Saturday, August 25, 2007

The Race Card

You know, I hate writing anything like this, because it’s incredibly difficult to do without being branded a racist. That being said, I’m going to go ahead anyway.

You’ve probably heard by now of the NFL player Michael Vick’s dog-fighting charge.

Now, can someone please explain to me why this is suddenly a race issue?

Listening to local radio yesterday, I heard a comment from Vick’s Lawyer, who when asked about the case, went on for 5 minutes about the legal system, how a disproportionate number of prison inmates are black, etc, etc.

You know, these are all valid points. They deserve investigation and discussion…but doesn’t it kinda dull the point a little bit when the guy you’re holding up as a victim of racism actually did what he is accused of?

Do a google search on Vick, and you’ll find a ton of articles and webpages discussing the whole thing like a race issue. For me it’s just simple: Authorities find a ton of incriminating evidence at a football player’s home and charge him. It doesn’t matter what race he is.

The long and the short of it is this:

If you do something illegal and get caught, it’s not a race issue.

If you’re a suspect and get questioned, it isn’t a race issue.

It’s only a race issue when you’re accused of something you didn’t do, without evidence or reasonable suspicion, because of your race.

The reason I get so pissed off at this is simply because it’s bad for race relations. Every time there’s an arrest, or some kind of natural disaster, people jump on their soap box and try and twist it into a race issue. All this does is hand ammunition to both sides. The problem is that if you look for racism you’ll find it.

Turning Vick’s case into a race issue has done two things. The racist rednecks talk about how yet another black guy is trying to play the race card to get away with something he did…while the other side is calling harassment and racism because another black guy got arrested.

If you think I’m wrong, let me end with a question:

If Michael Vick was a white guy, would the word ‘race’ have entered into it? Would anyone see it as anything other than it was, a football player arrested because of a crime?

I’m not saying there aren’t problems with our legal system…but confine racial discussions to where race is a factor.

3 comments:

Sunny said...

I know- it's one of my frequent complaints...it seems as tho every case brought before a judge these days is made into a "race" issue. I'm sick to the teeth of it too.

Anonymous said...

I agree. I got annoyed when I heard on the radio after Paris Hilton got released from jail the first time that it was because she's white. I personally, believe it had everything to do with money and the fact that she is a celebrity, for what, I'm not sure, but either way,.. yeah.

I mean I do understand that racism is still a huge issue in this country, but are you serious... and I'm not a white person saying this okay!!..

And I watched the Real World last night, and one of the girls, she's persian, and she got mad when the white roommate made a comment about the incompetent immigrant mcd's worker. She didn't make much comment about the person's race, but rather about the fact that the person can't speak ENGLISH. I fucking hate that. If you can't speak basic English or enough english to do your job, you shouldn't be living here. That's all.

OzzyC said...

Do I really need to add anything here?