Whitewash

This article will stay up for a bit to allow discussion.

First, a few disclaimers. I am not a racist. I will be playing the role of a racist. If this is uncomfortable for you, maybe you need to figure out why. No, I'll tell you. If you are uncomfortable, it's because you are part of the problem. All races are human beings. Human beings invented the concept of racism. Racism is created by both the oppressed and the oppressor. If you feed the system in any way, you are to blame for its results. I am playing the part of the results.

Next, I'd like to say that discrimination exists on all levels and is hardly restricted to race. Race gets a lot of press because minorities want their rights and the majority (in our country, caucasians) is afraid of giving those rights. Above all, everyone on both sides wants respect. The problem is, neither party wants to earn it. They just want to bitch about it.

So, when an issue comes up like Michael Vick pleading guilty for dog fighting, executing dogs and gambling, the immediate response is to choose a side, regardless of morality, based on your race.

Here is the problem. African Americans in Atlanta (the large majority of them) don't believe that Michael Vick did anything worse than many other players in pro sports. They believe that his 'boys' got him in trouble. They believe the plea bargain is NOT an admission of guilt, but a shrewd attempt to save his career and not go to prison for a long long long time.

Okay. If you refer to your friends as your 'boys', you're giving me a reason to get upset. You know that in that context, as a white man, I'm going to label you and them a thug. You know it. This is a buzz word now. It carries a connotation. If you want to save your image with the NFL, or if you want to defend Michael Vick so badly... why the fuck do you start off by ramping up people's tension by making his 'crew' of 'boys' an issue.

Also, saying that a plea bargain is not an admission of guilt makes you sound ignorant and disrespectful. If you want the legal system to treat you fairly, you have to play by the rules. You can't encourage people to admit guilt, and then say they're not really guilty, just smart. That's ridiculous. It's an outrage.

This is another instance of the African American community passing blame for a high profile individual from himself to some huge, faceless institution that only wants one thing: to destroy Black America.

Bullshit.

Michale Vick was involved in dog fighting. In America, people go to jail for that. It's the law. It's not a statement on race. The media attention has made this seem like some huge billion dollar federal case. It's not. It never went to trail. It was easy to investigate. It was a prosecutor's dream.

But what some of the citizens of Atlanta want is not justice, but a winning football team. Sports supercede the legal system, and anyone who doesn't agree is a racist or a puppet.

Now, what does that do for the African American community? It makes them seem like half witted, athlete worshiping, uneducated, brutish, insensitive, paranoid anti-establishment ingrates who blame white people for doing what's right and prosecuting dog killers and anyone associated with them.

If some white guy drove around Atlanta with a van and stole dogs from the homes of African Americans and made them fight to the death, or used them as bait dogs, or even was associated with this kind of activity, the Black community would have a field day. There's be a huge dog killing KKK conspiracy and all the liberal world would line up, hold hands and sing protest songs.

But, it's a black athlete and one of their own, so it must be a racist plot. He must be innocent.

I'm sorry, but this is not a sporting event where you root for the home team. This is a disgusting act of cruelty committed by a representitive (like it or not) for the Black community. He proclaimed to the world that he didn't care about setting a good example, representing his people as a strong proud black man. Instead he went out like a two bit hustler, flipping people off, swearing, proclaiming his innocence at the NFL Draft just days after he drowned dogs. Or so his 'boys' say.

Why in God's name would anyone willingly CHOOSE to support him and take the stance that it's just dog fighting and his boys did it. That puts you in with HIM. That says you're like HIM. You don't wantthe justice system to treat minorities unfairly, but yet you WANT to associate with the gansta image and play it off as no big deal. Fine. Go ahead. But quit crying about it then.

Michael Vick cultivated that gansta image, but doesn't want to go to jail? I thought ganstas grew up in jail. That's what they say in all the songs. It's just killing dogs and gang banging and staying loyal to your 'boys'.

Final thought.

If it's some white supremist conspiracy to ruin Michael Vick, why even allow a plea bargain? Why offer a reduced sentence? What has Michael Vick to offer? Nothing. They are going easy on him. I bet they are even trying to get help for him.

Now for a bit of sanity. I'm not a racist. The preceding arguement is easy for even non-racist people, both black and white, to make. Why follow Michael Vick into a pit of filth? Why support him? If he were white, I'd disown him. If Tom Brady is ever arraigned for this and pleads guilty, I will burn my jersey in disgust. I would never promote racial tension to save a dog killer and ruin my own good name for a guy that abandoned my team, killed dogs and made me and my own race look stupid.

Then again, I'm not a racist. Only a racist would do that.