I remember when the show, 60 Minutes highlighted the basketball player, Stephon Marbury and the fact that he had put out a shoe carrying his name that went for $14.98 a pair. He did it out of a sense of compassion because so many poor black males in ghettos all over the U.S. were blowing each other’s brains out while robbing them over $300 – $500 Jordans.
How proud I was to see the story of what Marbury was doing for his people. Tears came to my eyes. Well guess what, folks? Apparently the people in those poor areas are so ignorant and backwards and lost that it is beneath them to wear affordable shoes. They would rather continue killing each other for shoes they cannot afford rather than wear shoes that they can in fact afford:
Knicks Starbury sneaker line has been tossed in the bargain bin. Sportswear seller Steve & Barry’s has slashed the shoe’s price in half in most of their strores – from an already affordable $14.98, down to $7.99 a pair.
This doesn’t bode well for Stephon’s shoe stakes, as he was hoping to expand his sneaker line to other outlets. More importanty, his contract with S&B expires this summer – so Stephon could have trouble selling his soles.
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I was in Steve & Barry’s last week and they had huge signs all over the store that EVERYTHING in the store was $8.98 or less, so it can’t just be that the Starbury line is not doing that well. I would have to see reports from other retailers saying the same thing. I wonder what is up with Steve & Barry’s though. Every time I go to the nearby mall Steve & Barry’s has some sort of “Going out of Business” sign posted or all of there stuff is significantly reduced.
@ Black Informant, I came across the NY post article http://www.nypost.com/seven/01212008/sports/knicks/starburys_hit_clearance_shelves_856080.htm
It still mentions Steve & Barry’s and his contract with them. IN light of the mention that he had a contract with this store, I wonder were his shoes sold in other stores besides Steve & Barry’s?
Also, the article also references his now “smashed” relationship with Isaiah Thomas. Ever since Marbury testified in the Anucha Brown-Saunders sexual harassment suit, Thomas has seemed to have it in for Marbury. I wonder if Thomas and the powers that be at MSG may be behind the reason for the brands slow/short sales.
i actually went to get some of those for me and my son. when i saw them they just didn’t look good. not cheap, but they just didn’t look good. plus Steph isn’t doing to well with his career so i guess he certainly isn’t helping his situation.
DarkBrotha,
Unfortunately shoes don’t look good to people unless they cost hundreds.
This is upsetting.
I actually saw a white man wearing a pair and they matched his outfit. I initially didn’t realize that they were Starburys’, but thought they were nice looking sneakers, but I’m not a ‘sneaker-nista’ so what do I know? As I looked more closely, I saw that they were Starburys and I was really surprised that a non-brutha was wearing them and they really looked decent like a quality shoe. I guess folks of other races are not the only ones who are tired of paying hundreds of dollars for footwear.
Hopefully, Marbury will redesign his shoe line and expand. Honestly, I am surprised that Rev. Run’s daughters shoe line (Pastry) is doing so well. I don’t see it advertised and the shoes that I have seen from that line are not anything that I would wear.
Wow!! I got to laugh at the admin using the NEW YORK POST as a source. It’s obvious that you are not familiar with that rag.
That rag sheet isn’t good enough to use as toilet paper.
The New york post is nothing but trash that is own by that racist Rupert Murdoch…who also owns Fox News which employs White Leaders like Sean Hannity and Bill (phone sex anyone?) O’Reilly.
The New York Post hardly ever have anything good to say about Black people. And they have a vendetta against Stephon Maubury because he is the face of the New York Knick which is one of the most dysfunctional organization in professional sports.
The New York Post is a part of the Devil White Media which will go to any length to say anything negative about Black people. I do not believe that Maubury sneaker are in the $7.99 bins at ALL stores across the country. From what I understand they are doing well in the inner-city’s of America. No they may not be selling like the $300.00 Jordan’s but they have been out for maybe a year. And so what if they don’t look as good as sneakers from Nike. Maubury and Ben Wallace deserve credit and support from the Black community (where ever you live at) for what he is doing. Weather you like him or not.
It is so dam unbelievable how these negros are following Willie Lynch’s directions on making a slave to a tee. Some of these blogs are committing Black on Black crime with words just as those dam brainwashed animals that choose to use a gun on someone who looks like them just for a pair of sneakers with some House Negro’s name (Jordan) on them. And I doubt that
Jordan gives a dam about them.
The Willie Lynch letter:
I thought this was the most appropriate time for ALL OF US to re-read, remember and NEVER FORGET, the speech given by Willie Lynch a slave owner who over 300 years ago devised a plan to help keep Black people divided…
Gentlemen:
I greet you here on the bank of the James River in the year of our lord, one thousand seven hundred and twelve. First , I shall thank you, the gentlemen of the of the colony of Virginia, for bringing me here. I am here to help you solve some of your problems with slaves. Your invitation reached me in my modest plantation in the West Indies where I have experimented with some of the newest and still the oldest method for control of slaves. Ancient Rome would envy us if my program is implemented. As our boat sailed south on the James River, named for our illustrious KING JAMES, whose BIBLE we CHERISH, I saw enough to know that our problem is not unique. While Rome used cords or wood as crosses for standing human bodies along the old highways in great numbers, you are here using the tree and the rope on occasion.
I caught the whiff of a dead slave hanging from a tree a couple of miles back. You are losing valuable stock by hangings, you are having uprisings, slaves are running away, your crops are sometimes left in the fields too long for maximum profit, you suffer occasional fires, your animals are killed, Gentleman,…You know what your problems are; I do not need to elaborate. I am not here to enumerate your problems, I am here to introduce you to a method of solving them.
In my bag, I have a fool proof method for controlling your slaves. I guarantee everyone of you that if installed it will control the slaves for at least three hundred years. My method is simple, any member of your family or any OVERSEER can use it.
I have outlined a number of differences among the slaves, and I take these differences and make them bigger. I use FEAR, DISTRUST, and ENVY for control purposes. These methods have worked on my modest plantation in the West Indies, and it will work throughout the SOUTH. Take this simple little list of differences and think about them. On the top of my list is “AGE” but it is only there because it starts with an “A”; The second is “COLOR” or shade; there is INTELLIGENCE, SIZE, SEX, SIZE OF PLANTATION, ATTITUDE of owner, whether the slaves live in the valley, on a hill, east or west, north, south, have fine or coarse hair, or is tall or short. Now that you have a list of differences, I shall give you an outline of action- but before that, I shall assure you that DISTRUST IS STRONGER THAN TRUST, AND ENVY IS STRONGER THAN ADULATION, RESPECT OR ADMIRATION.
The black slave, after receiving this indoctrination, shall carry on and will become self-refueling and self-generating for hundreds of years, maybe thousands.
Don’t forget you must pitch the old black VS. the young black males, and the young black male against the old black male. You must use the dark skinned slaves VS. the light skin slaves. You must use the female VS the male, and the male VS, the female. You must always have your servants and OVERSEERS distrust all blacks, but it is necessary that your slaves trust and depend on us.
Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control, use them. Never miss an opportunity. My plan is guaranteed, and the good thing about this plan is that if used intensely for one year the slave will remain perpetually distrustful.
-WILLIAM LYNCH-1772
The letter above is one of the major problems of the African-American race today. And with this knowledge we as a race can and will over come. So with this letter still in your mind I ask that you enlighten someone else and send this letter to as many brothers and sisters. We as a race must start somewhere in learning our problems what better place than the document that started the destruction of our MOST POWERFUL RACE!!!
This is preached nightly by white leaders such as Sean Hannity, rush Limbaugh, Fox News,and it could have been written by Rupert Murdoch.
As usual, you came strong, Escaped Slave. I know that “Massa” wishes he could catch your behind!
LOL!
My sincere hope and prayer is that the work Marbury is doing to provide affordable shoes will go on so I am hoping the Post is wrong!
Regarding the Willie Lynch comments, I would like to share the following with you all:
“They still honor Benjamin Tillman down here, which is very much like honoring a malignant tumor. A statue of Tillman, who was known as Pitchfork Ben, is on prominent display outside the statehouse.
Tillman served as governor and U.S. senator in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A mortal enemy of black people, he bragged that he and his followers had disenfranchised “as many as we could,” and he publicly defended the murder of blacks.
In a speech on the Senate floor, he declared:
“We of the South have never recognized the right of the negro to govern white men, and we never will. We have never believed him to be the equal of the white man, and we will not submit to his gratifying his lust on our wives and daughters without lynching him.”
Excerpt from the New York Times January 22, 2008 Op-Ed post by Bob Herbert http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/opinion/22herbert.html?em&ex=
1201237200&en=07169cc1804bd7e3&ei=5087%0A
Anyone who is familiar with Steve and Barry’s is aware that their $8.98 whole store promo is something that they do periodically as a part of their standard yearly promotions. There is a new store here in Lawrenceville GA at the Discover Mills mall (a fairly high-end mall in an affluent community)and we were fortunate enough to attend their grand opening. They have personnel there from other stores and the corporate marketing machine doing give-aways, etc. and we inquired about the $8.98 deal and according to the lady we spoke with it’s a yearly occurrence, usually in conjunction with the holiday season. The caveat is that you never know when it’s going to start or end- and neither do the workers in the store. It’s to encourage consumers to do the kind of manic shopping that we’re prone to do when we have no idea how long the “good thing” is going to last.
We went back this past weekend and the store was sold out of all of Starbury’s shoes with the exception of a few unpopular size choices. We did get in on the madness and my son, *proud mama that I am*, has started a Starbury fad at his school. He’s been collecting sizes and cash and buying the shoes for his friends whose parents won’t make the drive to the store. Just to clarify, we live about 80 miles from the mall, but I work 6 miles away from it; so that’s why it’s a big deal to get over there to the students.