You'd be hard-pressed to find a single entertainer or athlete with more of a strangle-hold economically on their race than Michael Jordan. It's been more than a decade since his final retirement from the NBA , yet the Jordan Brand is thriving more than the collections of current stars like LeBron James and Stephen Curry. Jordan has taken on immortal status, especially in the black community- the community he has consistently neglected.
The story of Michael Jordan's rise to fame has been etched into our minds with the same consistency as the story of David versus Goliath, with Jordan's getting cut from his high school varsity team providing the motivation for his illustrious college and pro careers. Somewhere between his magical freshman year at the University of North Carolina in which he hit the game-winner to win the 1982 NCAA Championship and the 1984 NBA Draft the nation fell in love with Jordan, an adoration that is unprecedented to this day.
That adoration resulted in a sneaker deal with the-then irrelevant Nike, who needed a face to keep up with giants Converse and Adidas. The Jordan I started a relationship with the inner-city that is still responsible for stealing black lives until this day. The red/black silhouette was deemed outlandish at a time when sneakers were bland in design, and then-NBA Commissioner banned the shoe. As with anything rebellious, the controversy attracted fans to the egregiously-priced $175 shoe. The outlandish pricing of the shoe made the sneaker a status-symbol in some urban communities and a fashion staple for gang culture in others. The Jordan shoe became a universal symbol, but it held a special meaning to the ghettoes of America, were your style and individuality mean everything. The drug dealers in the ghettoes during the crack-era were the blueprint for many, and just to look the part was enough to cause violence and mayhem over the sneaker. As Jordan gained popularity while struggling to reach the championship during the '80's, the sneakers grew in popularity in price and he gained status over other top entertainers and athletes of color of the time.
Not to mention having acclaimed director and black activist Spike Lee shooting and co-starring in the sneaker commercials, Jordan could do no wrong in the eyes of his people. The early '90's saw the gel in the Chicago Bulls which led to three consecutive NBA Championships before Jordan called it quits in 1993 to pursue his baseball dreams. During this time, the spike in violence surrounding the Air Jordan brand was higher than ever, resulting in a call for action and response to Jordan. The May 1990 issue of Sports Illustrated's cover reads "Your Sneakers Or Your Life", an image of an individual being robbed of their Air Jordan V sneakers. The particular issue delves into the lives lost over the shoes that received mass media attention, yet there were hundreds if not thousands of unsolved crimes during that time period related to Jordan's sneakers.
The country didn't get the response it was looking for when Jordan's emotional distress was described in the issue overhearing the story of a life lost over his shoes, and it didn't get a better one anytime after.
After two years of subpar baseball play while the NBA suffered in his absence, Jordan returned in 1995, subsequently releasing the iconic children's movie Space Jam in 1996. The "Space Jam 11" sneaker along with the "Concord" colorway saw spikes in sales while robberies and murders all over the country peaked.
Jordan retired again after the Bulls 1998 Championship victory over the Utah Jazz, keeping his sneaker empire thriving before an uninspired, short-lived return to the NBA with the Washington Wizards.
While Jordan ruled the 90's on the court, he was a topic of discussion off of it, especially in black entertainment. Every rapper you can name mentioned Jordan in a rhyme, while every black sitcom did an episode dedicated to Jordan the player or his shoes. From Martin Lawrence giving a pair of Jordan's to a underprivileged youth on his show, to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's constant branding of the shoes during the show's epic run. Despite the love and adoration, it took Jordan until 2004 to appear on a Black sitcom, when he played actor Damon Wayans one-on-one during an episode of My Wife and Kids. It's safe to say that the only reason Jordan appeared on the episode in the first place is because Wayans was sponsored by Jordan Brand.
Despite all the love Jordan received from the millions in the Black community who just wanted to be "Like Mike", the love has yet to be returned.
It is now 13 seasons since Jordan laced his kicks up for the last time, yet his influence still holds the urban communities of the world captive. In 2015, multiple outlets reported that the Jordan Brand's 2014 sales made more money in one year than Jordan had accumulated during his entire NBA career. Over the course of the new millennium, the sneaker world has become a billion-dollar industry, and fans have found ways to cash in. While Caucasian and Asian's have profited the most off of the sale and resale of the Jordan Brand sneakers, African-Americans have traditionally done the most to obtain a pair, whether it be risking their freedom or forfeiting their last to obtain a pair of the latest sneaker. It's safe to say the Jordan brand has been as much of a contributor to "Black-on-Black Violence" as poverty, drugs and gangs. The iconicity of the Jordan sneaker goes hand-in-hand with the plight of the lower-income blacks and the crime statistics prove the theory.
Over the last five years, Jordan has elected to retro the Jordan 11 in particular near Christmas in select color-ways, sending families scrambling for pairs, waiting in extreme lines and risking their lives. The sneaker releases have received plenty of press as malls have been destroyed as well as lives lost in the effort to purchase or steal a pair of the shoes.
In the black community, youth born well past Jordan's prime are introduced to the Jordan Brand often at birth, a pair of the overly priced Jordan booties symbolizing the facade of having adequate means to take care of a child. Outfitting children in Jordan's goes hand-in-hand with unnecessary expensive clothing, as children are taught the importance of Jordan in their community before they learn of Malcolm X or Martin Luther King in school. The same can be said for Hispanics, many of whom settle in low-income areas illegally in overcrowded spaces, yet the children own Jordan's while their households are dilapidated.
While the country deals with the pressing issues of racism, police brutality and inequality, the black community looks to it's athletes and entertainers for help, to be a voice for the silenced. While these same entertainers and athletes are criticized for their ill-fated comments, Jordan goes unnoticed and unpunished, reserved during tumultuous times. For some, it comes to no surprise, as Jordan was absent from iconic black moments like the Million Man March and silent during race issues of the '80s and '90s.
Despite his legacy and status amongst people of color, his lack of acknowledgment for his most loyal fanbase seems to go excused. It seems as if the black community expects nothing from Jordan while simultaneously supporting him financially and emotionally for more than 30 years.
As the Jordan Brand continues to make a killing (no pun intended) off of frequent low-quality retro at absurd prices, it is time for the black community to demand more. After the debacle over Jordan's refusal to take a photo with rapper Chamillionaire in 2009, it's clear that we aren't even worth a picture, better yet use of his platform to fight for people of color.
If you think of the fact that there is a great chance that every black man or woman killed by police brutality or a victim of mass incarceration likely owned a pair of Air Jordans, it's only right to demand a response from the NBA's Greatest player.
If black superstars LeBron James, Beyonce and Serena Williams can speak out and act to fight against the injustices facing people of color, why can't Jordan?
We must evaluate the people we invest our money and time into if they can't return the favor, and Jordan is the perfect person to start with.
Michael Jordan once admitted to growing up "racist", stating that he was "Against all white people", yet it seems it is his own he is against.
