Source: Dennis Van Tine/Future Image/WENN.com / WENN
Vic Mensa is a real one, trust us on this fact. The Chicago artist is giving back in a major way to his hometown by launching a shoe giveaway campaign in direct defiance of the Chicago Police Department‘s shady “bait-truck” tactic to get folks to steal shoes.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports:
A foundation associated with rapper Vic Mensa plans to distribute tennis shoes to kids near the site where authorities conducted a sting by parking a “bait truck” full of shoes in hopes of catching would-be rail thieves.
“We wanted to do something in response, but have a positive response,” Laundi Keepseagle, the executive director of Vic Mensa’s SaveMoneySaveLife foundation, said Thursday. “We don’t want to create conflict with the police, but we do want to take a step forward, and just showcase that acts like that aren’t acceptable in communities that we care for.”
Keepseagle said the foundation plans to station an “anti-bait truck” where shoes will be given away, along with food trucks, as part of a back-to-school event. The date of the event will be released after the foundation receives the shoes, Keepseagle said.
The directive was put into motion last week and the foundation hopes to get donations from sneaker companies and celebrities with a goal of handing out 5,000 pairs of shoes.
“Last week Chicago Police escorted a “bait-truck” full of shoes through the South Side of Chicago to lure poor people with FREE NIKES. So we’re filling a truck with shoes to give away to those who need it,” Mensa shared via Twitter last Thursday (Aug. 16) with a link to an Amazon registry.
https://twitter.com/VicMensa/status/1030279160281759744
As of Friday, activist Shaun King pushed Mensa’s campaign via his channels and set a goal of 10,000 sneakers after gaining 3,000 pairs by the end of the day.
https://twitter.com/shaunking/status/1030483775971647488
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Photo: WENN
