Guilty Until Proven Innocent aka Dog Sh*t

My quarterback is all over the news this week. Michael Vick has been accused of being part of a dog fighting ring. Even though he hasn't been to court yet, we got all kind of protests against him. I expected PETA to come down on him, but Russell Simmons (who is quickly becoming one of my least favorite people) didn't have to join in yet. I mean, lets hear the evidence before we convict him. The media has him convicted before the trial date is set. But let's just say for arguments sake that Mike is guilty. Is it really that bad?

I know, dog lovers will probably boycott my ass, but I'm not condoning dogfighting. What I am saying is in the grand scheme of things, is dogfighting any worse than hunting? I mean hunting is considered a sport. The vice president of our country can go out and shoot poor defenseless animals (and his homeboy) and nobody says anything about it. There are hunting shows on ESPN every Saturday morning. Fathers take their sons out to learn how to kill animals as a rite of passage. They aren't doing this for food. They are doing it for the thrill of the kill. At least with dog fighting, the animal has a chance to defend himself. Tell me how Bambi's mother can defend herself from a Remington semi automatic fired by someone hiding in the woods.

I read all 19 pages of the indictment against Michael Vick...AKA Ookie (that's an even worse alias than Ron Mexico.) A lot of what's in the indictment is based on anonymous snitches. I counted 4 cooperating witnesses in the complaint. I don't know what other kind of evidence they will present at trial, but I don't think you can attack a man's livelihood based on the word of people who were allegedly involved in the same crime that they are accusing Vick of. We all know that there are haters in the world, and until some proof is offered, let Vick play football. At the same time, I can understand if Nike or the other companies don't want to have him advertising for them, but let the man do his job. Let me have at least one more season of playoff football before you make an example of another rich Black man.

The hysteria is getting ridiculous. People are madder at Vick than they are at George Bush, who is sending thousands of PEOPLE to their deaths with the fabricated war in Iraq. (Speaking of Iraq, didn't we win that war like 3 years ago? Why are we still there?) I know one thing has nothing to do with another, but I just want to keep the perspective that we are talking about pit bulls, not humans. The same pit bulls that everybody wants put to death when they maul some little girl. The same pit bulls that are banned in Denver. The same pit bulls that PETA wants banned in South Carolina. You don't believe me, read the link. So let's just say for arguments sake, Mike Vick is guilty. If you aren't willing to prosecute people who hunt for sport, then you shouldn't prosecute Mike Vick, at least not until Atlanta wins a Super Bowl. At the very least, don't rush to judgement until all the facts come out(remember the Duke Lacrosse team? That shit had the blog world going nuts.) As for my opinion?? My Blackness won't let me admit that he is guilty which is code for "yeah, he probably did that shit, but I hope he didn't." I guess even amongst his supporters, Mike Vick is guilty until proven innocent. What do you think? Guilty, Innocent, or Waiting to See???