You lived in a different time where wearing certain colors, symbols and Air Jordans/Niki/Adidas weren’t going to get you killed.
“Looking back at Sports Illustrateds famous 1990 cover story, Your Sneakers or Your Life, which focused on the murder of a 15-year-old boy over his Jordans and brought sneaker violence to national attention” https://qz.com/554784/1200-people-are-killed-each-year-over-sneakers/
Notice the date. 1990.
I let my daughter do the same
I think the bigger issue may not be the time but the location. I knew people from across town who wouldnt buy certain kinds of pants because only certain type of people wore them
Amazing-—and you are right——I hadn’t bought a kid a sneaker since the 70s.
They were footwear,not a symbol.
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