14 The Hampton Roads Messenger


Hampton Roads To list your church here, call 757.575.1863


Church Directory Norfolk First Baptist Church,


Logan Park 7493 Diven Street Norfolk, Virginia 23505 www.fbcloganpark.com 757-423-0407


Mount Gilead Missionary


Baptist Church 1057 Kennedy St. Norfolk, VA 23513 (757) 853-3721


Second Calvary Baptist Church


2940 Corprew Avenue Norfolk, Virginia 23504 www.secondcalvary.org 757.627.SCBC (7222)


Queen Street Baptist


Church Glenn E. Porter, Sr., Pastor 413 E Brambleton Ave Norfolk, VA 23510 www.qsbcva.org (757) 622-4458


Faith Christian Center


Church 1066 Norview Ave, Norfolk, VA 23513 www.fccnorfolk.com


(757) 857-1336


Portsmouth Grove Baptist Church 5910 W Norfolk Rd Portsmouth www.grovebaptistchurch.com (757) 484-4149


Hampton


Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Temple 3100 Butternut Dr, Hampton, VA 23666 (757) 896-6050


Newport News


Ivy Baptist Church 50 Maple Ave Newport News, VA 23607 www.ivybaptistchurch.org (757) 245-1781


Virginia Beach


New Light Full Gospel Baptist Church 5549 Indian River Road Virginia Beach, VA 23464 757.420.2397


Pleasant Grove Baptist Church


2153 Kempsville Rd Virginia Beach, VA 23464 (757) 479-1239


Chesapeake


Bethany Baptist Church 2587 Campostella Rd, Chesapeake, VA 23324 (757) 543-5887


Suffolk


Oak Grove Baptist Church 2635 E Washington St Suffolk, VA 23434 www.oakgrovebaptist.net (757) 539-8012


Our Faith


“THE EXCELLENCE OF OUR GOD” By Rev. Dr. Gregory Headen


This past week,


my wife Doretha and I have been vacationing in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Our lodging place was some miles away in a tiny resort town named Basye, Virginia. We could


sit on our balcony and look out into a mountain range on the other side of a golf course. It is a blessing to retain our sense of wonder and awe as we view nature. One day geese were all over the golf course. Since our unit was up high, we could look down on the road we traveled leading to the resort and see how curvy it is. We could observe many fine houses nestled in the mountain range. We decided on Thursday to go exploring through some mountain roads and saw some of the houses up close. A white tail deer ran across in front of us. I remember two things – that the water tasted clean and fresh and the air was so nice to breathe. We traveled some winding, meandering roads to reach and leave the resort. One day we went walking and were able to look over into a beautiful lake. Earlier in the week, we drove the northern portion of the Virginia Skyline


where there are high breath-taking overlooks in the Blue Ridge Mountains allowing us to peek into the valley to the west. We visited the Luray Caverns where we descended to 160 feet below the surface of the earth and observed some fascinating formations resulting from thousands of years of water running and dripping through along with the different chemical reactions that took place. This was so amazing. All I could say after all these experiences was “To God be the Glory for The LORD is awesome in His handiwork.” When I consider it all, I have to agree with David – “How excellent is Thy name in all the earth.” And to think that this Great Creator would consider me as worthy of his love and attention strains my imagination. Yet, the Cross makes it crystal clear that God’s love for me is infinite. This Great God gave up His only Son for me and for you. It is 1st Sunday again. We baptize when we have candidates. We commune together as a spiritual reminder of the sacrifice on the cross and a spiritual anticipation of the eternal hope that awaits us in heaven. We welcome new members into the fellowship. They are living testimonies to the present power of the Gospel to save and renew. Let us praise our awesome God!!


Volume 7 Number 12


August 2013 Your Opinion Matters


A New Look for Racial Profiling: Saggy Pants Legislation


BY MARJORIE R. ESMAN Saggers are everywhere, from


London to Paris, Barcelona to Port Au Prince, New Orleans to Steubenville, Ohio, and even Terrebonne Parish. Saggers are people, mostly young men who choose to wear their trousers particularly low on the hips, usually exposing about three to five inches of boxer shorts. While donning saggy pants isn’t exclusive to the United States, it is widely accepted that the “fashion” phenomenon was incubated in America’s prisons. But many local officials in cities across the U.S. don’t consider it fashion at all and have had enough of the trend that some call ridiculous and thuggish.


Others go further calling it


indecent or even immoral. An official with the Black Mental Health Alliance of Massachusetts (BMHAM), a group that promotes parity in mental health services, thinks that wearing your jeans below your waist is a “behavioral health issue in our neighborhoods and communities that must be addressed.” And still others claim health reasons for banning saggy pants, citing potential future problems with hips and joints because of the “penguin” type walk saggers adopt in order to keep their pants up.


Fed up, cities from Cocoa Beach,


Florida and Lynwood, Illinois to Boston, New York, Shreveport, and other communities around Louisiana are telling saggers to pull their pants up or face fines, community service and even prison time. The terms of the laws vary – some ban showing any underwear at all, some ban pants below the waist, some measure the number of inches that may show before violating the law. And the legal basis for the prohibitions aren’t clear, usually couched in terms of “obscenity” or “indecency,” although Louisiana law prohibits local communities from regulating obscenity more strictly than state law which defines obscenity in terms of the exposure of specific body parts. Underwear isn’t included in that list. Regardless of the justification, the result is the same: law enforcement professionals, in effect, become “fashion police” when their duties include monitoring clothing styles. This seems an inefficient use of their time, not to mention the cost, both which could be better spent managing more serious and violent crime and issues of real public safety.


Saggy-Pants Laws Target Minorities Saggy-pants laws violate a ba sic


First Amendment right to free speech and the liberty interest in expression. Clothing style is one of the most personal forms of expression. An individual’s liberty interest is a basic right that falls under the same category as the other liberties guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. Like stop and frisk and other so-called crime-fighting initiatives, saggy-pants laws invite trouble. Based on “a look,” police target certain communities, usually


the Afri can-American community, even though people of all races wear pants that might fall under the legal prohibitions. This racially based profiling leads to a disproportionate number of African Americans being stopped and searched unnecessarily, which in turn leads to unnecessary arrests for questionable minor offenses. The fact is that no link has been found between wearing saggy pants and increased crime or threat to public safety—but clothing has become a pretext to stop and search people for other things.


Many people, especially


older, find the saggy pants trend objectionable, but does it qualify as a criminal act? It only becomes criminal when we make it so by passing laws that vilify what amounts to innocent behavior that in no way affects public safety. Benjamin Chavis, former executive director of the NAACP stated in a New York Times article, “I think to criminalize how a person wears their clothing is more offensive than what the remedy is trying to do.”


Waste of Public Resources at the Expense of Public Safety


There are those who argue that


wearing saggy pants is modeled after prison behavior and that is reason enough to ban it. Others complain that it’s unsightly and impolite. Terrebonne Parish Council member Russell Hornsby said, “The problem is our young men are emulating prisoners. It sends a sign that you’re available for sex. It’s a bad example to set.”


But regardless of its genesis,


the law is clear that people have the right to wear clothing that others may dislike – as long as prohibited portions of the anatomy remain covered. Crimi nalizing saggy pants, or any other fashion statement, sends the message that law enforcement must uphold a majoritarian view of aesthetics at the expense of public safety.


Consequently, law enforcement


professionals devote time and resources monitoring fashion while many communities face serious public-safety issues and stretched budgets. Our police and courts would serve our communities better by focusing on violent individuals who pose a threat to their neighbors. We increase the risk to ourselves by using scarce resources targeting people who have done no harm other than to dress in a way that others don’t like.


This generational disconnect


about clothing styles is nothing new. And even the most well-meaning adults haven’t always adhered to the same clothing styles. It’s tough to argue that sagging pants are inherently dangerous or violent; or that by itself, the height of a waistband puts others in the community at risk. In a state with the highest incarceration rate in the world, lawmakers would be well advised to consider the cost, both human and fiscal, of criminalizing harmless behavior at the public’s expense and the risk of public safety.


Oh, Thank Heaven.


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