By Ivan Pereira
State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) wants today’s youth to shape up from the bottom up — literally — and has taken to the streets to get his message across.
The elected official joined fellow Albany leader state Sen. Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) last week at the Jamaica Bus Terminal to unveil a new bus ad campaign called “Stop the Sag.” Smith said too many teens and young adult men in his neighborhood dress carelessly, reflecting a bad image for themselves and the community.
“The ‘Stop the Sag’ campaign promotes self-respect and fights self-imposed negative stereotypes of our youth,” Smith said in a statement.
The campaign will include behind-the-back images of two men with the waist of their jeans so low that their boxer shorts are visible. Next to the image is the statement: “We are better than this!”
The posters have been running on buses that travel throughout southeast Queens and the senators said they hope the message will get youth to look more respectable. The youth fashion statement has been linked to gangs and rap artists.
The look is made to emulate prisoners who are forced to wear their pants low because they are not allowed to wear belts, which can be used as weapons or to commit suicide.
“Teenagers historically have pushed the envelope with fashion trends as a rite of passage. However, it is the responsibility of the adults in our communities to be positive role models and teach our youth to take pride in the image they project,” Smith said.
Adams agreed.
“This sagging-pants culture represents an immature disregard for the basic civility, courtesy and responsibility that our young men should display. Our youth will demonstrate that they can control their own image and the message they send to peers, authority figures and potential employers,” he said in a statement.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546.
