Everyone Loses

via The Beautiful Struggler - Me, Myself and Eye

Forgive me if it seems like I'm giving too much time to this Mike Vick foolishness, but I think there is something really important to be learned here that we have somehow lost in the shuffle. This isn't really about Vick himself, but moreso about what this situation says about the people who've had such visceral reactions to it.

On one side you have White people and their undying obsession with and love of dogs.

White people love dogs like Black people love Jesus. When White people's houses are on fire, they send their children in to rescue the dogs. Perhaps it has to do with ownership and obedience seeking being ingrained in their ancestral memory, but whatever it is, there is a serious love between White man and White man's best friend. All jokes aside, White people go really, really hard for dogs. Really.

Then you have Black people who are often guilty of believing that any Black man who finds himself in trouble with the law is a helpless victim of THE MAN and his plan to keep us all down. This is due largely in part to the fact that MANY Black men who find themselves in trouble with the law are, indeed, victims of this plot. However, "any" and "many" are not the same. Hence the "m" that divides them. Anyway, Black people like dogs well and good, some of us, but we have this thing where we value Black men more. We are funny in that way. We also, like most Americans, are guilty of getting mad at laws after the fact when people we care about break them, but don't want to acknowledge the fact that EVERYONE KNOWS KILLING A BUNCH OF FREAKING DOGS IS ILLEGAL, IMMORALITY OR SADISM ASIDE.

And then you have a rich Black man who kills and facilitates the killing of a bunch of dogs. Which for Black folks would be about the equivalent to a White man pissing on a copy of Songs In The Key Of Life whilst burning a picture of Maya Angelou. And all hell breaks loose. The White folks want to lynch the brother, even after he serves a two year prison sentence and apologizes. The Black folks don't think he should have been punished at all. And both groups of people are wrong and crazy.

Much like the Henry Gates situation, this COULD have been a teachable moment were we a country of teachable people.

What White folks stood to learn from this situation:

1) Black folks' inability to condemn Vick has to do with all the times Whites have treated us unfairly, which has left us virtually unable to deal with White criticism of Black behavior, even when it's warranted.

2) White racism reared it's ugly head many times during the post-arrest fiasco, so it's not that Black folks are just dog hating monsters, but that we are gonna get defensive when we see a lynch mob coming.

3) White folks have made it clear to us often that there are a number of them who value dog life over Black life, so how could we NOT say 'fuck you and your dogs' when people who wouldn't piss on a burning Black body seem willing to go to war over some animals?

Least we NEVER forget the Katrina dog rescue busses.

4) It IS hypocritical to get all nutty about these dogs if you don't ensure that every piece of meat in your belly and leather on your body comes from animals that were killed humanely.

What Black people should have understood:

1)Defending the actions of every single Black person who gets arrested is akin to crying wolf and then getting outraged when someone is actually attacked.

2)Just because the "justUS system" has been historically oppressive and abusive towards Blacks does NOT mean that we get a free pass to commit crimes that don't seem like 'a big deal'.

3)Killing a bunch of dogs is pretty fucked up no matter how you frame it.

4)Throwing a bunch of red herrings in the pot (i.e. 'what about Paris Hilton's DUI') really ain't doing nothing for the cause.

But...nobody learned nothing and we saw the same bull we see every time a racial event happens. I know people gagged a little bit when I chose to say "give Vick a fair shot, but give me a break on making him a victim", but I stand behind it. White people's overreaction (overreaction=calling for his death or permanent banishment from society) does not make Black people's overreaction ('This is a ploy to hold the Black man down!') okay. Y'all all need help. All Americans do. This is a sick sad country we live in. I need help too, but I'm cocky enough to say I called it right this time.

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