Day 17: Dope

Last night, I finally saw the movie Dope. The movie is about this teen and his two friends and how they did not fit the stereotype of their neighborhood. They were from a bad area, but despite that chose to lead a different life than what was expected for them. Though it was a smaller part in the movie, one of the things that resonated with me was the main character, Malcolm and his shoes.

There is a part in the movie where a group of guys are trying to take this kid’s shoes at school. The kid did not wear the same size of the main guy of the group so he moved on. Malcolm was wearing a pair of Jordan 3s, and was right next to the guys and they proceeded to approach him. The main guy of the group gave off a vibe that he had stolen from Malcolm before, and was about to do it again. As Malcolm started to take off one of his shoes, he used that distraction to run off. He was eventually caught, but due to the intervening of a security guard, the group only came away with one shoe.

I have been blessed and fortunate enough to grow up and live on the Northside of Chicago. With all the violence and problems around the rest of Chicago, it is almost as if the Northside is a different city. Honestly I did not know how different the north and south sides were until High School. I attended a Catholic High School not too far from where the Chicago Cubs play baseball. It is located in a beautiful area. Unlike many other schools in the area, there was a lot of diversity especially considering the small amount of students that attended. With that being said, I had a good amount of friends who grew up on Southside of the city.

I remember one time my friend had invited me to play basketball by his house on the Southside. In the city, there were no school buses, so public transportation was the only way to get anywhere. I had never taken the bus out there by myself, so it was a little nerve-racking. Mind you, he did not even live that far south, but already the difference between where he lived and where our school was, was like night and day. Once I got to the area, I was unable to contact him and had no idea where I was going, so after about a half hour of wandering, I decided to head back home. I was about an hour and a half from home with public transportation, and that wait for the bus was the longest wait of my life.

Not too long after this, around St. Patrick’s day, a friend who lived in that same area told me a story about how he was threatened on a bus ride home because of the color of his shoe laces. Being in that area and now hearing this story really made me realize how different the north and south sides of Chicago were.

At this point in my life, I was already into shoes and name brand clothing. Because I went to a Catholic school, we had to wear uniforms, but whenever we would get to dress down, I would always want to wear my nicest and coolest shoes. The experience of seeing the other side of the city first hand really made me paranoid though. So much so that I would bring a pair of shoes no one would care for to change into when I would have to go home. This is actually something I still do today, except instead of to school, I do this for work, even though I work in a nice area.

The reason I share this story is because we still live in a time where people are robbed and killed for their shoes or their clothes everyday. Another part in the movie that relates to this is when Malcolm meets this guy who has these two designer bags. One bag is real, the other is not. Malcolm says that because of where they are from, people will assume both are fake, but the only person that really knows is the person who bought them. I have seen a lot of fake Jordans, even in the nicest parts of Chicago. Based on Malcolm’s logic, the same rationality works. If you were to see someone in a nicer part of the city with Jordans, you would assume they are real. Either way, they still get robbed or killed for their shoes.

No matter how hard we work for something, no matter how much we think we deserve it, and no matter how dope it might be, no material thing is worth more than our lives. I would love for there to be a time where I could walk out of my house or car and go anywhere without worrying about the wrong person looking at my shoes. The reality is that there may never be a such time. All I can do is be prepared, be cautious, and understand that shoes are just shoes.