The Rise of Black Men in the Land of Opportunity

Wesley Morris’ s article “The Rise of the NBA Nerd” is an accumulation of well thought-out examples that make an attempt to uncover the reasons as to why black males of stature are dressing in a certain manner. In the beginning Morris makes an example of Kevin Durant and the way he dressed during a press conference and makes a wholehearted attempt to explain that people 10 years earlier would have been degraded or ridiculed for dressing in such a manner. However the way Morris tries to explain this phenomenon is really confusing, especially from a white female perspective because the majority of his examples are people that I personally am not familiar with aside from Kanye West. Morris goes onto say that this fashion statement is evolutionary and is a huge change since the days when black males wore slouchy clothes and could careless. However I believe that this “fashion revolution” has a deeper meaning than Morris is getting at; black males are now being given the opportunity to excel to a height that is equal to white males and that is a huge ideal, he even mentions this in the article “Kids knowing they can be president of the United States, it might be more crucial to the expansion of black identity” with this statement Morris allows for his focus on sports to be broadened to a political level which I praise. This equal opportunity for success calls for an “upgrade” in appearance in the eyes of the world. It is human nature for people to judge a book by its cover and these successful black men are becoming more aware of their social and political appearance and making people respect them in ways more than just as an athlete. These men are setting themselves up to be looked at as intellectual individuals and they could not be setting a better example for the future generations of America. Some may deem this a type of cultural assimilation however to be equal I do believe we all must take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves in equal ways; such as the way in which you dress. I do believe that what we wear can be an argument in many ways however I do not find this situation as visual rhetoric because these men know exactly what they are doing and they are taking advantage of social image to present themselves on top of others. The only possible visual rhetoric in this situation is a societal image being construed and mixing the image of a “nerd” or a super white person with the vision of an athlete and in the eyes of the world it may feel wrong but these guys are completely aware of what they are doing; and raising the bar for future generations. I strongly believe that their fashion “statements” are a big shootout to the younger generations to get their shit together and so far it is making a statement beyond the conference room.