Is It The Shoes?!? Adidas Shackles…Slaves were quite the athletes though…right?
People are way too eager to be offended. Is it a terrible idea? Sure! Is it a tad insensitive? To those who are sensitive…Sure! Is it racist? Absolutely not! We (Black/Afro-American people specifically, but not limited) have to stop mislabeling everything that makes us uncomfortable or upset as being racist. Racism is form of psychosis where one human believes they are superior to another human based on cultural, geographic, and/or genetic differences dictated by ancestral origins of some kind.
These sneakers are a lame idea that would have came and went with very little notice if not made into something provocative, because it riled up the negro plight to extinguish the pangs and pains of slavery once and for all through social media, news broadcast, angry letters/emails and unspoken scathing remarks that may never reach the true orchestrators of the offense.
Let’s be clear. Racism is still alive and kicking. Slavery is still a scar on the psyche if not on the bodies of Black people in America. It is a real immutable issue that as a community WE deal with (or don’t deal with) every day. This truth is the exact cause from my cynicism toward a damn sneaker with plastic chains and shackles being acknowledged and associated at any level with what is really an issue.
If the silly shit keeps getting associated with the real eventually the real is logged in the objective and compassionate logical spaces of the majority mindset as silly shit…that simple…“Crying Wolf”
In a way I like the idea of these shoes making it to market and seeing who the consumers are. This would be much more telling and beneficial. If we see a rash of young men and women in the Black community wearing these sneakers it will be very evident of our collective failures to reach and cover our children in education of their self worth. There would be no guessing needed on who is lost…it would be right on their feet…just like sagging pants, gang affiliation sans education, and all other accessories of low standards.
I’m Black so that is the only voice I can speak from, so I encourage any and all of “US” to stay away from the petty pricks that come with people being predisposed to the profane and preoccupied with profit. That isn’t “Our” issue and shouldn’t be “Our” cause to fight. Our cause and fight starts in our homes, neighborhoods, and schools. If the strength of our efforts to empower our children and even ourselves to build and maintain pride in our contributions/existence in the world we live in can be so easily bruised by poor product design…then maybe that is another indicator that our efforts are sorely lacking.
So yippee Adidas discontinued the manufacturing, but in their minor losses what really have we gained? It would have been much more indicative of where the holes are that need to be plugged to see who, how and why these shackle sneaks were purchased than having them disposed of by people who had no interest in buying them…
Social Media Activism seems to be effective in expressing strong opinions no matter the facts or the fact that the root of the “issue” goes unresolved. I applaud those who speak out. I just wish it was more accurate before going viral. I guess expecting anything truly healthy to come from viral outbreaks of information is somewhat counter-intuitive. The shackles “We” need to be concerned with do not have Adidas’ logo on them and they are free of charge but may cost you some self worth. What about those shackles?
