"Nike X and my Dead Hand" (2018-2019) is a video research project conflating the history of the Nike footwear brand’s sneaker line designed in collaboration with basketball stars and the Nike-X anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defense system designed by the US Army during the Cold War-era. Sarnelle’s project started out with performative installations at Angel’s Gate/Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, Los Angeles, which was once charged with protecting the Los Angeles Defense Area from aerial attacks. Today, a basketball court at this site has become an iconic location for filming movies and music videos. Sarnelle speaks about the long history of black athletic bodies often cast as soldiers and weapons, drawing lines between militarism and athletic star culture. The work attempts to destabilize the ideology of competition fostered by the free market, and examines a shared language of sports, capitalism and war.