The biggest story in the sneaker world for the last couple of days has been about Adidas designer Jeremy Scott's latest design, the "Handcuff" JS Roundhouse Mid (pictured above). There has been some controversy regarding the shoe, as some feel like the shackles are insensitive and are symbolic of slavery. When I first saw the shoe before the mainstream controversy erupted, I wasn't upset by the shoe but slavery/prison were the first things that came to mind. Now that this has become a mainstream story, everyone has an opinion on these shoes so I may as well share mine.
I do not believe that Jeremy Scott or Adidas are racist, nor do I think the shoe is racist. Adidas can produce whatever they want, but they do so at the risk of alienating certain groups. I personally would never wear these shoes because I'm not going to willingly put on shackles at a time when our prisons are overcrowded with young, Black, and Latino men like myself. Fuck that. Plus they're ugly as shit, but I wouldn't rock a shoe I liked if it had some shackles on it. With that said, I don't begrudge Adidas for making this shoe. I find people's reactions to the controversy much more upsetting than the shoes themselves.
I've seen countless (mostly White) people on twitter and other sites dismissing those who think the shoe is racist as "stupid". While I agree that the shoe itself isn't meant to be racist, I feel like the dismissal of how someone feels about a racial issue is uncalled for and insensitive. Dismissing claims of racial insensitivity is a classic tactic used by racists to make victims look like they are whining or "pulling the race card". It just upsets me to see people act as if they are arbiters of what is and is not racist. I'm of the opinion that it is possible to be offended by something that is not necessarily racist, which is what we have with this shoe. But that doesn't make the opinions of those who are offended wrong either. I think anyone who is offended by this shoe has every right to complain just as Adidas has every right to make the shoe. It just kills me to see people on twitter make everything so black and white (no pun intended).
There is one thing about how Adidas has handled this that upsets me. I have a very hard time believing that none of the higher ups at Adidas brought up the potential for racial controversy with this shoe. Plenty of people of all races can look at the shoe and see exactly why people are upset. So the fact that Adidas went forward with this shoe tells me that they didn't mind some controversy, even if it meant scrapping the shoe, as long as it gets people talking about the shoe and the brand. This is unacceptable. To build hype based on the anger and emotion caused by the symbolism of slavery is tasteless and cheap. Adidas has a strong history with the African American community from Run DMC to Patrick Ewing to Derrick Rose, so I would hope they think twice about using such a sensitive subject to generate hype in the future.
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