Jan 28, 2008 6:07 pm US/Central
Councilman Takes "Pull 'Em Up" Cause To Dr. Phil
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
Most North Texans are aware of the campaign to stop kids from wearing baggy, saggy pants.
Monday, the issue received national attention on the Dr. Phil show.
Dallas Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwayne Caraway appeared on the show with Al Sharpton and members of the Hip Hop Government.
"You decide what is disrespectful, and what somebody else sees as disrespectful can be two very different things," Dr. Phil said to Caraway on the show. "Why are you going to impose your definition on other people?"
"Number one, Dr. Phil, we must respect all females, and the fact that someone is showing their raw, dirty butt," Caraway said on the show.
A parent who wears saggy pants also appeared on the show. He said he encouraged the trend as a fashionable statement.
Caraway said that with all the different perspectives on the show, things got a little intense.
"You had some of the younger guys that kinda got in the middle of it, and I was really not prepared for that," Caraway said in an interview Sunday. "However, I think we got our message across."
After the show aired, he said he received dozens of calls from around the nation, giving him positive feedback on the campaign.
Dallas City Hall hosted a viewing party for the show. A handful of Lancaster High School students who made a PSA for the 'Pull 'Em Up' campaign for their advertising class watched the show.
"Saggy pants aren't good, like they were saying on the show," said Keirayshon Browning, a Cedar Hill High School student. "A lot of my friends do it, and I tell them not to because it's not a good image."
Caraway kicked off the public awareness campaign last October. He says the campaign is working because he is "seeing less underwear and more people reaching to pull them up."
Now, Caraway says he doesn't feel the city needs to pass an ordinance against saggy pants.
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