Better late than never, huh? For the first time in 30 years, the company finally breaks their silence on inner city kids getting robbed for their J’s. Hit the jump to see the Senior Vice-President’s (Howard “H” White) statement.
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It saddens me…”It’s a shoe that I want so I’m going to take it”. Unfortunately those things happen, which are systemically bad.
The good news is there are so many people that [sneaker culture] has inspired to do great things. The person that says, “Wow, man, I remember the first job I got because I had to have them and save money.” “My Mom got me those Cement IVs if I got good grades.”
So, I’m working here now because they inspired me. You know, the mother that says, “I got them for my little kid because it’s about excellence and standards and I want them to appreciate that.”
You hate to see that [sort of violence] over anything, actually. You would reduce yourself to this?
But then all of those people that stand in line, that brave the cold, that say, “This means something to me.” Getting that pair of shoes makes them feel better about themselves. If it gives them the ability to dream and hope, that’s hard to take from a kid. So you can always say, “Hey, because of this we aren’t going to do this anymore.” But are we helping kids?
Let’s say this person goes on to find the cure for cancer. Let’s say that the person that kept hope graduates from school, goes to college, and all of the sudden their family is able to rise. That’s worth its weight in gold. If you ask the parent to put a price on a dream they will say it’s priceless. So what I tell people is, maybe that kid is impoverished money-wise, but if this unleashes that force within them, what’s that worth? What price is that worth?
So, the unfortunates: I don’t know if they could ever outweigh the positives.
