IT'S NOT JUST AN AFRICAN OR POOR GHETTO THING, AND IT'S WASN'T TO BEGIN WITH A AUSTIN FUN THING FOR BORED LITTLE RICH KIDS EITHER. IT BEGAN, I THINK, IN PLACES LIKE PHILADELPHIA, NEW YORK & BOSTON, AND IT'S SERIOUS STUFF (THIS PART IS A FACT I KNOW OF); WHEN SOMEONE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD DIES YOU HANG THIER SNEAKERS UP ON THE LINES. END OF STORY, IT'S NOT ABOUT FUN, & IF ONE OF Y'ALL AUSTIN DILDOS CAME UP HERE & TRIED TO TROW SNEAKERS UP ON THE LINE YOU'D END UP A STAIN IN THE GUTTER. PEACE
User Detail :
Name : NAZARIGHT, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Disability : CAPITALISM, Race : HUMAN, Religion : NAZARIGHTEOUSNESS, Age : 25, City : ILLADEL, State : PA Country : United States, Occupation : LABORER, Education level : Technical School, Social class : Lower middle class, I know in my community they do it with the sneakers of someone who has been murdered or has died in an accident. It's similar to the miniature shrines that appear at car crash sites.
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Name : Tonya M, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 35, City : Washington, State : DC Country : United States, Occupation : Systems Coordinator, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, In Brooklyn, sneakers hanging from telephone wires used to be a sign that you could buy drugs at that spot. I don't believe that this is the case anymore, since it's pretty common knowledge.
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Name : June, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Buddhist, Age : 24, City : Brooklyn, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : Non profit, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, The reason you see sneakers on telephone wires is that someone has died, and in some cases it's to mark territory.
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Name : Natalia20259, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Methodist, Age : 23, City : Columbia, State : MD Country : United States, Occupation : College student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, From what I understand, the shoes-over-the-wires is a ghetto thing. In the Bay Area, you only see the shoes-over-the-wire in bad (or kind of scuzzy) neighborhoods and projects. It usually indicates that a drug dealer lives or hangs out near the shoes-on-the-wire. My boyfriend happened to live next door to this guy who was always sitting on his front steps, and there were always these homeless or at least sketchy-looking people approaching that guy. They were probably his 'clients,' and he was probably a dealer. Lo and behold, there was a dirty old pair of sneakers hanging on the telephone wire in front of the guy's house. For the record, I do observe the neighborhoods I go to in San Francisco and the Bay Area (you should always be aware of your surroundings, even if they are nice ones), and the pleasant neighborhoods do not have shoes on wires.
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Name : Topramen, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Asian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 23, City : San Francisco, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Office Manager, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, I live in an all-white, very exclusive neighborhood, and we have shoes hanging from telephone wires here, too. It is a symbol that drugs were sold in that location. A lot of rich people do drugs, too. They are expensive.
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Name : Hannah21413, Gender : F, City : Houston, State : TX Country : United States, In September, we (a black family) moved to a mostly white neighborhood known to have 'nicer' homes. We live right on the corner, and there are a pair of dirty old tennis shows hanging from the wires. Every time I look out my front window I see them, and it drives me crazy. I, too, don't understand the concept behind this. I doubt that 'black kids' came all the way over here just to dispose of their old sneaks. My guess is that some of the local 'white kids' did. Whoever did it will no longer see them there - as soon as I figure out a way to get them down. It's tacky for any neighborhood.
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Name : Comocrea J., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : African Methodist Episcopalian, Age : 26, City : McKeesport, State : PA Country : United States, Occupation : home maker / caregiver, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, Actually Tyler, this was a predominately white behavior, it started with Italian Americans, and worked its way through the 'poor' white neighboehoods. And it sybolized the fact that someone finally had enough money to buy a new pair of shoes, or was able to afford to leave the neighborhood.
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Name : Chris, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Lutheran, Age : 32, City : Bensalem, State : PA Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, I live in a black community and we don't have shoes hanging on telephone lines. There may be shoes hanging from telephone lines in some black communities but it's not every where. If we all believed every thing we saw in movies every ones mind would be twisted. Maybe you should get to know blacks who live in the ghetto you may meet some nice people.
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Name : Jessica30847, City : Summit, State : IL Country : United States, Key word: MOVIES. Do you believe everything you see in movies?? You should research and ask question before you go justifying 'why' people do things that they do. You should never pin point an act on a race or community just because that is what you saw in a movie?? That's silly and idiotic. I live in st.louis I don't see it where I stay and I live in 'tha hood' (since u went there).
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Name : 1EducatedBlackQueen, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : half italian half black, Age : 19, City : St.Louis, State : MO Country : United States, Occupation : full time college student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, In Texas, both Dallas and Houston, shoes on a wire signify a place to buy drugs.
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Name : Carrie, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 24, City : Clinton, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper class, I had a friend in college who used to throw his old beat up Chuck Taylors over wires. He just thought it was funny. I think at one point there were like 3 or 4 pairs of shoes on the one wire. It was pretty funny to see.... I think kids do it as a joke.
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Name : Josie29152, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Wiccan, Age : 22, City : Punxsutawney, State : PA Country : United States, Occupation : waitress/firefighter/EMT, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower middle class, Imagine you're a kid, and you've seen sneakers hanging from a wire at least once in your life. Now imagine you have a pair of discarded sneakers on your hands during an unsupervised moment. Frankly, I don't think any other explanation is necessary.
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Name : Carl19230, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Unitarian, Age : 34, City : New York, State : NY Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, When I lived in Berkeley, it was something college students just did. Case it point: I've seen a big ugly doll with its head chopped off hanging from a telephone wire. Few days later, I saw some shoes hanging from that same place. It's hell for telcos to go out there to take off. Why? I have no idea--students get a kick out of it. It's like adding food color and laundry detergent into the school fountain. It's rebellious, but hey, what's college life for? Someone told me they were to mark a person's death... But here are some of my own hypotheses why you tend to see them in the ghettos... 1) People don't call in to complain about them. 2) Telcos are just plain lazy about getting them down in those areas 3) Telcos are afraid of going into those areas 4) Kids buy Jordans so they don't need their old shoes anymore.
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Name : Brian23014, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Asian, Age : 21, City : Davis, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, Wow. I am amazed at the different responses to this question and none of them are what I understand. I grew in one of the poorest ghettos in NJ (Camden) and what I knew was that the sneakers on the wires were of people who took a beat down (lost a fight or got jumped) got their sneakers taken and thrown up there so that they would have to walk home bare foot... Never had anything at all to do with drugs. Whoa. Sometimes in some cases things are attributed to drugs and they really don't have anything to do with them...
User Detail :
Name : CEPS, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 30, City : South, State : NJ Country : United States, 
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