Not one day goes by where I am not tagged in a meme or tweet making fun of chunky white Fila sneakers, or “dino-stompers” as they have now been cruelly named. The first meme was funny, even I’ll admit that. But after countless posts protesting the sneakers I hold so dear to my heart, the naysayers start to get to you. Those who abstain from the chunky Fila culture will never understand the feeling of being bullied for something that is such an integral part of who you are as a person: they won’t understand the pain we feel until everyone has walked a mile in our clunky footwear. To this day, I firmly believe the bullying will never stop, and thousands of us innocent, sporty individuals will continue to suffer the wrath of our enemies. My oppression is valid; my cries for justice shall be exalted!
Therefore this is not a complaint, but a call to action. I am asking you, fellow Fila-owners, to stand proud and tall with me in this important moment in history. What I am asking for is not a protest, but a revolution. The time where people can casually destroy your soul and place you in a dark pit of despair is over. As Melania Trump so bravely stated, “be better,” and I think that is a message that we all have a civic duty to embody.
Some claim that the size of our sneaker is an overcompensation for qualities we lack elsewhere, yet this could not lean further from the truth. If anything, the weight of our Filas make us even more grounded than ever before. With every stomp we feel complete, and with every step we leap.