Twenty-five years after that historic cover, sneaker culture and the country as a whole have seen dramatic change and upheaval. And yet, as is abundantly clear from today’s headlines, much that we thought would change has not; much that we want to change will not for a long time yet. The true story, then and now, is not one of statistics, but of optics: class, race, capitalism, and media constituencies—the facets we see in the lives of others, and the multitudes that says about ourselves.