Suits: Clothing That "Safeguards Lives" for Many Black Americans
12 August 2015
For most men out there, choosing to dress neatly and properly in a shirt, dress trousers or a suit may be simply a hobby or a matter of fashion taste. For many young Black men living in the United States, however, it is the safe "dress code" that protects their survival in a society where racial discrimination has long been a source of pain.
According to an article titled "Black Armor" recently published on Mashable, many young Black men in the US have been choosing to dress very neatly so that they feel safer out on the street. In other words, they do it so as not to come under the gaze of the police, who have long held an unfavourable view of Black people.
Neat, proper clothes such as a suit, shirt and dress trousers have become one of the conditions of survival that make life a little easier for many young Black men in the US.
Specifically, instead of casual, comfortable clothes such as hoodies and sweatpants, they go out almost only in shirts, dress trousers and very smart shoes. They are clearly aware that in the eyes of many white people they are aggressive and dangerous, or worse, thugs who could cause trouble at any moment. So they choose to dress very smartly and neatly so as not to be unfairly lumped together with them. To them, it is a "dress code" that works like a protective charm, deflecting society's negative attention. With this "dress code", they want to send the person in front of them a message: "I am safe. I am not a threat. You can trust me."
Although he has a clean record and a decent job, Scott Pegram, a legal adviser, says he rarely leaves the house without a shirt and dress shoes, because he does not want to be judged a thug, a label that many in American society attach to young Black men like him.
In fact, these Black men have reason to fear for their lives. In the US, since the beginning of the year there have been 699 deaths at the hands of police, most of them Black. The figures also show that Black people are killed by police at a much higher rate than other groups, at 4.2% per million people, against 1.6% per million people for white people. Moreover, many of the Black men in these cases were also wearing casual or somewhat scruffy clothes.
Sabir Peele is a fairly well-known Black blogger. He is the owner of Men's Style Pro, a blog on fashion and lifestyle for men. A gentleman of reputation and means, he naturally does not have to dress up to create a safe "cover" for himself and wears suits simply because he likes them. Even so, he has noticed how differently the people around him treat him depending on what he wears. "I usually wear a suit simply because it is my own taste. I feel I don't need to dress sharply to distract the police. But when I'm not in a suit as usual, people may scrutinize my every step and wonder why a Black man is in a luxury hotel like this," Sabir Peele shares.
Sabir Peele also has an unpleasant memory connected with how he was dressed one New Year's Eve a few years ago. He was in casual clothes, a T-shirt and a leather jacket, and was on his way to a party with a friend. Suddenly he was stopped by police who suspected he was involved in a robbery. "They pointed guns at us and said we matched a few suspects in a robbery. That was awful," Sabir Peele recalls. Notably, Sabir Peele has had no criminal record at all over the years, and the reason the officers stopped him was quite possibly his less-than-neat appearance at the time.
Alex Peay, founder and president of Rising Sons, a non-profit organization in Philadelphia, US, that helps the poor, says he likes to dress comfortably but admits that wearing smart, eye-catching clothes is like armor for him. Alex Peay says: "Every time I put on a suit, I feel that almost immediately the whole world looks at me differently. The police don't scrutinize me, people wave, shake my hand, open doors for me. I feel as if I were the President of the United States."
It is no exaggeration to say that dressing neatly and tidily has become a matter of survival for a segment of Black men in the US today.