Making Choices

(I still can’t bring myself to post a real dog fighting pic because they are too gross. This will have to do).

In his Washington Post article, Playing to Wrong Crowd, Mark Maske makes a good point about misplaced loyalties and the role it played in Michael Vick’s undoing. The choice of staying with “your boys” or lifting yourself up, is a choice that many black athletes have to make and too many are making the wrong one. It’s not exclusive to sports. It’s a choice that young black men who grew up in neighborhoods where many of their childhood friends were involved in some form of criminal activity, have to make. Once you have gotten your opportunity to move up, do you bring your friends up with you or do you try to stay up to some and down for them? It’s a balancing act doomed to failure.

Vick put himself in this position by letting his boys keep him down instead of making the choice to pull them up. And don’t be mistaken, it was his choice. He was not the follower in this group. He was the The Man and his boys would have either followed him up or gone their separate ways. No, Vick made a choice and probably considered himself “keeping it real” which to many in the black community means “doing things the wrong way.” And don’t give me any of that “he can’t leave his boys behind; the boys who stood by him when he was nothing.” That’s BS. He can and should leave behind anyone who isn’t willing to appreciate the changed circumstances and responsibilities his fame brings him and help him preserve what he’s worked so hard for.

Instead of answering the call that the honor of playing professional football for millions of dollars gave him, he answered the call of the streets and whatever sick name you would give to hanging/drowning/electrocuting animals. In the end, his “boys” he was keeping it real with turned on him at the drop of a dime. I guess they were just “keeping it real” too.

And enough with the argument that he shouldn’t go to jail for “just” killing dogs. He is not going to jail for killing dogs (although the sick way he did it would be enough reason for many, including me). He is going to jail for funding, operating and participating in a criminal enterprise. Although I’m sure the “dog” aspect makes it seem worse, crime is about Intent to commit a crime and taking Action necessary to follow through on that crime, not about who does or doesn’t love dogs.