I know this isn’t a sports site, but it seems unlikely that many people by now haven’t heard of the charges against Michael Vick, Atlanta Falcons superstar quarterback, who has been indicted by a Federal Grand Jury for conspiracy involving the illegal training and fighting of dogs at his property in Virginia. It’s a sordid story, to be sure, with claims that Vick and others killed many animals who did not fight well, some allegedly by drowning and electrocution. Vick’s professional career may be over, as the team and the National Football League ponder possible sanctions against him which may take effect even prior to any trial.

What makes this story important to more than just American Football fans are two issues:

(1) The exposure of an ugly underground culture that participates in “sporting events” involving the brutal maiming and death of animals trained to fight against one another while crowds watch and gamble on the outcome; and

(2) The fact that Michael Vick is an African American.

In short, we have the issue of race once again thrust to the forefront of a media whirlwind involving a brutal crime alleged to have been committed by a celebrity. Much as the OJ Simpson murder case attracted a media storm in the 1990’s that divided America along racial lines, so does the brewing storm surrounding Mr. Vick threaten to do the same all over again a decade later.

(cont.)
You might think that is a bit of an over exaggeration, but I don’t think so. Google “Michael Vick + dog” and you already get almost 2 million hits. And the media interest is bound to grow as the date for the trial draws near. And while we all can agree that the charges, if true, are horrific, I think you will find that how people view this story may very well depend on race. Many many white commentators, such as those at ProFootballTalk.com, a prominent website devoted to football, have treated Vick’s story as if his guilt has already been determined, or was a foregone conclusion. Their coverage of the case suggests that they also believe “dog fighting” may be a popular avocation of other pro athletes in the NFL and NBA, most of whom are African American.

Contrast that with statements by African Americans such as former Cowboys running back Emmit Smith, NBA star Allen Iverson or sports columnist and ESPN Television host Stephen Smith, who either contend Vick is being unfairly targeted or, as in Smith’s column, decry the fact that most people are not extending to Mr. Vick the presumption of innocence to which is he entitled under the law.

It’s amazing that in this great country of ours, at a time when few of us hesitate to heap praise on our soldiers representing us abroad, how convenient it is for us to forget the actual rights they fight to protect.

One of them happens to be: innocent until proven guilty. We were supposed to have learned that from the Duke lacrosse case. Except we haven’t learned a thing. Probably because we don’t want to.

It’s hard not to see these cases, such as Vick’s, as recurring litmus tests for how Americans perceive race and racial stereotypes. Certainly the strongest defenders of the Duke Lacrosse team’s innocence regarding the rape allegations made by an African American woman were often white, just as most of the people who disagreed with the result in the OJ Simpson trial were predominantly white, and those who agreed with the verdict were black. Indeed, this racial divide exists not just in relation to celebrity trials, but as this columnist noted back in 1998, to how popular political figures such as Bill Clinton are viewed.

It seems the disconnect between white and black people on the effect that race plays in our society has changed little over the course of the past ten years. Whites are generally quick to dismiss the idea that race has a diminishing effect on what happens in society, while African Americans and other minorities hold the exact opposite opinion. Where many whites see their outrage at these cases as having little to do with racism (with the exception of the Duke case, where many whites did believe that race played a contributing factor in the indictment), blacks believe that the uproar over these cases has a great deal to do with the race of the alleged perpetrator. As an example of the difference between how whites and blacks view the Vick case, let me quote to you this blog post from the field negro, dated July 18th, the day after the indictment was issued:

[I]f this story with Vick and the dogs is true, he is cooked. America will never forgive him! He would have had a better chance of redemption if he had killed his wife like another famous football player did. I have blogged on the issue of white folks and their pets before, and if you thought I was lying, watch how this Vick thing plays itself out.

On my to work this morning it was all over AM radio stations. And I am not just talking about the sports shows. One guy actually called in and asked for the “death penalty” if it could be proven that Vick actually trained dogs to fight.

Now let me say for the record; I love dogs. If I had to make a choice between a dog and a cat it wouldn’t even be close. They don’t call them “man’s best friends” for nothing. Still, I just don’t get it with America and animals. There is so much hypocrisy involved with this entire situation that it’s almost laughable. I can hear Joe “Sixpack” over the dinner table now: “Honey can you believe what this jerk did to those poor animals? The man should be put under the jail; how can you do that to a poor dog, another living thing for crying out loud? Ahhh could you pass the steak for me please?” Context America, context.

Sorry, I live in a city where 222 human beings like me have been murdered so far this year; so you will excuse me if I don’t lose any sleep over Micheal Vick’s fucking dogs.

And this really is the crux of the matter: white and black people for the most part live in completely different worlds, and not just in terms of their physical location, but more importantly in a psychological sense. Whites are often oblivious to the racial stereotypes that society imposes on minorities.

White people hear blacks talk about racial profiling (driving while black, e.g.) or disparate treatment by are criminal justice system for drug offenses or differing treatment by medical, legal and other professionals because of their race all the time. Nonetheless, we have a difficult time connecting to the raw emotions expressed by black people, just as many of us have a difficult time believing that the claims they make are not exaggerated or the result of hypersensitivity. We don’t experience these things directly in our own lives, so that makes it harder to accept that the racial attitudes of other whites (and often ourselves as well) can really be having the effect that many African Americans claim.

We even have a label for what many whites consider inappropriate and wrongful claims of prejudice and discrimination. We call it “playing the race card” as if the anger we feel (and fear, if truth be told) emanating from their voices and their body language is merely the result of delusion, paranoia or a shallow attempt to wring an advantage from so-called “white guilt.” Denial, and anger in return at having our own motives questioned, is often the first and only response whites have to such claims. We often don’t see how our own prejudices, and the stereotypes of others that have been inculcated in us by society practically since birth, cloud our judgment in matters of race, and obscure our vision of the world as it is, not as we would like it to be.

If you doubt me on that, all I can offer is my own experience of living with a Japanese American woman who frequently (certainly more frequently than I would like to admit) reminds me of the stereotypes that she and our children deal with every day, stereotypes as to their mental abilities, food preferences, emotional range and athletic ability to which many people, myself included, often fall back on, sometimes unconsciously, to place her and other Asian Americans in a box that defines who they are and what they can hope to be.

The same can be said for Latinos, Native Americans, Arabs, etc. Indeed, almost any ethnic group labors under the burden of societal categorization, a shortcut approach to viewing and making sense of “people different from us” which form the principle building blocks for prejudice and racism in our society. As the dominant “race” whites are primarily responsible for the dissemination of these stereotypes, and for using them to modify our behavior toward, and treatment of, other groups. No group has faced the brunt of these preconceived generalizations of ours more than African Americans. The history of slavery and institutional racism in every region of the country is rife with examples where stereotypical views toward African Americans have led to both suffering on the part of blacks, and denial on the part of whites.

The first step to overcoming racist attitudes is being willing to admit that you have them. So, when you read about the Michael Vick case, or watch coverage of it on television, in the coming months, ask yourself this question: Does the fact that Michael Vick is an African American affect your perception of his guilt, or heighten your anger for his alleged misdeeds? It’s a question worth considering as another media circus prepares to assemble to gawk at, and mock, the latest alleged villain worthy of our Nation’s scorn and outage.