50s
It can be very hard for Blacks to make the change for themselves when there is still so much descrimination out there....just look at some of these comments...the playing field is by no means leveled.
It IS gangster clothing.

Kids today are emulating the clothing of urban criminals. The "gansta" clothing is based on the way prisoners look when they are going to prison. The untied shoelaces are a tribute to the untying of shoelaces by police officers when accused, or convicted, criminals are transported to court or jails to make it harder to escape. Similarly, the extremely baggy jeans are a reference to ill-fitting jail clothes.

Boys think that acting, and talking, like urban minority criminals makes them "sexy" to girls, and "tough" to their peers. It's pathetic to see suburbanite kids emulating this scum. In the past, the bell-bottoms were available at Army and Navy stores, then they were made for marketing in regular fashion stores, and other military styles even became popular with the 60's generation. This may have been to give a sense of irony to the war in VietNam - you know, long hair and old army uniforms, or uniform-type clothing, but I think that it was a far better idea than what the kids today are doing. Additionally, military clothing for men and women looks GOOD - it is designed to make people look their best, and garment experts understood this. Leather Jackets are functional, and preferred by motorcycle riders who would rather shed the jacket than their skin in the event of an accident. I don't ride a motorcycle, but I always wear a leather "bomber" jacket when I ride my bicycle in the winter. The "bomber" is also a military style, developed for the air force. I used to have an original one, that I bought used in the late 1960's.

If these middle-class kids really knew what living in the South Bronx, the gutters of Brooklyn, and the communities of other urban enclaves for criminals was really like in the 1970â??s and 80â??s, theyâ??d have a different view of their preferred attire.