I wrote this blog on my personal Myspace and seeing as how it’s time to check out, I couldn’t iron it out so I just copied and pasted. Hope you folks enjoy or if you don’t leave a comment! I do own Nikes, Filas, etc. I guess in my own ignorance I wanted to believe their hype but nothing has changed. I personally am ashamed and brands I used to wear with pride because they were “higher” end or a la mode, I wear like a scarlet letter on my chest. I’m not saying we should all burn our shit we bought and then wear burlap sacks, I’m saying if you’re confronted with buy Nike Jordans and another brand that is made in the USA or not in a sweatshop, please make the considerate and conscious choice. That is all we can do.
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IF you’re a lemming, one track mind, sheep in the pasture, don’t want to get your mind right because you weren’t issued one, naive and gullible, myopic simp then this post will either a) offend your or b) get your mind right. Either way, if you’re too simple to get it then keep it moving.
Okay gather round cats, sit down and let me rap to ya.
I picked up this book the other day because as y’all know I STAY reading books lol. Seattle Slim STANS for books lol. So I picked up: The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, And The Truth About Global Corruption by John Perkins. Tut tut tut! Before you say this is a liberal thing let me first say that I’m probably more libertarian/socialist (one hell of a mix eh) than anything. So I’m not for any side in particular. This book is bipartisan in its criticism of our dealings with the IMF and World Bank. Please pay attention to those two entities as they are VERY real.
This book doesn’t sh*t on repubs or dems. It sh*ts on our corporations. We no longer have a democracy folks and for those of us who stopped chewing of the cud and left the pasture to walk upright and assume our humanity…..we knew this a long time ago.
Democracy means that protests over Iraq could have brought our president alone to have to answer to us and others…..but we are not a democracy anymore. We are a Corporatocracy.
In any case if you don’t care about all of that care about this:
For all you parents getting ready to buy your kids hundreds of dollars of clothes from Nike, Adidas, The Gap, Old Navy, Tommy H and Ralph Lauren, peep game:
They employ sweatshops. Let it be known: that when you enjoy your overpriced JORDANS and sh*t AFTER reading this post because I was not perfect either you help this to continue:
From the book:
“If you’re a woman, when you menstruate you still get only the allotted two bathroom breaks per day allowed to everyone; so you have to tie a scarf around your waist or wear a long shirt to cover the blood stains on your pants.”
You only survive on $1.25 a day and sometimes you can’t even afford to feed your babies. Sometimes you have to choose over you eating or them eating.
You work 12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week and to get to work sometimes it takes up to an hour.
Just so you can get your buck and 25 cents to buy your rice and vegetable meal that feeds you little.
This is the life of someone who works at Nike or most any plant for the companies I mentioned.
“If Nike were to double all of their worker’s wages in Indonesia (roughly 1/6 of their workforce) it would cost them approx. 7% of their $1.63 billion ADVERTISING budget (THAT’S JUST THE ADVERTISING). We would see most of these sweatshop labor conditions vanish.”
I beg you all not to buy one overpriced shoe or clothing item from these people. What if it were you?
And black folks this especially goes out to you. We love all these Jordans and Nikes and all that sh*t, but now we’ve become what the majority was to our ancestors while we toiled in fields for nothing.
Don’t buy into the hype. Find another brand that doesn’t utilize these methods. I am sure they are out there.
We must teach our kids the VALUE OF HUMANITY and NOT MATERIALISM so that we as Americans don’t help this circle of poverty.
Children are dying as a result of this. I for one don’t want any part of it.
Do you?
