On Tuesday, a day after the 40th federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., Nike is planning an unusual tribute to the civil rights icon: a sneaker in a teal hue inspired by the site of his assassination.
The color of the sneaker — a special “Honor the King” edition of Nike’s popular LeBron XXIII basketball shoe — nods to the exterior of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where King was killed in 1968. The assassination represents a painful chapter in the city’s history, long shadowed by a shadow of shame over his role in a national tragedy. In 1991, the motel reopened as the National Civil Rights Museum.
LeBron James, the NBA superstar after whom the shoes are named, debuted the sneakers during a game on Jan. 2, when his Los Angeles Lakers took on the Memphis Grizzlies. The “Honor the King” sneaker is part of a series of releases intended to pay homage to Mr. James’ 23 years in the league, according to Nike.
The decision to have the shoe’s color scheme mimic the Lorraine Motel’s aqua signage and detailing quickly sparked negative comments after images of the shoes were posted online. But according to a company spokesperson, perhaps that was to be expected.
“Design is so subjective, and it will resonate with some people, and others maybe less so, and obviously it gets a little more charged when you have broader principles at play,” John Jowers, Nike’s vice president of communications, said in an interview. “I think the intention, though, was really to pay homage to Dr. King and his life and his legacy.”
This isn’t the first time Nike has taken inspiration from black history. In 2020, the company created Martin Luther King Jr. on-field jerseys for the Atlanta Hawks, Mr. Jowers said. And in 2018, Nike released an all-black Air Force One sneaker with the word “EQUALITY” printed on the heel for Black History Month. But none of them alluded to the tragic end of King’s life.
“We believe our history of support in this area speaks for itself,” Jowers said.
Some sneaker enthusiasts, like photographer Randy Singleton, 32, found the design in poor taste.
“Who is this shoe for?” Mr. Singleton, who learned about the shoes through a Sneaker News post on Instagram, asked in a telephone interview. “Of all the things to relate to Dr. King Jr., the motel where his life was inspired for the shoe is outrageous.”
According to Russell Wigginton, president of the National Civil Rights Museum, the museum learned about the shoe a few days ago, like everyone else.
“We certainly don’t mind people recognizing and appreciating the work that we do and what’s happened here,” Dr. Wigginton said Thursday. “But we weren’t involved in any aspect of that, of the sneaker release.” Nike has been a longtime donor to the museum, and according to Dr. Wigginton, NBA teams and players, including Magic Johnson and Mr. James, have supported its mission in the past.
Martin Luther King III, King’s eldest son, declined to be interviewed for this article. And representatives for Bernice King, the civil rights leader’s younger daughter and executive director of the King Center, said Ms. King was not available for an interview during the busy days leading up to King’s vacation.
Nike’s brightly colored commemoration of King’s legacy comes a month after the Trump administration announced that the National Park Service would no longer offer free admission on Martin Luther King’s birthday and Juneteenth, two holidays honoring black history.
For Dr Wigginton, the shoe comes at a pivotal moment in the country’s journey.
“We live in a time where the dimensions of civil and human rights are under threat and we have faced this problem before as a society,” he said. “The civil rights movement is how we were able to get through this.”
“One of the things Dr. King taught us,” he added, “is to prepare for better days.”
Source | domain www.nytimes.com
