You say dress code, they say discrimination, I say they are both right.

Everyone and their second cousin has chimed in on the P&L district Dress Code Brawl currently taking place. Up until now I've kept my mouth closed and my trigger finger off the caps lock key. For those of you who don't hail from our fair city, here is the dealio in a nutshell. The P&L district is a revitalized area downtown. By revitalized, I mean to say, they gutted about 8 square blocks of history and replaced it with an ugly ass mirror ball called the Sprint Center, along with a slew of bars and over priced eateries. The people running the show implemented a dress code, which basically restricts access to anyone in saggy pants and white T shirts. In other words, young black guys and young white guys with identity issues who strive and fail to be young black guys.

This is a sensitive issue, on the one hand you have nut jobs like Carol ( I think we shared the same federal parole officer) Coe. On the other you have Shaun ( call me a quote whore) Edwards. Edward is a movie critic, and a black guy. Coe is a convicted felon, welcome to my world, who loves to double down on the race card. The thing they share in common, besides race, they are both as full of shit as a Christmas Goose. Edwards recently caught more than a little flack over a review of the movie Gran Torino. He said the film was racist. Actually, the film was about a racist, so yeah there were some racial elements to the movie. Captain Obvious got his drawers in a wad and gave the movie, which was critically acclaimed, a poor rating. He then apologized a few days later. Back Pedal much? Now Edwards is the Token Black Guy supporting the dress code. Coe just likes to throw a monkey wrench in the works, it's what she does.

Lets just get to the heart of the matter, Cordish doesn't want young black guys, especially of the over sized evening gown length white T shirt variety, mudding up the water and scaring off the credit card laden Abercrombie crowd. In defense of Cordish, one need only look at the mayhem created by young black guys in Westport. They drove away business, the crime rate soared, people were robbed, beat, mugged and killed. I know that statement will offend some people, but it's true none the less. That said, those crimes were not committed by every single kid who dressed like an extra from The Wire. What Cordish will soon find out is that you can't shoot the whole litter because one pup has fleas.

Suburban White people are afraid of Urban Black people, mmmmkay. The sleepy eyed black kid, bustin a sag and sportin the giant T shirt is the face of crime. We see them on the news, getting loaded in to the Paddy Wagon, we see them in shows like The Wire, slingin dope and indiscriminately murdering one another. Now white people who live in the core of the city know better. We know that every young black kid with poor fashion sense isn't going to kill us for 2 bucks. A big T shirt doesn't automatically come with a Glock, and a hat cocked sideways does not a killer make. When I walk the dogs around the block here in Midtown, it isn't uncommon to pass a few young black folks. I have yet to be robbed, shot, killed, maimed, or beat down. In fact, I usually get a head nod, or a how's it goin.

Cordish is worried about the bottom line, and for good reason. Killing the dress code in the P&L district will effect the bottom line. There will be fewer free spending white folks and more less than free spending black folks. It will hurt business. Too bad. This is the 21st century, you can't discriminate. If you don't want young black guys to show up, then turn the P&L district in to one big country bar, otherwise learn to live with integration. Will there be a spike in crime downtown once the dress code is killed, probably. Will people point and say "I told you so", you betcha. It's easy to not get excited about the day in day out Wild West atmosphere on the city's east side. While we don't like to admit it, and will adamantly deny it, there is a "fuck em and anybody who looks like em" attitude pervasive in this city. In other words, it's perfectly acceptable for young black guys to kill one another, and anyone who gets in the way, as long as they do it east of Troost. When they start encroaching west of that line, it suddenly becomes a problem.

Here's the problem. The majority of black people, even those in size 8 billion XL Tshirts, aren't killers, dope dealers, rapers of white women. The majority of the folks east of Troost are just regular people with the same problems as the rest of us, and then some. We should care that they are not safe on their own porch, in their parks, on their streets. The truth is, we don't really care unless it threatens to effect us directly. But we, and by we, I mean our local government and John Q me and you, should care. If for no other reason than our own safety and well being. Other than the dope trade, the real money as far as criminal activity is concerned, lies west of Troost. If I'm going to rob someone, I'm not going to hit some poor schmo coming out of Crown Liquor on the East side, I'm going to get some of that Waldo scrilla (money). So when we ignore the plight of the regular folks on the east side, we enable the criminal element to run rampant through the city.

Complacency and racial disparity are every ones worst enemy. Eventually we have to face that. We can't build a wall to separate us. Killing the dress code will be the beginning of the end for the P&L district, it's almost certain, and that's a good thing. It will bring to the forefront the heart of the problem. We need to address the ongoing issue of crime on the east side. Sadly we have to be hit in the pocket book before we give a rats ass. I think several hundred thugged out black guys invading the land of Ostrich sushi and 8 dollar micro brew is just what the doctor ordered. Like it or not, at the end of the day, we are all effected by crime, whether it takes place at 43rd and Wayne, or 47th and Main.