Demand Shinola Detroit Reform; End to White Supremacy and mystification of African Americans NOW

The original Shinola company (1877 to 1960) used blackness to sell shoe polish. Images and advertisements, like this one from the 1920s, spread the myth of the African American as a happy servant. Black shoe polish was also used to blacken the skin of White and Black actors. Wearing blackface, they acted out racist, dehumanizing stereotypes, such as the happy-go-lucky slave on the plantation. These caricatures soothed Whites’ post-slavery racial anxiety and reinscribed their supremacy. Over time, with advances in civil rights, the stereotypes evolved to look more realistic, but the values remain the same .
In 2001, Bedrock Manufacturing purchased and resurrected the Shinola name and legacy within a city with a population of 83% African Americans; it then used Detroit’s name as branding for their company. The “new” Shinola company also creates representations of whiteness to reinforce their “leadership” and creates and markets images of Black workers being grateful for this so-called leadership. Constructing and controlling images of African Americans is central to racism and maintaining White supremacy.