Lawrence Hall
Your Trousers Might
be Racist
Augustine Sedgewick has written a wanders-off-the-trail
essay purportedly demonstrating that the khakis you wear for work are actually
proof of your imperialism / racism / sexism / white supremacistism / oppressivism
/ whateverism. (The
American Scholar: Ku Klux Khaki - <a
href='https://theamericanscholar.org/author/augustine-sedgewick/'>Augustine
Sedgewick</a>).
Professor Sedgewick saw a photograph of a group styling
itself The Patriotic Front blocking traffic while wearing blue jackets, khaki
trousers, and a festive selection of boots. Their attempt at appearing menacing
succeeds only with themselves and the professor; to anyone else they are as comically
pathetic as Sir Roderick Spode’s Fascist Black Shorts in several of the Jeeves
and Wooster stories.
From this photograph Augustine Sedgewick has constructed a fantasy
neo-post-colonial (and, like, stuff) thesis about khaki as the preferred costume
of imperialists / racists / sexists / white supremacists / oppressivists /
whateverists. His thesis does not see trousers as trousers, but wicked in
themselves, just like swastikas and fasces.
As Jeeves might say to the excitable Bertie Wooster, “The
continency is remote, sir.”
Khakis originated in the sub-continent as cotton cloth, comfortable
in a hot climate and tightly woven to make it practical for physical work and
as (gasp) military uniforms. Some sources suggest that khaki (an Urdi word) was
commonly worn before colonial times and that this excellent cloth was adopted
by the English (cultural appropriation). Professor S, however, maintains that
the British invented the material and took it to India (cultural oppression).
The practicality and durability of khaki as workwear and
military wear, along with its several neutral colors, led it to migrate to the
office and to leisure activities. In our informal times a blazer (also of
British origin) worn with khakis is acceptable almost anywhere in places that
once expected, if not required, a coat and tie or even a dinner jacket.
As a fashion khaki comes and goes, but it remains immensely
useful in hard, sweaty, knuckle-busting work. Blue jeans (denim originated in
France) are sturdier but khaki is more flexible for crawling under cars, climbing
into the cab of a big rig, building fence, milking cows, and nailing joists.
I interrupted scribbling this to go feed the cats and dogs,
and as I walked through the den I saw on the Orwellian telescreen some young
women dancing through a clothing advertisement. One of them, who happened to be
black (and presumably still is), was wearing (gasp!) khakis. I suppose
Augustine Sedgewick would stereotype her as a white male neo-Nazi for doing so.
As for the khaki-oppressed citizens of India, their army
wears khakis (Khaki
Indian Uniform - Bing images), as does Pakistan’s army (Khaki
pakistani army Uniform - Bing images). They invented khakis and they will
wear them with or without Professor Sedgewick’s approval.
Augustine Sedgewick earned his PhD at Harvard and is a
professor at the City University of New York.
He is the author of numerous scholarly works and has won numerous
scholarly awards. Presumably he does not wear khakis.
Khakis – they’re just britches and shirts, okay, Professor?
The Origin
of Khakis - Levi Strauss & Co : Levi Strauss & Co
A
History of Khakis - Dockers Shoes
-30-
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