All this said, I think there is a lot of “malice, when stupidity will suffice” being applied here. All of Jeremy Scott’s designs are outrageous, most of his collaborations with Adidas do mash-up outrageous sneakers and toys or other weird childhood memories. Believing that in this instance he was intentionally trying to be a racist shit, and using My Pet Monster as a cover up just seems odd considering his previous work.

http://www.hotadidas.com/images/adidas-jeremy-scott-teddy-bears/adidas-jeremy-scott-teddy-bears-3.jpg

Just one example. Funnily enough, they add credence to Jeremy Scott’s claim that his designed are inspired by toys and his childhood.

Popular black culture has completely destroyed American music? FFS. 
You think consumerist, shallow, image centric, money obsessed, sexist lyrics weren’t around, nor popular before the current rise in “popular black culture” (AKA hip-hop)?

Don’t get me wrong, there are terrible artists that do offer nothing more than crap, but that has always been true and always will be.

There are battles you can win relatively quickly, like this one; and there are battles that are so much bigger, that will take so much more effort, pressure and gradual change. Concentrating only on the later lets the former slip on by.

I would argue, just in general, for more diversity (of a variety of types) on their design teams.

It’s going to be a hard pull to get them to include demonologists in the design process.

I love art that challenges people, just don’t expect or need to see it via Adidas.

So I’m not putting “words into the mouths of black people” as you said.  Jackson (who is often known for that) is the one claiming that would happen.

I think not. 

http://www.pbs.org/georgewashington/classroom/index3.html

“ It is sometimes wrongly said that the compromise meant the founders considered slaves as only partial human beings. In fact, the compromise had nothing to do with the human worth of the individual slave. States with slaves wanted to count all of their slaves in the state’s population because that would yield more representatives in Congress. The opponents of slavery, noting that slaves had no rights of citizenship including the vote, argued that slaves should not be counted at all for purposes of representation. In the end, the compromise was to count three-fifths of the state’s slaves in the total population. In another words, for every five slaves, three of would be added to the population count used to determine representation in the House of Representatives. ”

Odd how often non-black people put words into the mouths of black people.

And btw, he didn’t equate novelty sneakers with slavery. He equated shackles with slavery. You know, shackles–those things used during the days of chattel slavery.

I wouldn’t presume to say the designer was intentionally trying to make the visual equivalent of a racist joke and then using My Pet Monster as a fall-back, but then again that is possible.  I do agree that the designer should’ve been smart and/or sensitive enough to have made that connection, and Adidas HQ should never have co-signed on that design, for sure.

My first thought, because the shackles are bright orange, was “prison style.”  Then again, the prison industry/criminal justice system is racist as hell anyway, so “six of one, half-dozen of the other,” i guess.

anyway, no disrespect, sir.  welcome to BB.