Of Course There Is A Dress Code!

Of Course There Is A Dress Code!

By Dexx2G

The other weekend I was working the door at a club in Arlington VA (part time gig). It’s a Latin themed lounge that boasts an internationally mixed well-to-do crowd of 20 to 30 somethingers (but certainly appropriate for the more mature crowd).  Most of the patrons are young good looking people.  The music can be eclectic at times but mainly House and Latin.  With that being said, not a lot of brothers and sisters frequent the spot.  They’re just not that prominent out there.  Well one particular Friday a couple of brothers did come to partake in the festivities.  I proceeded to card them and as the brother in the lead went to enter I asked him to remove his baseball cap.  He half-jokingly asked me “is that how you keep the black folks out?” and my reply to that was “No, that’s how you keep yourselves out!”  How many times have you been ready to hit the streets and someone in the group had to ask “what’s the dress code?”   Well obviously for the average club goer this is a no brainer, because you’re probably going to either buy a new outfit or throw on your “normal” club gear.  You’re also going to go to a place that you always go to.  For you brothers out there (and even some of my sisters) that are not use to going out or are new to it, I’m here to let you know; THERE IS A DRESS CODE. A button-up with some new Timbs does not constitute dressing up people.  Club owners and managers use a dress code to control the type of clientele in their club.  For the record I’m including lounges and bars that card at the door also.  I know plenty of us have been out and when we got to the gate or door we have gotten every excuse as to why we are not allowed to come in. No Jeans or your jeans are too baggy, No white T-shirts, You’re shirt is too long, tuck everything in, No boots, No Timbs (for some reason we keep wearing them).  Places like Power Plant Live (Baltimore MD) do that because it’s easier to deal with flip-flop wearing frat boys, than Timberland wearing street dudes.  Nobody wants there clubs torn up because they let in the “wrong element”.  Unfortunately that is the case. When club-goers are forced to dress appropriately for some magical reason, they seem to behave appropriately.  Is it because nobody wants there expensive clothes damaged or is it because when you dress mature you behave mature? If you’re getting pat downs before you get in the club chances are the dress code is going to be pretty ‘laxed.

Some places in my opinion are a little over board or discriminatory when it comes to who can come in and who can’t.  If your dress code is no boots, don’t limit it to just “Timbs”, say construction boots.  If you don’t want baseball caps inside, specify baseball caps don’t say hats and when we look inside everybody has a Fedora on.  Sneakers are a thin line thing.  Some outfits look better with sneakers, now don’t get me wrong.  If your shoes look like you just played a pick-up game of rugby then com’n son.  We are all old enough to know better by now.  Let me know what you guys think? 

Get A Grip

Get a Grip!

(Special Interim Blog)

By Dexx2G

I was driving home today and 95.5WPGC (Local radio station) had a special on about the violence in PG County Maryland.  There have been 13 murders in thirteen days, since the start of the year, absolutely unacceptable.  Outside of this atrocity the real smack in the face were the people in these communities.  WPGC sent out a correspondent just to get the reaction and opinions of these people and they refused to even comment because they claimed it was “snitching”.  Really? COM’N SON!  I am definitely against snitching and if you ask anyone who knows me they know that I am no huge fan of the police (another blog for another time), but I think we’ve taken this stop snitching crap way too far.   We are destroying our own communities and then we are being laughed at behind it.  The police really could give a sh!t less.  The police are saying that everything is ok. The deputy police chief, Kevin Davis, told residents on Tuesday they had nothing to fear, for it was merely "the lifestyle of these victims [that] has contributed to where they are in life."¹ Is that what the police are telling the families of these victims?  Is that what we have become a bunch of drug dealers and gang bangers?  Let’s wake up people, get a grip!  Fifteen minutes over the state line in Virginia they are not dealing with the same bull.  Contrary to my opinion of law enforcement, the police over there just ain’t having that crap in their state.  It’s not better over there because the police are super cops, no not at all.  The community is taking care of their own.  If anything goes down out there the police have the full support of the community, which in turn keeps the “Riff Raffs” from even attempting the tom foolery they try in PG County MD and others places like it.  Let me know what you guys think.  This happens everywhere, who are we going to blame when it’s us letting that drug dealer sell on our block, or us letting the whore’s sell sex across the street.  Stop snitching?  Stop being stupid!  A bad neighborhood comes from lack of employed persons, and from kids that have idle time, and from neighbors that hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil but still know evil is there.  Fathers not being around or the ones that are around, not teaching the right things.  Don’t ignore what’s going on in your neighborhood.  Get involved, and I know that’s easier said than done because the police don’t really offer any protection to the folks that actually want to help.  If enough people in the community get involved the community begins to flourish, I’ve seen it happen.  But let me know what you think, on this day of remembrance and non-violence let’s start something positive.  Take your neighborhood back; you don’t have to move away.  Just take care of what you have.

¹http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/12/AR2011011205315.html