The Brand?

Twenty-six years ago, May 14, 1990, ESPN released a provocative cover with the headline “Your Sneakers or Your Life,” a 4000-word story by Rick Telander, which sparked controversy over who was to blame for a problem that identified urban societies as it’s target.

Jordan tells Telander in 1990 that “I thought people would try to emulate the good things I do, they'd try to achieve, to be better. Nothing bad. I never thought because of my endorsement of a shoe, or any product, that people would harm each other. Everyone likes to be admired, but when it comes to kids actually killing each other “—he pauses— “then you have to reevaluate things.”

Over a quarter of a century later and consumers are still continuing to harm and kill each other over the exclusivity surrounding the sneaker market, Jordan however, has been mum about the violence surrounding his brand since the '90s.

Telander says “Something is very wrong with a society that has created an underclass that is slipping into economic and moral oblivion, an underclass in which pieces of rubber and plastic held together by shoelaces are sometimes worth more than a human life. The shoe companies have played a direct role in this.”

Sneaker companies like Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour are economically taking advantage of the free market by limitedly supplying the outrageously high demand for their product.

They’ve continued to do so by endorsing other household names within the basketball industry with their own shoe lines.

LeBron James, forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers, signed a lifetime deal with Nike in 2015.

"We can confirm that we have agreed to a lifetime relationship with LeBron that provides significant value to our business, brand and shareholders," Nike said in a statement regarding the deal. "We have already built a strong LeBron business over the past 12 years, and we see the potential for this to continue to grow throughout his playing career and beyond."

The Culture?

According to “Sneakerheadz,” a documentary shedding light about obsessive sneaker collecting culture, there are an estimated 1,200 sneaker related deaths a year.

“Sneakerheadz,” synopsis follows with:

“To Rock or Stock?
Sneakerheads will do almost anything to get their hands on a unique pair of kicks, going to such extreme lengths as hiding in trash cans to score a pair of Retro Jordan 11s to camping for days in sub zero temperatures for the latest Nike Foamposites.
How did sneakers become as prized as collectable art? From the shores of Cali to the congested streets of Tokyo, Sneakerheadz examines the cultural influence of sneaker collecting around the world and delves into a subculture whose proud members don’t just want to admire art, they want to wear it.”

Twelve-hundred sneaker related deaths a year, and that number doesn’t include an unrecorded amount of injuries or thefts surrounding much of the hype related to releases and collections.

The phenomena and exclusivity has accelerated youth and beyond into a subculture that clutches more than it offers.

The Sneakerhead?

Weezy Jackson, 31, Sneakerhead and reseller, says he witnessed arguments arise, punches being thrown and peoples fleeing from the police only a month ago in the city of Southfield at Mr. Alan’s on 10-mile road.

Jackson says that he and his friends have waited in line for days at a time during rare sneaker releases only to witness raucous created amongst their peers due to line cutting and lack of sizes available.

He says the guy that cuts in front of you might be your friend, but the second he gets the last pair in your size, all hell breaks loose.

“Fights, so many fights. People had guns over the years, too,” Jackson says. “Kids are getting their shoes taken at gunpoint.”

Jackson says these incidents haven’t stopped him and will not stop him from continuously going to scheduled releases.

“I gotta get the shoes every week,” he says.

Who is to blame for telling kids they get their value from the brands they wear and the idols they echo? In order for them to be “Like Mike,” they have to wear “Like Mike,” in order to wear “Like Mike,” they have to take from Sam, Nick, and Mike because they come from communities “Like Mike,” but are not near any caliber, financially, first and foremost, to be “Like Mike.”

The Voice?

Artist and Activist J. Cole raps in his 2011 chart topper “Nobody’s Perfect, “they killing n*gga’s for Jays, that’s death over designer.” He precedes that lyric with “death over dishonor,” referring to a common saying that suggest a man would rather die than bring shame or disgrace upon himself according to genius.com.

Cole later told Angie Martinez of New York’s Hot 105.1 after the December 2014 release of his latest platinum selling album 2014 Forest Hills Drive, that it is a culmination of songs that speaks upon society placing their importance on the wrong things saying, “if it’s cars, you can never have enough if it’s women—you’ll never have enough—you’ll be chasing them forever, if it’s success you can never get enough of that… it keeps calling you, it’s like a drug”

He says to listeners, “the monetary, the material, even the success, the things you place your importance on never can satisfy you and ever make you happy because they never end... It’s a hamster wheel, you’re never satisfied.”

He stresses that looking to those things for happiness will never make that happiness attainable, and he credits society for that downfall.

Cole says, “We’ve let the system and the world tell us that these things are important. The new.”

The Locals?

Jumoke Edison 31, was born in raised in Detroit, Michigan. He says he recalls in high school; groups of guys would wait to rob people coming outside of the local mall for their shoes.

Some would get away with it and some wouldn’t.

“Don’t take something away from someone when they work hard for it… but it’s the type of city we live in. Detroit ain’t no joke, know where you at,” Edison says.

He says he thinks people in Detroit choose to portray a thug image steering non-natives to be cautious of what they wear or even coming to the city in general.

“I pride myself on surrounding myself with people that make me better, but if your circle is complacent with where they’re at that’s just where you’re going to be, you know what I’m saying?” he says. “Grandma’s are only 40 and hanging out, and parents are trying to be best friends with their kids.”

Edison says it’s all about upbringing and who the perpetrators behind these crimes are around growing up and that the neighborhood needs to become more involved. He says he makes a point to teach his 4-year-old son that he’s his best friend, but he is his father first and foremost.

“That’s why I’m starting up a nonprofit to help fix up parks around the city so kids can come out more and enjoy the sunshine,” he says.

He finds it morose that parents have to restrict their children from freely going around the city because of petty muggings and thefts.

“They call it hitting a lick, and you know, they go around bragging about it,” he says.

The Community Leaders?

Chris Edwards 34, Detroit native and activist, dedicates his free time to head junior and senior church youth groups and servicing the African American youth in his community, says it’s a slap in the face that these issues are not being targeted enough.

“This generation has to have it. It’s almost an obsession, they have to have it” he says, “I don’t just blame Nike and Jordan, but they have an equal balance as much as I blame the individual.”

Edwards says part of the reason behind the violence is Nike and the Jordan brand skyrocketing prices over the years.

“A new thing that they do, which has made it very f*cked up—excuse my French—they have vouchers now. So it’s like a raffle to get the Jordan’s because there’s a very limited supply and a very high demand.”

He says music, namely Pop Rap, is also to blame for influencing African American culture with boasts of greed, lust, and when many of these artists reach a certain level of success an unwritten rule comes into fruition restricting them to help people less fortunate. He says after getting in the high seats, it becomes sectioned off and the bottom becomes forgotten.

“Money will never solve anything, but no guy is gonna rob you and kill you if he has $20,000 on him. They’re robbing you because they don’t have it. And they need it. Somebody is probably at their house hungry, maybe a kid, maybe a mom or them,” he says.

“Before these kids became adults and committed the actions they do, somebody failed at home,” Edwards says.

Edwards makes note that his father is 81 and his mother is in her 60’s saying he came from an era when people took the phrase “it takes a village to raise a child” seriously.

He recalls staying with neighbors who were able to discipline him the same way his parents would.

“That ideology has been stripped from society. Now, you can’t even discipline your kids as the parent,” Edwards says these issues have become a society failure because no one is stopping to check what is happening.

“I try to live righteously and pray, and educate others about issues like this… but I was told a long time ago that things gotta get worse before they get better,” Edward says.

He says he thinks things have to happen the way that they are in order to increase a dissatisfaction among the community members to incite change.

“I see new flowers that are beginning to blossom, a younger generation that’s starting to get it."