These are in front of a sports bar. From observation I believe that people go to sports bars to watch sporting events on huge TVs, drink maybe one beer too many, root for their team, bet on the games and get a little rowdy. God forbid that you should turn your hat around late in the game. Just the mildest, gentlest hint of racism in some of the exclusions.
6 comments:
This is really strange and I don't understand the baseball cap thing at all.
Okay, men's tanktops should be forbidden everywhere anytime unless worn by 18 year old professional athletes.
And who in the world would wear a bikini in a sports bar?
About ten years ago young men starting wearing their baseball hats backwards. Probably just an attempt to be different with the bonus of it pissing off older people. It has faded a bit with the odd 40 year old still wearing his hat that way, and looking quite stupid.
I agree on tank tops.
This bar is one block from the beach, so, on a Summer afternoon they often do wander in to seaside bars. But, as you say "Into a sports bar!?"
All of the other prohibitions are obviously aimed at keeping the place as white as possible. The referenced items, such as do rags, baggy pants and visible underwear all are worn by black youths far more often than white youths.
Our area has not gone as far down the path of racial equality as 90% of the country......sad.
I meant to say, in the above post, that on a hot day, bikini clad girls will walk the one block from the beach and wander into a bar such as this. Covering up is always a good idea in that situation.
I forgot to ask what a "doo rag" is, what is a "doo rag"?
However, you see, around here, everyone wears baggy pants, visible underwear (what a treat sitting at the cafeteria at lunch time and you are happy if you at least see some underwear :-( - often not, brrr). Everyone = rarely people over 50. But, really, me, most of the time I wear so called "boyfriend cut jeans" - baggy they are. And so comfortable. What I wanted to say in the end is, that all this things are simply a style, a trend, they tell nothing about your class, your race etc. . I know about the urban legends where the baggy style comes from etc. but I wouldn't have thought that white youths won't wear them nowadays.
But the baseball cap ... what's so offending about wearing it backwards? Sorry, if I am getting on your nerves ...
A doo rag dates back to the 1970s, when a lot of black men had their hair straightened chemically. To protect the work they wore a bandanna or cloth over it.
Then afros came along and then shaving all of one's head. But the doo rag persisted as a style for black men to wear. Not many whites wear them, so saying no doo rags is a not so subtle of saying no blacks. Actually I remember them being called do-rags the do coming from hairdo.
All of the clothing bans refer to the clothes that rap and hip-hop artists wear. Not boyfriend jeans. Usually wildly oversized shorts that come to mid-calf.
In a city still very close to a racist past it is unsettling to see such a blatant sign.
When I was stationed here in the navy in 1969, I was in the bus station and went into the men's room. A huge white cop followed me in and said I shouldn't be in the "Colored" men's room. Being from New York, I had never seen separate bathrooms by race. That is long gone but there is lingering racism here as there is in most of the US (and the world).
The wearing of the hats backwards puzzles me and the banning of it surprises me as mostly white youth affect this style and the bar is aimed at white youth.
Thanks for all your info. I would have thought it's just some bar owner who wants some certain standard in the bar ... and went over the top.
The last days I was thinking what the German equivalent for this not so subtle sign would be ... but I couldn't come up with something. Different history. Different culture. Not necessarily a better one, though.
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