Being a conscious emcee from the city of Chicago makes Lupe Fiasco’s criticism of Jordan brand’s Black History Month sneaker that much more interesting. Lupe goes to Instagram to say “Dear my really really good & dope friends at @jumpman23 & @nike
I went sneaker shopping today getting ready for a few shows I have coming up and I noticed the Nike BHM editions were out. I thought about getting the BHM Air Force 1’s but I set them aside and kept shopping. I noticed the BHM Flyknit Jordan 1’s and thought they were dope so I picked them up and noticed that the red black and green was on the bottom which is dope but then a little red flag went off in my mind. I thought “hey that’s our Pan-African flag!” I then thought “if I wear these wouldn’t that mean I would be literally stepping on the Pan-African flag?? The symbol of Afro-American heritage etc etc.” I decided not to get them for that reason. Because i couldn’t reconcile whether it’s cool or not. The whole “don’t tread on me” thing kinda bothered me. I immediately hit up my bro/Jordan plug out in Portland just to give him a little heads up and he agreed. I think it’s just a learning lesson on how sensitive we as artists and creators need to be with the details of the things we make. The best and most honorable intentions can sometimes be undone with slight unintentional oversights. I love Jordan’s. Mostly because Micheal Jordan is a hero to me and I got to witness him lift Chicago to heights of greatness as a kid. I love Black History Month. It’s such a time for rejuvenation and reflection on the past, present and future of Blackness & Black achievement in America and the world at large. The Pan African flag means a lot to me and I’m sure it means a lot to other folks as well. I think we all need to be more careful and deliberate with how we attach it to products and messages. As Marcus Garvey said about the importance of the Pan African Flag in 1921: “Show me the race or the nation without a flag, and I will show you a race of people without any pride. Aye! In song and mimicry they have said, “Every race has a flag but the coon.” How true! Aye! But that was said of us four years ago. They can’t say it now….” Next BHM collection I hope we take into consideration how best to treat the flag on some Retro 6’s wink,wink ?
With all due respect, loyal fan and customer, Lupe
https://www.instagram.com/p/Be6aBlgBZkq/?hl=en&taken-by=lupefiasco
