As a high school student and being around this every day in a diverse atmosphere, I must first say that not only black males but white males, Hispanic males, black females, white females, Hispanic females, etc., wear them. There is no gangs associated with this and in fact it all started with a song call White Tee, just as (if my memory serves me correctly) Abercrombie & Fitch became popular with white teenagers and 20-somethings with the song Summer Girls by LFO, which has lyrics that say 'I like girls that wear Abercrombie & Fitch'.
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Name : Me24251, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 16, City : Ypsilanti, State : MI Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, This style has grown out of the drug dealing culture. Dealers learned that it made it more difficult for police to identify black males suspected of criminal activity if they were all wearing the same easily accessible clothing. The description would read 'black male wearing blue jeans and a white t shirt'. That is a very general description. Not everyone wearing this style is a drug dealer or criminal, and that is kind of the point of the style in a way. The shirts got larger as an exaggeration of the new style. General rules of urban youth: 1. It's cool to be considered an outsider (not too different from 25 years ago) 2. The goal is to fit in (with their peers) and stick out (to those outside of the peer group) at the same time.
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Name : Rick T., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 30, City : New York, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : Professional, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 'We' African Americans can take darn near any derogatory thing and turn it around. Where I'm from, they call the shirts 'wife beaters' or 'white T's', termed from so-called, (hick, trailer-trash, drunk, greasy, white guys beating their wives while wearing, you guessed it, a white t-shirt). We took that derogatory image and turned it into a fashion statement.
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Name : Tammie M., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 29, City : Memphis, State : TN Country : United States, Occupation : Customer Service Rep, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, Originally dope dealers wore white t-shirts because when standing on the corner it made it hard for the police or anyone else to ID them if everyone had on the same thing. Since then the trend has caught on and now everyone, not just dope dealers, wears white-tees.
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Name : Amanda, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 28, City : Stockbridge, State : GA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, Its simply the latest trend. Look around in a year or so. It will be over.
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Name : Yuseff, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Muslim, Age : 31, City : Atlanta, State : GA Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, I grew up in mostly urban areas where white tees are plentiful. A song has even been made about wearing white tees and in the song it is explained that white tees are just convenient. Download the song and take a listen. When black people go out they want to look nice and 'clean'. In some black communities, people just don't have the money to buy nice clothes. By wearing a white tee, males, no matter what race, are able to look good for cheap.
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Name : Erika25249, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 20, City : Jacksonville, State : FL Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 2 Years of College, I'm a high school senior who lives about 20 minutes northwest of Atlanta. I like to consider my area pretty 'urban'. Also keep in mind that I'm about as white as it gets. I have no rhythym and I listen to country music. But just walking down the hallways I can get some valuable information. There is a rap song that talks about 'lookin so good in my white-t yeah you know you like me' something like that. Most people, not just black people, always try to emulate what's being popularized by music at the time. This is just another example of that.
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Name : Randy, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 17, City : Atlanta, State : GA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower middle class, They're called tall tees. Just a new style like any other. Is it me, or is it that the person who asked the question is suggesting that the young black men who wear those shirts are trying to start a revolution? I could say the same thing about suburbanites: is every white person who religiously wears well-washed khakis and flip-flops trying to start a cult?
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Name : Peter24291, Gender : M, Race : Black/African American, Age : 21, City : Jacksonville, State : FL Country : United States, Occupation : student, I know it's not race-related because my son and nephew have about 10 all-white t-shirts apiece, which goes against me telling them it was a bad fashion call (I'm not even mentioning the white 'wife-beaters' sleeveless tees, which I despise). But in talking to some people. it was stated that when some guys get out of the 'county' or the prison system their wardrobe consisted of mainly and almost exclusively all white t-shirts and with the younger guys looking up to their older siblings, fathers, uncles and neighbors they took on that so-called trend not realizing or knowing it was in all actuality all they owned. A very sad issue. I hate it. There is no individuality, and it makes me see them as walking zombies or mentally imprisoned.
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Name : CEPS, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 30, City : South, State : NJ Country : United States, African American teens (and other races) have a style of dress that screams gangbanger. It is done to idolize and imitate the rappers on TV who sing about sex, drugs, money and killing. I don't know why this teen generation can't just dress normal, do ya'll need the attention or something?
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Name : Stephanie Smith, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Hawaiian/Spanish/Native American/White, Religion : Christian, Age : 21, City : Twentynine Palms, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Homemaker/Loan Rep, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, Its because of racial profiling. If the cops are looking for a young black male in a white tee shirt well guess what? There are about 50 guys to choose from. Which guy is the right one? I don't know and neither do the cops.
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Name : Gregg, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 33, City : Baltimore, State : MD Country : United States, Occupation : Multmedia Specialist, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, The reason is because when they sag(the wearing of the pants elow the normal level) they dont want their underwear to show so they wear long t-shirts(color really doesn't matter) to cover it up. Who ever told you it was racial needs to shut up because they don't know what they are talking about.
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Name : Mary20540, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 14, City : Atlanta, State : GA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, I can say with the Hispanic males and as it relates to street gangs, the origin of the style of dress goes back pretty far. As far back as 1929 for some street gangs. It has been suggested that one reason they would wear the over size clothing is because they were hand me downs from Dad and older brothers. This was because of financial constraints and was not a 'cool' thing then. However, overtime, the street gangs were formed by these same kids and they brought the style of dress with them. It evolved into the typical dress or 'uniform' if you will for the Hispanic street gangs. The black street gansg later adopted these from the hispanic gang culture. Anymore though, kids just wear what they think looks cool and so the think that the gang members look cool. Just like so many rebels dressed like James Dean, or Bikers dress like Marlon Brando in the wild one. The style of dress was at some point functional but over time became the way they dressed. I hope this makes sensee.
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Name : Ronnie E., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Christian, Age : 27, City : Hesp., State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Trainer/Instructor, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class, I was told that it was because of gang activity. Gangs have certain colors (blue and red especially) that they wear and it can be dangerous to be caught in the wrong color on the wrong side of town even if you have no gang affiliation. So, people adopted the white shirt to distance themselves from all the gangs. But it's also just a horrible fashion trend.
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Name : Tresha, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 23, City : Atlanta, State : GA Country : United States, Occupation : Photographer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 
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