New Adidas 'Shackles' Basketball Sneakers Are Stupid, Not Racist

Adidas will release the JS Roundhouse "Handcuff" Mid sneaker in August, but the sneakers are leading to a myriad of racist charges well before they go on sale. 

UPDATE: Adidas has announced it will not release the shoes in the wake of the controversy.

Sneakerheads wait with bated breath for another pair of overpriced and over-hyped shoes to spend hundreds on. 

In this case, the hype isn't quite what the sneaker company in question would like to garner so close to the release date. 

Photos and information on the sneakers have been around for some time, but they just now really gained traction for their look.

That is when a rash of reports signaled the insensitive design of the sneakers and how many were taking them to be racially insensitive in nature. 

Fox Sports reported on the brouhaha surrounding a shoe many are calling the "shackles." They feature a bright orange and purple colorway which would be enough to have people pass on them. But the real reason people are crying foul is obvious, because of the shackles that go around the wearer's ankles.

Even if you wipe away the centuries of oppression and slavery from the American slate, they are still shoes with one huge mistake attached. 

The company does state there is nothing racist to the shoes, via a statement made from Adidas to Fox News:

"

The JS Roundhouse Mid is part of the Fall/Winter 2012 design collaboration between Adidas Originals and Jeremy Scott. The design of the JS Roundhouse Mid is nothing more than the designer Jeremy Scott's outrageous and unique take on fashion and has nothing to do with slavery. 

"

I agree, for the most part. 

I don't believe the German shoe company nor designer Jeremy Scott hate African-American people or feel they are superior to this specific race, a vital tenet of the awfulness that is racism. 

However, I do think they are completely blind and ignorant to how this obvious symbol would be taken by the masses who may buy their shoes. 

I was also intrigued by an article from Foster Kamer of the New York Observer that states Scott has been known for his off-the-wall designs and this may merely be nothing more than a cartoon-centric design. 

When sneakerheads demand more and more outrageous basketball shoes to flaunt, you are going to get sneakers that look like such, or these. 

I am no dummy, and I can see how these would be taken as racist. 

Instead, they are nothing more than awful-looking shoes that were made by a company and designer completely oblivious to how they would be perceived by their market. 

Stupidity over racism?

It's not ideal, but I will take that over the alternative. 

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