04:08 PM Friday, November 20, 2009
Can Women's Clothes Make the Morehouse Man?
Date: Thursday, November 05, 2009, 5:54 am
By: Gregory P. Kane, BlackAmericaWeb.com
Say you’re young, black and male. You have the smarts to get into the prestigious, excellent HBCU known as Morehouse College. It’s the alma mater of Martin Luther King Jr., among others. It has a storied history and cherished traditions.
So you get admitted and stroll on to the campus dressed like ... L’il Wayne or Miss Jay from “America’s Next Top Model?" Who thought THAT was a good idea?
Apparently enough young black men at the male-only college that it was necessary for the school’s president, Robert M. Franklin, to issue a revised dress code. Morehouse men can’t wear do-rags or pajamas outside of residence halls, sunglasses in class or jeans at some campus functions. Also verboten are dental grills, women’s attire and pants sagging down over the butt.
Why was it even necessary for Franklin to tell a Morehouse student that pants down over the butt is not permitted? Who goes to a prestigious college like Morehouse to look like a thug?
I’ve written it before, but it’s necessary to write it once more. Some things are like drive-through prostate exams: they should just never happen. And rocking the thug look should never happen on Morehouse’s - or, for that matter, on any other HBCUs' - campus.
Now, there have been some anal types ranting in cyberspace that since the new Morehouse dress code bans guys from dressing in women’s attire, it is essentially homophobic. But the homophobic duck won’t swim in this case. There are enough things banned on the list to prove that gays – or cross dressers who aren’t gay – weren’t singled out.
Besides – and I’m sure supporters of gay rights already know this – not all gay men like, or even approve of, men dressing like women.
Franklin’s point is simply this: When you come to a college like Morehouse, be prepared for an environment that’s going to prepare you for a world where you will attempt to make your mark by displaying excellence. And in that world, there may be certain rules. Some of those rules might include a dress code. It’s best you get used to the discipline of a dress code at Morehouse, and not have it sprung on you once you get in the work force.
Some of the Internet ranters have taken black conservatives to task for supporting Franklin’s position, and I’m not surprised. When all else fails, blame a white Republican or a black conservative, even if the issue is one where people of different political parties and philosophies can agree. Pearl Cleage, one of my favorite writers ever, is hardly a babbling conservative. Here’s her take on the Morehouse dress code debate, taken from her Facebook page:
“Morehouse College has a new dress code that says no women’s clothing, sagging pants, pajamas in public, do-rags, inappropriate T-shirts. How about a uniform that everybody wears all the time? Cuts down on expenses, fosters community among the men and hopefully cuts down on seeing so many random behinds in those sagging jeans!”
Liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats can agree about that sagging pants thing, can’t we? Sometimes it’s just necessary for the older generation to close ranks and tell the younger generation: “Stop it; you’re being stupid.”
And there are few things more stupid than those sagging pants some – thankfully, not all – young black men choose to wear. I’ve seen some even try to run from the police wearing sagging pants that hang down over the butt, hardly able to move, tripping over the pants that drop down to their knees in the process. They’re too daft to realize that they’d be much better off .....
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IT IS SMALL THINGS LIKE THIS THAT WE AS A COMMUNITY NEED TO TAKE BACK, WE LET EVERYTHING SLIDE BECAUSE WE WANT TO "KEEP IT REAL", GIVE ME A BREAK, START DEMANDING BETTER OF OURSELVES AND OUR KID'S, BELIEVE ME IT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE, IT'S LIKE A CHILD RAISED IN THE WOODS WITH ANIMALS, HOW DO YOU THINK THEY ARE GOING TO ACT?
by
Wreeves
November 13, 2009, 11:01 am
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To all of the people who want to look unprofessional, lazy, ignorant, and making a statement. What you do in life is what you represent. Look at President Obama, and Roland Martin, do they come to work in an unprofessional manner. President Obama on Holloween was dress professional giving out candy. Pick your roll models. I have not fogotten the women or girls any race, get it together dressing sleezy and unattractive does not make you neither. Look at First Lady Obama, and Mary J Blige for some tip on how to look like a lady. Respect yourselves.
by
Abernad
November 11, 2009, 9:23 pm
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i compltely agree. these idiots who show the rear ends and underwear, have no clue that they are dooming themselves to failure
by
Spercy
November 10, 2009, 8:15 am
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I completely agree. Pants 3 sizes to big hanging off your behind, wearing bed clothes in public, enough already!!. There is nothing professional or attractive about looking a hot mess. Especially in a setting of college life or the work world. And as for cross dressing, no matter how nice or expensive the bussiness suit, if it doesn't match the gender of the body it is worn on, it's not always exceptable. Ask the former mayor of East Cleveland Ohio, Eric Brewer. If there is no natural instinct to foster your self image then I'm not mad at Mr. Franklin for trying to plant the seed of awareness.
by
Bubbiebub
November 9, 2009, 8:42 am
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THANKS, President Franklin.
by
Detroit66
November 9, 2009, 12:28 am
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Can women's clothes make the Morehouse College man? No, says its president, Donald M. Franklin, who has imposed a dress code.
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