In defense of the triple-black Nike Air Force 1, a shoe whose reputation could use some upliftment

Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.

I have no statistics to back up this statement I’m about to make but I feel like the streets would prove me right: The triple-white (basically all-white) Nike Air Force 1s are some of the most popular shoes ever made. No matter where you look or where you go, you see the same silhouette on the feet of folks from age 8 to 80. It’s a Swiss Army knife kind of shoe: You can dress it up or down, wear it with shorts or pants, and because it’s white as the freshly fallen snow, it kind of goes with everything — much like its derided and much-maligned sibling, the triple black Air Force 1.

You know this shoe. You may have seen it on the feet of the person robbing you at an ATM in broad daylight as you looked down — praying for a quick theft of personal property — and wondered why every time you’ve personally been the victim of a petty crime, the same shoes are always present. Is the same person robbing you? (Probably not.) Or do all the robbers wear the same shoes? (It’s possible.) You see, the black Air Force 1 has a reputation (kinda, sorta jokingly, kinda, sorta earned honestly) in the shoe community as the go-to shoe for a sect of the criminal underworld. Maybe it’s the comfort. Maybe it’s the look. Whatever it is, there’s this myth that a person robbing you may or may not be wearing a black 1s, but a person wearing black 1s is definitely robbing you. 

Here’s the thing: While the reputation for the black 1s may be well earned — I don’t think I’ve ever been robbed by a person in black…