So these new Jeremy Scott “shackle” shoes may have been a hit, since he claims the inspiration for the shoe came from a toy, but in actuality it reminds too many people of slavery.

So because of complaints Adidas is deciding to pull the shoes from being released, which I think all in all is a good choice.

Rev. Jesse Jackson told CNN, “The attempt to commercialize and make popular more than 200 years of human degradation, where blacks were considered three-fifths human by our Constitution is offensive, appalling and insensitive.”

And Dr. Boyce Watkins posted on Your Black World, “I literally froze up when I saw a new design from Adidas set to hit stores in August.”  He continued, 

“When I see the shoes, I also think about the ankle bracelets being worn by far too many men who are affected by the mass incarceration epidemic that the White House says nothing about. The black family has ripped itself apart because so man of our fathers, brothers, husbands and sons are locked away in prison, leading their children vulnerable to all the horrible things that happen when the man of the house is not away. I am offended by these shoes because there is nothing funny about the prison industrial complex, which is the most genocidal thing to happen to the black family since slavery itself.”