Posted by
Jason Cunningham on Friday, July 27, 2007 5:55:51 PM
So the Michael Vick dog-fighting scandal is suddenly a racist issue. Give me a break. No, really. Please. Let me and everyone else have a break from the steady flow of racism charges that are flung around the media. Racism is real, yes, and it is wrong, but it’s not an ever-present, all-pervasive thing. Yet every time a black person is involved in an incident of any sort – particularly if there’s also a white person involved – we have to put up with fake reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson turning it into a race issue: “This is another case of the white man oppressing the black man!”
No, Your Eminences, this is simply another case. Period. If racism is ever a real part of any given story, then let’s address it. But if, as is often the case, the cry of “Racism!” is simply a shameless reproduction of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” a self-gratifying photo-op for the fake reverends, let’s call them on it. As for the Vick case, apparently most of the people who were at the courthouse supporting his due-process rights were black, and most of the people protesting his alleged actions were white. Each side has a valid point: Vick should be considered innocent until proven guilty, but if he’s found guilty, he deserves to be punished under the law (though certainly not killed, as a few nuts were demanding). Concerning racism, if blacks truly want to help their cause, they should avoid immediately lining up in support of people simply because those people are black – just as feminists should not support Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy simply because she’s a woman. After all, I have to wonder: If Mr. Vick were a white man, would all those blacks still be standing outside the courthouse supporting his due-process rights?