Michael Vick: Dog-fighting & Racism

Eddie Murphy used to say that he'd been a Black man all of his life and he never met anyone named 'Buckwheat'.

I used to know a guy nicknamed 'Buckwheat'.

So I guess that it can happen.

Like everyone except the small percentage of people who find sport in the abuse of animals, I was repulsed at the incidents described in the indictment of the Atlanta Falcon quarterback.

In the Nancy Grace climate of conviction by accusation, my knee jerk reaction was to drag him up Stone Mountain and treat him like one of his dumb animals that has had the misfortune to be born without the required temperament to kill. Shoot, Saddam used to torture those failed Iraqi athletes. A little session with a couple of bare wires just might have convinced Rex Grossman not to throw those interceptions and the Bears would be Super Bowl champs right now.

And don't think that we don't throw our failed athletes on the scrap heap. Mike Ditka and Jerry Kramer have been parading ex-football players in front of us through their Gridiron Greats organization. If you read the book of 'Friday Night Lights' you've encountered the chilling line to describe the future of an injured high school running back as 'just another n..... with a broom."

It is a tough business this world.

The guilt or innocence of people in the public eye is a jaundiced one. Britney's meltdown, Lindsey's DUI, TV preachers, politicians are all fodder to keep the tongues of the gossips wagging.

So, to be fair, Michael Vick is innocent until he is convicted.

However, like Eddie Murphy never knew a 'Buckwheat', I never knew anyone casually accused of dog fighting or animal abuse. The dead pit bull in his jacket pocket wasn't his. He borrowed it from a friend. The police planted it. Happens all the time.

When you are a privileged athlete in the public eye, you are subject to closer scrutiny and it doesn't take too long for someone to expand on that with the adjective 'privileged Black athlete'.

All the white folks groan and the race card is out on the table again. Aren't we beyond this? If Peyton Manning was running cockfights wouldn't he be subject to the same scrutiny, the same 'guilty' until proven innocent mentality?

You may have heard some of the defenders of Vick. He's very active in the community. He gave money to West Virginia etc:

You can look past his 'Ron Mexico' persona and brother Marcus' lengthy rap sheet. No one is perfect.

How should we rationally deal with this?

Take the celebrity factor into account. Let's not forgive on the basis of "pressures' but let's discard the transgressions that no one would notice if it was being place at the doorstep of Jane or John Doe.

The race card? We still have folks that can't get a cab or get pulled over for 'driving while Black". The movie 'Crash' dealt with some of those issues just a couple of years ago. That 5 foot 10 fellow with the dark complexion is still the suspect in 90% of American crimes. We may groan when it is tossed out there, but we do have to look at it and deal with it. Would O.J. have been convicted in Indiana? Would Mike Tyson have walked in L.A.?

And yes, he is innocent until proven guilty.

But, I don't want to pay my $90 to watch some one indicted of this stuff play football. I don't want to buy a BMW or a Volkswagen because of the forced labor camps in World War II. I watched a Latin fellow smash the window of a Japanese car and I didn't call a cop because the owner of that car didn't give a thought to a Detroit autoworker. I won't buy Wal-Mart and try not to buy Chinese because I look at abandoned factories and downsized workers. There are countless other decisions we make. Unfair? Unjust? You bet.

If I were a young Black woman I wouldn't be going to any parties with Duke Lacrosse players. If I were a white woman I wouldn't be dating O.J. I had a great time watching Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire hit home runs. I don't hold a grudge against Pete Rose or Shoeless Joe Jackson. Barry Bonds is going to be the home run leader. I don't care that Sadaharu Oh hit more in Japan or that Hank Aaron did it clean in a eight team league and the mound was higher or that Babe Ruth never hit a homer off of a Black guy.

It is just a matter of perception.

Like I said, I knew a guy named Buckwheat.

And he was a white guy.