I Wear Yellow Laces in my Boots
It’s not for fashion. Here’s why….
I started wearing Doc Martens boots back in the ’80s as a teenager and continue to do so to this day. And while the popularity of these boots comes and goes every few years, back then they were mostly worn by punks (and some other subcultures). Hanging out in New York City in those days, one couldn’t help but come across groups of punks and skinheads when walking around Greenwich Village, St. Mark’s, the Bowery, or hanging out in Washington Square Park.
There was a way to tell what kind of punks you were coming up on; the color of the laces in their boots. Here’s a quick break down:
BLACK LACES:
This meant that you didn’t belong to group or were straight edge.
BLUE LACES:
Blue laces in your boots meant that you hated cops or were a cop killer.
WHITE LACES:
Those who were white laces believed in white power, white supremacy. Think KKK.
RED LACES:
These were the punks no one messed with. They were Neo-Nazis or National Front. They loved to fight and beat you to near death, if not kill you outright.
YELLOW LACES:
These meant you were anti-racist. One of the only color of laces, besides black, that didn’t show hatred for someone.
PURPLE LACES:
These are a relatively new addition and usually stands for gay pride.
Now, to be honest, I hadn’t thought about these meanings until November 2016. I’d realized that we, as a country, were going to have some hard times ahead. And some groups were going to have harder times than others. I wanted a way to show solidarity with the groups that would probably be targeted. (How I wish I was wrong back then.)
To show support I bought a pair of yellow laces for my black 10-eye steel toe Docs and since then, whenever I have purchased a pair of casual boots, I have always bought a pair of yellow laces to swap out the black laces for.
I’m sure next to no one these days knows about the meanings. Some people change their laces to match their outfit. I’ve seen people of color wearing white and red laces in their boots, so I probably just look like a weird middle-aged guy going through some mid-life crisis wearing yellow laces in his boots. But that’s fine.
It’s my own little stand against racism.
