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Skippies, Bo-Bos and Rejects


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Cynique, Converse's All Stars, or "Cons," as well called them came after the PF Flyers.  Cons were popular in my hood as well.  I've actually never owned a pair, but they were very popular.  While Cons have waned in popularity over the years I'm not sure people ever stopped wearing Cons. 

 

I've heard the term "Bo-Bo" before but we never used it.  Our analogous term for no-name brand sneakers was "Skippies" or "Rejects."  There was a rhyme we use to tease people when they were busted rockin' a pair of skippies;

 

Skippies, the make your feet fine,

Skippies, they cost a dollar ninety-nine.

 

I don't recall they rest of the lines.  Fortunately I never had the misfortune of having to actually don a pair of Skippies--or worse having to wear a pair of worn out Skippies! 

 

In hindsight, we were pretty insensitive and cruel to people less fortunate.  None of us were rich, but some of wore Skippies with holes in them and others could afford to get a new pair of Cons every September for school.

 

It is not surprising the desire to have some nice sneakers led some to stealing shoes off some kid's feet while they are wearing them.

 

0514_mid.jpg
March 14, 1990 Issue

 

Chris a quote from the article supports ,

 

"With their million-dollar advertising campaigns, superstar spokesmen, over-designed, high-priced products, aimed at impressionable young people they are creating status out of thin air for those starving for self-esteem."

 

But even deeper is the bit about the sales rep encouraging a retailer to "hook up" the drug dealers to help introduce the product to the community!

 

Now that I think about it there was a period when stepping one someones shoes--even accidentally--could lead to a fight. I believe people have been killed over stepping on the wrong person's sneakers.  Apparently this type of thing still happens.

 

Today, I guess, no one would bat an eye at paying $150 for a pair of sneakers for a child. 

 

I can't even bring myself to buy spend that much on myself.  When I do buy sneakers it is at an outlet store--last year's model is fine for me 'cause be wearing the shoes for years.

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We used to call them bo bos and bubbleheads. We even called them zippies, but when I was really young, no one snapped on any one else because there was only one kid in the neighborhood who had enough money to have shoes that weren't talking. Which means that the rubber had separated from the upper, or split so that when you walked your shoes made a slapping sound, lol. I wore some shoes until the sole had a hole that you could put your finger through. This didn't change until I was playing in an area we called the jungle and a rusty nail went through my shoe into my foot. Even then, the shoes I got were Kangaroos which were cool because Walter Payton wore them...

 

Shoes though are and always have been a status symbol in the black community. Just like style has been important. When you have a group of people that are oppressed to the extent that we were, everything becomes who can look the best when we get the chance. But in the past 30 years, sneakers have taken on a completely different beast altogether.This began with, like you said, Puma Clyde/Suedes. B-Boys in particular the Rock Steady Crew was featured in movies like Wild Style and Beat Street and all of sudden sneakers became street status symbols and this was further enhanced by Run DMC and My Adidas. In 1984 though, Nike had been paying players and olympians to wear their shoes but it really wasn't taking off until Carl Lewis did what he did in 84 and Sonny Vaccaro told Nike to sign Michael Jordan. The rest is history.

 

 

 

 

Your link to the shooting is an unfortunate aspect of sneaker culture. So is this which happens every year at Christmas

This is an annual thing. This past year I had to put the door back on for a local store after a crowd stormed the store. After you watch this video, this is what is shocking, they aren't limited edition. The demand is just so ridiculous that people feel that it is life or death to get a pair of kicks. I'm a part of this culture and I used to feel kind of bad about how much money I made from selling kicks. Then I realized, that I wasn't taking advantage of anyone who hadn't decided they wanted to be taken advantage of. Get this, I was an educator... I stopped teaching to sell shoes. (That's ridiculous isn't it?) It is until you realize that in the past two years I've been able to take my family on vacations from New Orleans, to Orlando, to San Diego to Nashville, to Washington D.C. and I didn't even wink when I had to pay the bills. When I was an educator, we hadn't gone on vacation in over 10 years because we couldn't afford it.

 

There is so much in this that I could talk about but I will leave you with this for the moment. On Tuesday I bought three pair of Kobes for about 550.00 dollars. I sold those three pair of Kobes for 350.00 per pair and they sold in one day.

 

I own my own shoe company ARCH. I've said this before on here, but I'll repeat it. Of the 600 plus pair of shoes I've made I can say 90% were purchased by people like you Troy. People who buy shoes not for the cool or hip factor, but to use them for what they were made for. The thing is Troy, the people like you tend to be white. But at the same time, the people who are buying the shoes at the crazy resell values tend to be white and not black. This is a generalization, but is basically true. Is there a problem when Black folks feel that their status is created by their shoes, yes. But, who do you blame? There has to be some personal responsibility in this. America is a capitalist society with an economy based on selling things to people, not making things, but selling things. In order to sell things, companies have to create a wow factor: Limited Edition, The Newest Model... The whole world of marketing is setup to create feelings within people of self worth based on these things. If people stopped buying, the economy in America would crash. Is this an excuse for the ridiculous things happening with sneakers, no but it definitely explains the amount of money pushed into making these things cool... and who doesn't want to be cool?

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Clothes have always been indications of status, dating waay back to when which cave man sported the best lookin animal pelt.  Clothes, in fact, identify our gender,  our nationality and our rank. And our aspirations.  In a naked world, we would have to really prove ourselves. When public schools in my district introduced uniforms, requiring students to all dress alike, I was not against this.  Made things a lot easier for me as a parent. There is safety in the numbers of sameness. Time enough to be classified by what you wear.    

 

Back in my college days during the early 1950s, the preppy look was in.  Everybody, both guys and gals had to have a pair of white buckskin oxfords with red rubber soles. Gray flannel pants were an essential to the wardrobes of frat boys, along with navy blue pull overs.  For girls, cashmere sweaters were to die for.  I can remember rejecting guys who didn't conform to the fashion dictates of the day.  The fact that they were usually smart and interesting  wasn't a priority for me. I was conflicted by not courageous. 

 

My first year at Illinois I lived in the AKA house and clothes definitely mattered among these black female sorors.  Once again, my own garb did not adhere to what I approved of in others.  I was just never a clothes horse and my outfits were non descript.  I did have a pair of white bucks but I never made my way up to a cashmere sweater. 

 

As was the case back then, what I lacked for in dress was compensated for by my color.  The contempt of the darker girls toward me was thinly-disguised.  But the guys always showed great appreciation for my being a "red-bone".  In a way, the skin we wear is the ultimate mark of distinction.

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Insert Cameo's "Skin I'm In". Here in the south that is still the way things are Cynique. Moving from California where there were so many interracial people back to the south where people are still colorstruck, was an adjustment to say the least. Although I lived here when I was young, not experiencing Colorism while living in Cali was a good thing. Was there racism and colorism there? Yes there was but not to the same extent that Black fraternities here in the south still maintain their lightskin for AKAs and Kappas, Dark Skin for Zetas and Sigmas, etc. It's so ridiculous that you can still find HBCU homecoming courts that cater to the light skin is the right skin concept. It's so deep here that Memphis has a first family of politics of complete F ups in the Ford family. Those guys and girls can run for office here and win even after they've been convicted of crimes.

 

Now I will add this, men are not held to this same standard. Light skin is not "in" for men. I guess we can thank Idris Elba and Morris Chestnut for that... then again, it's always been like that except in politics and religion. The darker a politician is the less likely he is to win and the darker a preacher is the less likely he is to get a mega church, in Memphis at least.

 

The more successful churches tend to have lightskinned pastors. I guess the crazy thing about footwear, and clothes in the black community is that for a people so fixated on style and looks, we are so eager to give away our money and power to other cultures.

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Chris you are bringing back memories and things that I have not thought about in years. But in my neck of the woods, in the 70's, the light skinned, straight haired, slim, dudes (think El Debarge) were definitely in.  Cynique I suspe3ct this was true in your era as well.

 

I think around the time of Jordan rise to prominence and gansta rap the ladies seemed to begin preferring the more thuggish dudes.  You know the bald headed, more muscular, browner complexioned Brothers.  You know the kinda negro that would make a white woman cross the street or the one likely to get stopped and frisked (think Suge Knight).  I remember even in my college days women saying they want a "little thug" in their men.  Men began wearing Timberlands rather than dress shoes, jeans took over for slacks, tattoos exploded and brother strove to be "ruffnecks."  Of course education and literacy was replaced by "street smarts."  

 

Needless to say the thuggish behavior was glorified in our popular music.... you all know the story.

 

I have to say the video off all those Black people running over each other to buy a pair of expensive sneakers was sad and even distressing.  My God!  It is one thing to conform to style but a completely different thing for adults to rip the door off a store for some sneakers. You can blame the people, but culturally this is our making.

 

Chris when tobacco companies created a product that was highly addictive and lethal.  They sold it by creating an illusion of being cool. So while they were killing people they were making billions.  What they did was wrong.  Sure we can blame the people who purchased the cigarettes, but that would be ignoring the addictive nature of the product and the powerful psychological assault (advertising) that when into getting people to buy the product.

 

This is no different that the behavior of a drug dealer.  When I was younger doing drugs was what cool people did.  But you could be addicted to Heroin and still hold down a job.  Then this new version heroin came along, followed by crack that was more potent, more addictive and offered a shorter high and once you got hooked it it was a wrap--your life was over and belonged to the drug dealer.

 

Hookers in my neighborhood were tuning tricks for pocket change!   The drug dealers became rich but left a neighborhoods in shambles.  Even if you did not do drugs you were effected by the crime and the destruction of families and neighborhoods.

 

This was wrong too.

 

Ultimately, like drug dealers, corporations have to assume some responsibility and be punished for their actions.   Financial gain can not be one's sole motivation.  This is America's problem.

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I remember the El Debarge era! LOL, but not really laughing because it was ridiculous and so is the current trend of the hypermasculine male being the attractive item right now.

 

In regard to business, I'm not sure that companies bear any social responsibility to anyone outside of their shareholders. I think it's obvious that they should be more responsible. I had a long conversation, one of those ones I promised not to have on Facebook, last week with these guys that said Lebron James should be more socially responsible than advertising McDonald's to his susceptible fans. I thought this was complete hogwash. The guy is a professional athlete with a very limited shelf life. He just happens to be one of the lucky ones with a long career. But to ask the guy to not accept money that builds wealth for his family is rude and foolish. McDonald's doesn't kill people, greed and overeating does. McDonald's has clearly labeled all of their food and they go out of their way now to provide healthier options. To say that Lebron should turn down money because people are getting overweight, is wrong.

 

I say all of that to say that the corparations should assume some responsibility, but why should they? They are created to make money. We are created to make decisions. If our self esteem and decisions are shaped so thoroughly by corporations and media then that's on us.

 

I just came to this realization when I started ARCH. I used to sell at a local flea market. People would bypass my table where they could buy a pair of my shoes that I designed and made to go and buy a pair of fake AF1s or Nikes. I mean people would look like I was trying to sell them cancer when I asked them to come and check out my shoes. The look on their faces was like I had skunk juice in a cup. I eventually gave up on the idea of selling my shoes there and started selling Nikes and Jordans from the Nike Clearance Store. Even when I could verify that my shoes were real, people still walked by me and went to the Africans because they didn't want to buy shoes from me. These are black people not wanting to buy from a black man although I had what they wanted and it was real! I eventually moved all of my business online and my growth has been ridiculous and I know for a fact that the majority of the people buying are not Black.

 

Should Nike make more shoes? No. Their responsibility is to keeping their brand hot and paying their shareholders. We have to do a better job of schooling each other and explaining how we can make real wealth in our communities. Waiting on a corporation to take responsibility is like Danny Glover waiting for a cab in your city Troy. lol.

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I hear you about conversations on Facebook :-) even when explicitly asking folks to comment on my site they still post on Facebook.

At any rate as a graduate of one of the country's top business schools you are absolutely right about the role of a corporation's management. Their role is to maximize shareholder wealth.

But often maximizing shareholder wealth goes counter to our collective interests. We enslave people, destroy the planet, sell cancer sticks, poisonous food all in the name of increasing revenue.

Man were it up to corporations we'd still be in the fields! In many ways most if us still are effectively in the fields. Now what you and I do is relatively innocuous but some if the things corporations do is pretty foul.

The Lebron James argument does not work for me because Lebron James us firmly in the 1% at what point does anyone need more money? Is the extra mill or two he get for pushing that garbage food really worth it? I could see him doing it if he had Troy Johnson money.

But when does it stop?

But I also understand. It is McDonald's giving LeBron the deals not Whole Foods.

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I guess I've seen so many athletes lose it all that I want them to maximize their money and get as much as possible. Is McDonald's so bad that the guy shouldn't advertise it? I don't think so. I've become extremely health conscious, but I still swing by McDonald's when I've been in the car all day. I make smart choices when I go there and Lebron is simply taking advantage of his stardom and that's okay. I guess with the McDonald's example, I know that all of the marketing and persuasion that goes into getting people to buy the different items is placing people on a leash, but I stand firm in my belief that people have to be held accountable for their decisions and when you walk into an arena, it's not Black folks sitting there, those are White folks. Lebron's influence has no boundaries and to limit his earning potential regardless of how wealthy he is because some people feel that McDonald's is the devil is not right.

 

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I'm laughing my ass off at Troy Johnson money! Are you telling me that if McDonald's wanted you to advertise their product on aalbc that you would refuse it? Probably so since it doesn't have anything to do with books, but I can't say I would. I may only eat at McDonald's twice a month. I know that many kids eat there daily, but preventing this would require a heavy infusion of training and teaching in the Black communities and I don't know if people would even pay attention. Considering how readily we are willing to dish out money on products that don't serve the Black GDP. Hell I don't even think we have a black GDP.

 

You're right, we are definitely in the fields still, but your work is important. While it doesn't have the reach that it should, it is valuable and needed.

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"Is McDonald's so bad that the guy shouldn't advertise it?"

 

That question is really not easy to answer.

 

People do a wide variety of things for money.  Some women turn tricks in strip clubs, while others would look at that behavior and be aghast,  If you are an overweight, plain looking woman with a good job it is easy to turn your nose up at someone who is dirt poor, has a banging body, a face to go with it, that decides to pull in a grand or two a night grinding on random dudes.

 

I try not to judge other folks behavior using my sensibilities.  The only time I really care is when that behavior effects me.  Generally the behavior of a multinational corporate effects us all--even if we personally do not use their products.  Cigarettes are a good example.

 

There are about seven McDonalds on Harlem's 125th Street.  I don't think there is a single soul restaurant on the street.  There is a Red Lobster, a Burger Kings, two Starbucks, a couple of Dunkin Donuts... you get my drift. McDonald's enjoys tax credits that indie restaurants didn't. The small unique business (often Black owned) has been crowded out, along with the soul of the street in fact they never really had a chance.

 

McDonald provides a cheap alternative, but the food taken daily or in large quantities is poison.  I suspect most people are not opting for the "healthy" choices, they instead are opting fr items on the dollar menu.

 

I've read numerous articles that says there current generation will be the first to have shorter life spans than the previous one.  The McDonalds of the worlds are a contributor to this, in my opinion.

 

Advertising is a tricky thing.

 

I have a friend, who started a book website.  Their personal taste is literary, that was to be the focus of their site.  Unfortunately the person was never able to secure significant advertising from literary authors or their publishers.  Most of the advertising came from self-published authors, primarily in the street genre.  Over the years I looked at the site and one day I was surprised, because if you looked at the site you would think is was an hard core urban fiction site. 
 

See the site reflected the advertisers, not what the owner thought was was good or important.  The owner took any ad that came their way, and the site actually offered as a result.  The site will close this year, but if they did not take the advertising if would have closed years ago and never having the opportunity to do anything.

 

The advertising I get from self-published and urban authors subsidizes my promotion of the literary authors, from who I get very little support. 

 

This was one of the reasons I disliked the way the literary snobs turned eschewed and disparaged urban fiction and their authors.  The literary authors failed to recognize that the urban fiction authors are part of what I call the "Black Book Ecosystem" a system which literary author benefit.  Now that this system is crumbling they are suffering too--and they probably still don't get it.

 

So, if McDonalds offered to buy an advertisement I would take it, at least today I would.  But here is the thing, McDonalds is not likely to offer me an advertisement.  Think about the places you see McDonalds advertising and what that demographics of that audience is like.  Then compare that to this one.

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Now this is the conversation definitely taking a turn towards something I hadn't considered at all. Tax breaks. I guess my opinion of tax breaks is based on Memphis which is distinctly different from Harlem in that Memphis is in the bible belt and is a primarily black city. In turn the people recieving the tax breaks are black people who are opening church after church after church. In Memphis if the simply removed the tax exemption from churches the money in property tax and business tax generated would make the city rich.

 

Also in regard to poor neighborhoods, in Memphis there may be a Churches Chicken, and a McDonald's now, but that is a new trend. These places were never really in the black community. We had local establishments Lot-A-Burger and Jack Pirtle's Chicken. In my life I never saw a fast food joint until we moved to what was considered middle income neighborhoods. In my old neighborhood there still isn't a McDonald's within a five mile radius. So therein lies my inability to demonize McDonald's in the same way as others. I guess I can take it one step further and say that even on the dollar menu there are healthy options, but like you said, people aren't ordering that.

 

I agree the crowding out of small biz remains the problem with corporations, but small black businesses also often fail to capitalize on the things that are available to them. More important, because when these people open places of business and they have failed to support other Black businesses, you are led to the chicken or the egg discussion.

 

I've made this argument before and I guess because I witness this ridiculous exchange of money in the sneaker world, I have a bootstrap mentality in hoping that people begin thinking this way: If black people would simply find the best Black businesses and support those businesses in every city in America at least once a month, we would see the creation of millionaires in ridiculous amounts. The problem is, in Memphis, people would rather go to Applebee's  national chain, instead of taking a longer drive to go to Deja Vu, a black restaurant. People would rather go to Kroger grocery store chain since it is everywhere, to get a cake baked instead of going to The Pie Folks, an award winning Black owned bakery.

 

While I know how influential big business is, I hope that we begin understanding the importance of supporting each other.

 

On the point of urban/street fiction as an underlying ecosystem, book buying is about disposable income. Those who have these crazy big bookshelves and buy books often aren't interested in walking into the bookstore to only see street/urban lit. We want to see an array of titles and balance. But, when we don't walk in and see diversity, we walk out. Maybe Black bookstores can't be solely about Black books, but books in general. I guess that goes without saying though. This is heavy stuff, but at least the dialogue can lead to solutions.

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Black fast food is certainly not something that can be promoted as healthy.  Ribs, fried chicken, soul food menus made of fatty starchy food are precursors of high blood pressure and diabetes which, in turn, adversely affect the heart.  So giving such franchises their piece of the pie, may fatten the pockets of the owners but certainly won't benenfit the well being of the black community.  

 

I'm not defending McDonalds or any of the other big name servers except to say that they represent the supply and demand principle, and taking on the welfare of the general population can be akin to a Nanny society where people are told what's best for them and made to feel guilty if they do as the please. We do have a right to personal choices. I eat what I have a taste for whether it's good for me or not.  I've convinced myself that savoring good food releases endorphins and phereonomes, and these chemicals balance out the bad effects of calories and cholesterol.  Crazy, I know. But never underestimate the oblivion of rationalizing or the power of pleasure, and enjoying what I like to eat is one of the few pleasure I have left in a life where I'm still here in spite of my bad habits..  But - I digress.

  

What is occurring to me is that we tend to ennoble the masses.  We think that because they are victimized, that they are morally superior to those who victimize them.  Cynic that I am, I starting to feel that the only difference between the "haves" and the "have-nots" is that the haves have managed to pull off what the have-nots couldn't.  Just because people are indigent doesn't mean they are brimming with sterling character and scruples and integrity. Folks steal from and cheat each other on a daily basis.Opportunists are not limited to the rich. Philanthropy, however, is the domain of the rich where many practice the "to whom much is given, much is expected" credo.  Altruists are in a class all by themselves. These humanitarians are a rare breed who deserve credit and gratitude and respect.  They are our hope.

 

Obviously nobody wants to be poor and impotent and exploited, and in order to better their circumstances, if given a chance, they are very likely to emulate what profit-driven successful people have done. A poor slob working for minimum wages in a factory, stealing and selling equipment on the side,  looks at the CEO of the company and thinks: "there, but for the lack of guile, go I." Never mind how he got to the top; he got there. Being a cut-throat is the name of the game

 

Politics is another arena where honesty suffers. Elected officials who rise from the ranks of the common man, promising  to represent the best interests of their neglected constituents, sell  them out   Power and money corrupt at the grass roots level just as much as at the upper echelon.

 

"I got mine, now you get yours" is the mantra of our capitalistic system where what unites the poor, huddled masses is a "misery loves company" lament.   Man is such a flawed entity and materialism so enthralling how could the world be full of anything other than greed and need????  

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Cynique drops the microphone, yells, "Sexual Chocolate!" and exits the stage. In the end all of the qualities we attribute to those in an influential position are the same qualities shared by those who are not in a position of influence.

 

I discovered a long time ago that it wasn't the White man, or a corporate entity that I was most afraid of; it was the robbing crew made up of guys in the neighborhood who had given up on life and only wanted what they could take. The result of capitalism is a society that looks to place blame on those who have made it, and to lay blame on those who have not.

 

Honesty is a virtue only to those who value it. (enough of the cliches). Demanding more from those who are capable of providing more is a flawed system. I was asked today why I think politics is not the problem in the Black community? I responded that Blacks have never had any political power yet when we were more disenfranchised and not accepted by society we were more together than we have been in the last 40 years. So the solution to all of our problems is actually very simple: Black unity/support. I support Troy, Troy supports me. Someone recognizes the work Troy is doing and they decide to add a link to their website and a movement is begun. It is at the grassroot levels where change happens first and even at this level as Cynique said, there is corruption.

 

Integrity is becoming the lost trait in our community.

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I contend that all problems don't have solutions; time is what brings change. Situations naturally evolve, sometimes randomly and the most resilient survive.   We are the "masters of our fate and the captains of our souls" so we just have to try and get our shit together, as the world turns.  :wacko:

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