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Last Updated: Oct 16th, 2008 - 13:33:17 |
The time has come to watch the polarization of American perspectives according to race unfold now that Michael Vick has plead guilty to dog-fighting charges.
A majority of black people will undoubtedly attempt to exonerate Vick and downplay the charge's severity. While, in contrast, the majority of white people will seek to hang, electrocute and treat Vick the same way he treated those dogs.
Prominent black athletes such as Stephon Marbury, Deion Sanders and Clinton Portis have already come to Vick's defense. Marbury compared the incident to hunting deer. Sanders confessed that dog fighting is a common sport amongst athletes. Portis said dog fighting wasn't a big deal and blamed the media for targeting Vick negatively.
On the other hand, white people have sponsored Vick bashing events, where dogs urinate and defecate on Vick's jersey. The American Kennel Club has demanded Vick be severely punished and the National Football League uncover others in this unsanctioned sport. White columnists are using derogatory expressions of Vick's character as ignorant, dumb and barbaric. These are terms that many black people will label as racist and substitutes for the N-word.
As a black man, I think Vick used unwise judgment considering his status, wealth and fame. The only stupidity that can be designated to him was that he remained loyal to his childhood friends and their cultural norms. I definitely do not agree that he should be severely punished or banned from the league.
Now, I grew up in Denver and I can't count the number of dog fights I've witnessed. I can understand how Vick got caught up in this sport from a cultural perspective. For us, dog fighting is not a sport, but part of black male machismo. It's just like bull fighting is for the Spanish and the Mexicans, or cock fighting is to rural white people. The male machismo of white people devalues human life with fight clubs where contestants are beaten bloody.
This machismo is passed from generation to generation and is the reason why many black people will downplay Vick's actions.
Black men across America engage in pit bull fights. This is why we see pit bulls in hip-hop artists' videos. The pit bull is a cultural marker that signifies strength, violence and power.
For centuries, many black people have believed that society has put a higher value on dogs' lives than their own. We are guilty of taking our pains and frustrations with white society out on the animals that this society loves, respects and exalts above our own humanity.
Many black people cringe from hunting elk and deer, and cannot relate to mounting the heads of these animals as trophies. Most of us see hunting as sickening just as white people view dog fighting. The difference in these cruel sports is legality. Cultural norms involving violence to animals by white people is legalized, while those among black people is criminalized. Take away the legal ramifications from this dialogue and argue about animal cruelty only, and both have the same ruthlessness and heartlessness.
The hypocrisy white people display concerning animal rights is coy. It's legal to euthanize, spay, neuter and hunt dogs for animal control, but it's not legal to eradicate them through fighting. Ponder upon the legal words involved. Euthanize means to put to death. Spay and neuter means to be castrated of your reproductive organs. Every city employs dog catchers to hunt stray dogs, which then get euthanized. Is this not cruel if one is a sincere animal lover and subscriber to life?
The difference is not the action of cruelty itself. It's what's legal and who's defining legal. White people write and vote on laws while black people remove themselves from the voting process and power to make laws. As a result, black norms involving animals in sport are criminalized. Thus, Vick is a casualty of our voting inactivity in Congress, the state capitols and in city halls across America. In contrast, Dick Cheney and avid hunters are exonerated from wrongdoing for their cruelty to animals because they vote, make laws and have a hunting license to kill.
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