Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Ridiculous Overreaction to Adidas 'Shackle' Sneakers

So a sneaker design can be racist?  Really?  Are you sure?  Because the shoe simulates what some say are shackles then they must be sending the message that someone wants to re-enslave the target consumer, the young black man, right?  Ridiculous!

Read CNN's posting HERE.

Syracuse University professor Dr. Boyce Watkins went ballistic on the blog Your Black World:

"I literally froze up when I saw a new design from Adidas set to hit stores in August... with HANDCUFFS that wrap around the ankles. Yes, I said handcuffs…shackles….the stuff that our ancestors wore for 400 years while experiencing the most horrific atrocities imaginable," he wrote. "I am offended by these shoes because there is nothing funny about the prison industrial complex, which is the most genocidal thing to happen to the black family since slavery itself."


"I literally froze up..." creates a vivid image, and to include "the prison industrial complex" and a reference to genocide shows a true flare and passion for the dramatic.  To include and sensationalize these serious topics is self-serving (you notice Dr. Watkins' comments mentioned in CNN's post, right?).  Attaching inflammatory tabloid-worthy prose to an issue is far more offensive than the design of a pair of sneakers.

If we're taking fashion to task, where is the outrage and indignation that should be focused on the trend of young men wearing their pants hanging off their ass?  That has a much stronger association with "the prison industrial complex" than the allegedly offensive Adidas. According to Judge Greg Mathis, "sagging was adopted from the United States prison system and has sexual connotations - e.g., those who pulled their pants down the lowest and showed their behind a little more raw, that was an invitation."  Using Judge Mathis's logic I can only conclude that the boys hanging out on the street corner with their pants nearly at the knees either just got out of prison or they're power bottoms.  Or both.

I thought the Adidas' design was supposed to make it clear that "these are attached to me so there's no way you're stealing them!", or maybe "I'm into bondage."  I guess that goes to show that one sees what they want to see; and when one can't figure out what they're looking at they will project their personal opinions, desires, perspectives and prejudices into the situation.  But whatever the case, at the end of the day, why not let the consumer decide?