Barefoot Is Legal (barefootislegal.org) founder Dave Kelman has announced the 5th annual #IDidItBarefootChallenge for March 26-28, 2021.

This Challenge will have participants simply go to a place of business barefoot. Participants can visualize and understand the feeling of people judging others based on looks. It also shares health information about the barefoot lifestyle. Challengers are invited to take a selfie and share with BIL social media.

“We want to raise awareness on the background of the famous signs that popped up in the late 1960s” Mr. Kelman explains. “Most people think it is illegal to not wear shoes, when in fact these signs were able to discriminate based on the 1964 Civil Rights Act.”

Kelman is referring to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Before this, businesses had the right to discriminate based on gender, skin color, or ethnicity.

“Businesses were also angry at the youth.” Kelman describes further. “Hippies were against going to war in Vietnam. They were considered anti-American. The youth and minorities all never wore shoes when the weather was nice. The store owners noticed this, and found they could discriminate based on clothing instead of kicking people out for being black.”

There are numerous health benefits to going barefoot. Grounding (or earthing) is one of the most common terms to explain the health benefits of a barefoot lifestyle. Millions of Americans would prefer to spend time outdoors barefoot, but are afraid of the social stigma.

“The whole world wears cheap flip flops. Not because they want to – but because they feel they have to in order to be considered normal. There is nothing wrong with running in to pick up a pizza, get an ice cream cone, or go rent a carpet shampooer barefoot. We want going barefoot to be a normal choice, just like having a beard or a baseball hat.“

There are several places online, including the Barefoot Is Legal website, to verify all claims.