Police in New York have seized over $36,000 worth of counterfeit Air Jordan sneakers that officers discovered during a routine traffic stop. The officers found 246 boxes of the phony shoes.
The counterfeiters obviously had plans to benefit tremendously from the immense popularity of the Jordan brand, but this news story led me to ask a bigger question:
Have the prices of Jordans gotten to the point, where people have to manufacture their own shoes from scratch just to be able to rock a pair?
As a kid growing up, I never owned a pair of Jordans because my mother couldn’t afford them. Then on top of that, I grew up at a time when Jordan beat downs were rampant, meaning that I literally saw or heard about people getting jacked for their kicks. But even still, I wanted a pair of my own. And no matter how hard I tried, my mother would never cave in to my constant pressure of me trying to be cool by owning a pair of Jordans. Yes indeed, I grew up a Jordanless child.
And now in my adult years, I refuse to pay over $200 for a pair of shoes. I’d rather take that money and invest it in myself or my business rather on some shoes that won’t make me run faster or jump higher anyway. And even if they did, I’d still think twice before forking over the cash at my local Foot Locker.
And now I hope that some of the principals I now have will rub off on some of the youth of today’s society, especially members of my own family, who foolishly would rather look good in front of their friends, but have nothing to show for it in the end.
We have to teach them that education should be the most important thing going on in their lives at the moment and not how fly they look. And that no matter how fly our children think they are, that no one will give a damn about that if they can’t read or write or can’t even function on a rudimentary level, just to be able to work at say a fast food joint. (K-Fed disclaimer: No harm was intended to those that work at fast food restaurants with the writing of this article.)
Sure, everyone wants the finest things in life, because I most certainly do but it’s all about perspective. I’ve seen too many children flunk out of school wearing the trendiest of clothes and driving some of the fanciest cars for even someone who works 40 plus hour weeks to be able to afford.
Something’s not right when you ask some of these children what is the name of the capital city in their own state and they don’t know. Ask them what 50 Cents real name is and they tell you Curtis Jackson, but when you say Barack Obama, they’re like “who?” or that they think Malcolm X was a rapper or musician. If you don’t believe me, just look around and ask for yourself.
So when I see that these guys were caught trying to sell fake Jordan’s in the hood, it didn’t surprise me. They’re just giving the people what they want. Who’s to blame them? We live in a capitalistic society. Isn’t that what the Land of Milk and Honey is all about?
