A proposed ban on low-slung, baggy trousers that expose underwear has divided the city of Atlanta, with civil-rights groups saying that it is a racist ploy to target young black men.

The proposed amendment to Atlanta’s indecency laws is sponsored by C T Martin, an African-American city councillor, who has declared sagging trousers an “epidemic” infusing America’s children with the dress code and attitude of the country’s prisons.

Wearing baggy trousers extremely low-slung, along with the exposed underwear and jerky walk that unavoidably follows, is a fashion that came out of America’s hip-hop culture. While millions of young men of all colours have embraced it, it is identified as a predominantly African-American trend, especially in cities such as Atlanta, with its heavily black population.

Mr Martin denies that the plan is racist. But Debbie Seagraves, of the American Civil Liberties Union in Georgia, said that any legislation that created a dress code would not survive a court challenge because saggy trousers came out of black youth culture. “This is a racial profiling Bill,” she said.

Yung Joc, an Atlanta hip-hop artist, said: “This is targeting a certain group: young black males. And this will only give [police] more of a reason to pull them over.”

Mr Martin said he was not trying to put young men in jail. Flouting his proposed ordinance – “the indecent exposure of his or her undergarments” – would result in a fine. “This is about getting our children to make better choices,” he said.

Earlier this year a town and several parishes in Louisiana passed laws against sagging trousers. Unfortunately for one burglar, no such bans were passed in Covington, Louisiana: chased by police after robbing a house in January, the 16-year-old stumbled when his baggy trousers fell down. “We literally caught him with his pants down,” Lieutenant Jack West said.

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