BOBBEE BEE: ADIDAS SLAVE SNEAKERS

by Eric D. Graham



According to English writer, Quentin Crips, "Fashion is what you adopt when you don't know who you are."If this statement is true, these brand new sneakers called the JS Roundhouse Mids are blasphemous to God's chosen people.

Because the merchants of death blatantly attempted to dress our beloved children in the most "unrighteous" garb imaginable, while preparing them, for a life of slavery and crime.

As ESPN's sports columnist Stephen A. Smith would say, "YOU ARE SO DISRESPECTFUL!!!"

Why? Because, these sick, slick, sneaky, shoe salesmen seemingly without shame or reason, tried to sell our people a product that would place them back into bondage with their new "shackle" sneaker or ankle "cuffed" tennis shoe, which were designed by Beverly Hills' fashion designer Jeremy Scott and willingly promoted by Adidas, with the tagline "Got a sneaker game so hot; you lock your kicks to your ankles."
Seriously? In 2012, with an African-American President in the Oval Office, Adidas felt it was a good idea, to debut, a pair of "chain-gang" inspired sneakers on its official Face book page, days before Juneteenth, which is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States.

This s*&% is unbelievable!!!
But sadly, this new generation, who have developed a "sick" shoe fetish for sneakers in the last couple of years, probably would have stood in long lines for hours, while rioting outside of shoe stores all around the country, in order to have a chance to purchase a pair of these $300 monstrosities, if people didn't openingly express their outrage online.

Why? Because, according to the Book of Hosea 4:6, it clearly states that: My people are destroyed from a lack of knowledge."

The Paraphernalia of Suffering

Therefore, if we aren't going to teach our children about their glorious past and continue to deny them an opportunity to learn about the atrocities that occurred during the Middle Passage, in fear that they will grow up hating "the oppressor, “we will be cursed forever.

And eventually, with no knowledge of self, they will become the walking billboards for bondage, while proudly advertising their own enslavement.

It is what Nathanael West described as "the Paraphernalia of Suffering."Because, these "chain-gang" laced sneakers were clearly designed to criminalize our children while promoting the Prison Industrial Complex, especially when you add these "handcuffed" sneakers, with a pair of saggin jeans, gang-related colors and a body full of tattoos.

Yes, this is a starter kit for a life time of imprisonment in America, where approximately 13 million people are introduced to the penal system annually.

But from the outside looking in, with one out of every 100 Americans serving time behind bars and a private prison industry owned by mega-corporations, these scandalous shoes probably were viewed as profitable and the perfect accessory for a generation, who are viewed as criminals. (RIP Trayvon)

Runaway Slaves

Seriously, could you imagine, if Lebron James, actually, wore a pair of these horrible "Holocaust"-inspired shoes during the NBA Finals?

With that image dribbling in your head, we have to take a second look at these "slave sneakers" and re-examine the prophetic words of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who last year stated that Cavs' owner Dan Gilbert was treating LBJ like a runaway slave. Because, it's obvious, these new shoes were subconsciously designed to put the shackles back on his feet.

I understand these shoes were not purposely designed for Lebron James alone, and he wears Nike, not Adidas. But could you imagine, an NBA basketball game, with a court full of Black players, proudly shooting jump-shots with chains around their ankles. As you ponder that thought, revisit the November 9, 1992 edition of Sports Illustrated with Charles Barkley on the cover dressed as a slave.

I mean, every time I look at this shoe, my mind is mentally molested.
Because these sneakers, metaphorically spit directly in the face of our ancestors, who were shackled and chained in the bowels of slave ships during the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade.

And despite Scott's claim that he got the idea from a "stuffed animal," he knew damn-well that these shoes were offensive.

Plus, somebody on the Adidas's marketing team, advertisement department, or board of directors, had to know that these sneakers would be viewed as insulting to the descendents of African slaves.

Yet, they decided to manufacture these God-awful shoes anyway.
Therefore, we shouldn't accept any of their weak "a**" apologies.
Matter of fact, we should simply boycott all products by Adidas following this ultimate sign of disrespect.In other words, shut these devils down.

Why? Because, Adidas evidently, viewed our children as slaves and our precious Black bodies, as soulless mannequin, which they thought, they could "devilishly" dress up and parade in the streets like "walking zombies" for the world to mock and laugh at, without us complaining.
FUGITIVE OF FASHION

With no evidence, nobody can convince me otherwise, that these capitalistic con-men and marketing manipulators, weren't trying to camouflage slavery with corporate coolness by making us look like a bunch of fugitives.

That's why I believe, these sneakers are an extension of Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which was a law passed by Congress that allowed slave hunters to capture an (escapee) and arrest him/her without a warrant in any territory or state and turn him or her over to a claimant on nothing more than a sworn testimony of ownership. The Black suspects, being unjustly obtained, however, could not ask for a jury trial nor testify on his or her behalf.

With that said, mentally fast forward yourself in 2012, while imagining our children, who have become fugitives to fashion, with shackles on their feet" in New York City, where the NYPD's STOP AND FRISK policy has stopped and temporarily detained over 650,000 Black and Latino men without probable cause and searched them.


Therefore, I am extremely proud of all the people who STOOD THEIR GROUND and prevented these sneakers from ever becoming a part of our children's everyday wardrobe.

However, this fight is not over.

Because, somewhere, in another sweatshop overseas, they are probably making another shoe even more heinous than these.