BLACK LIVES MATTER

As a brand, it’s always easy to self-censor our thoughts in an attempt to separate our personal lives from that of the company. We have secondary social media and personal accounts, we vent our frustrations to friends, and we keep our problems off the internet. However, there are times where our voice needs to be expressed, and our platform warrants being utilized. This is one of those times.

And that’s the cool thing about being a “streetwear” or a “lifestyle” brand. It’s not about the products, not really. At the core, any streetwear brand worth its salt is about the people it represents. It represents the lifestyle, the ideals, and the attitudes of a specific subculture of people, and the products are just merch surrounding that energy.

So today, we are telling you - and the world - that this is us, these are our ideals, and these are our attitudes.

#BlackLivesMatter

THOUGHTS

It is with heavy heart and heavy mind that I come here today, to this shared corner of the internet, where I can offer you a moment of condolence and commiseration from a healthy 6+ feet away.

By now we’ve all heard and read or seen through the captivating lens of the CNN crew, placing their camera down on the ground to reveal the full portrait of a militant laced police operation while in the background burns the skyline of the Twin Cities.

By now we’ve all heard and know the name of George Floyd. And may we never forget it. But may we also never forget Ahmaud Arbury, or Breonna Taylor, for whom the wound is still equally fresh, still seared in the collective conscious but forced to scab over in the heat of the failed coronavirus response; Or Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin for whom time has almost all but elided our memories over, but are nonetheless still present in the current heat and anger of the moment. And Sandra Bland and Botham Jean and the Central Park 5, an inexhaustible list of disproportionate authoritative reactions- nevermind the underlying offense, whether it be a traffic stop or simply being alive, walking home in a hood or play acting with a false representation of a second amendment right; the focal point of anger is not at the police, seen at times as a monolithic institution of rigid brutality but ultimately composed of men and women like you and me, middle class at best and earning a paycheck while risking their lives; this is not to paint all authority as having abused their purpose and position in society, but this is the open referendum on decency.

It is at times human error that leads to escalation, the fear of the other present in both victim and oppressor, by which it is up to us to establish the legality and justice to each. Should the man who compressed the windpipe of George Floyd be given clemency? Do we think he deserves that which he did not show to another? Was there fear (really?) as he dropped his full body weight onto George Floyd’s neck- the critical point of a man already subdued and surrounded? Despicable, as was the cowardice present in his fellow officers not to speak on behalf of the distressed. It is not a question of whether George Floyd had behaved in a way that put our legal system at risk; it is a fact the disproportionate amount of force he was met with was fatally excessive, and the infraction George Floyd was apprehended for was far less corrosive to the faith and trust we have in our institutions than the actions of one sworn to protect and to serve. The justifiable anger we feel is in that breaking of a promise, in the abuse of the trust we had given and lived under every day.

When people march under the banner of Black Lives Matter, it is not to overstate the importance of one color or creed over another, it is to stand in solidarity with a demographic that at the moment feels its voice unheard and even worse, unwanted. It is a desperate plea not even for equality, but acknowledgement in the eyes of human decency, that they too have a soul, have blood that runs through their veins, have hopes and aspirations not only for themselves but their communities and their families. To override this sentiment with such co-opted phrases like “Blue Lives Matter” or “All Lives Matter” is to not find the breath in oneself to acquiesce, to agree, to state firmly and undeniably that yes, you my brother, my human compatriot, living walking presence amongst me, are worthy of your life.

This doesn’t need reiterating, does it? This shouldn’t be news. I would hope that as customer of ours, as frequenter of our lives and designs, somewhere it was made apparent that human decency should prevail amongst us and brutality of any kind be balked at and condemned.
But what of the protests? What of the riots? Is that brutality?
Is it comparable to weigh the material cost of a city to the price of a human life? Some would argue every life is sacred, and I hope to see them march out into those very streets, clutch those same pearls of sanctity for the felling of our co-equal brother. But on the actions of the protesters, peaceful at first and then spurred to violence, do I condemn them in the same breath?

If one is to argue that kneeling at a football game is transgressive, then why listen to their criticism against acts of authority and state? If it is a conversation best beheld to the confines of politics, then what progress have we seen made in our political apparatus? A president who considers neo-nazi’s “very fine people”? Who calls armed protestors storming state capitals patriots, but refers to an entire race of people as “rapists and drug dealers?” If you consider this progress then I question your moral compass and basic humanity; if you are unwilling to condemn such incendiary acts of violence from the very top of our executive branch, then may you equally keep your mouth shut to the impulsive emotional reactions of the very bottom of society seeking to be heard. If you are not angry yet then I can only assume you have not been listening, or turned yourself so far away from the light of moral decency that it is pointless to try and reach you, and better to leave you in the gutter of history with the rest of the apathetics.

Does my heart break? It has broken so many times what sadness can be left at the quotidian repression? But does my soul? Hell no! These may seem the bleakest of times but never is that reason to give up and give in. Never the time to roll over and think the end is nigh, for there is no end boys and girls (except for the heat death of the universe, and we’re still a few billion years off from that). Looting, rioting? These are examples of immediate gratification, of an animal howling in pain, and you can choose either to kill that animal by throat or gun or you can hope to heal it instead. If anyone were to tell me of the anger they feel implicit in the system my first reaction is to ask then if they voted, if they voted for these policies at the highest level or their most local; if they put their police chief in place or idly let the rest of their fellow citizens choose for them. A vote is a voice and a shattered glass is a shriek; one leaves a lasting mark for generations and one’s heard only for the moment.

There are those who will choose to loot; there are those that will approach a scene with no intention to be there except to light the fire of fear and hate; there are those that will look to unleash violence without giving it aim; and there is always the caution of self lighting the Reichstag Fire (Those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat, it you know.) As much as I warrant the use of being loud, you can do so without violence. You can scream and shout all you want, and never throw the first stone. You can bark until you have to bite. But be wary of not thinking; of standing on the throat of society and disregarding its pleas for mercy. Be forceful, not calloused.

Or you’re just as bad as the cops.
(prove me wrong, popo.)

Rioting is a right a passage. Everyone riots, don’t they? Our parents must have, there was ample reason to back then. Some of our parents did for sure. Bernie did for sure. Who am I to condemn anyone that’s got the fire and strength to make themselves heard? It’d just be nicer if we didn’t have to, right?

You know, I won’t tell you not to riot. But more importantly, I’ll tell you not to fear, because even though it’s visceral what’s happening in those streets, and its heart-wrenching to see the videos of angry marchers and overturned cars, anarchist opportunists giving peaceful protesters a bad name, an extremely incompetent bureaucracy either too inept to issue a statement on behalf of justice or just too malevolent- there are still plenty of beautiful moments scattered throughout the crowded viewphone: like the black protesters protecting a white cop from violence, or a group of protesters subduing a bad apple instigator and handing him over to the police, to which the police took him and only him; or the cops who took a knee with the people, or laid down their weapons to join the march themselves. Don’t take only the pain of this world without seeing the compassion that can bloom in its place.

-Look if you’re really worried you should focus on your community. You should contact your senators, and if you don’t like them then do everything in your power to help their opponents, like my opportunity, Mrs. MJ Hegar from the friendship state of Tejas. What’s this under her policies? Criminal Justice Reform? Ok Mrs. Hegar how you gonna do that? Solutions supported by Campaign Zero? What’s this? “We Can End Police Violence in America”? oh boy that’s exactly what I want to see!

&so on and so forth.

Listen- never feel powerless, even when you’re angry.
And never lose sight, because blind rage is gonna make fools of us all.
Be the systemic change you want to see in the world ✨

and remember:

FREE-TO-USE PROTEST GRAPHICS

Please feel free to use these graphics however you wish. Get stickers printed, make stencils and spray paint these, make your own t-shirts, do whatever. These graphics belong to the people, and were created for the purpose to spread awareness for the injustices that have been the source of oppression for far too long.

Included below are links to free downloads for these graphics in .ai and .pdf format.

 

 

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