Family

Last April, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was charged with all sorts of crimes related to dogfighting and animal abuse. Stories and images were blasted all over the media of dogs, mostly pit bulls, who had been forced to fight other dogs to the death. We heard countless tales of Vick or his associates electrocuting, hanging and otherwise abusing/punishing dogs that had failed to do whatever it is people involved in professional dog fighting expect.

Dogs are a staple of many American families and a lot of people would put animal abuse on a list of things that absolutely shock the conscience of the country. So while most of the country was sitting by talking about how horrible Michael Vick was for doing this to animals, I couldn't help but listen to the numbers of people who defended him.

Shortly after she took over as host of The View, Whoopi Goldberg came out that we essentially shouldn't judge Michael Vick as dogfighting is part of his cultural heritage and upbringing in the South. Subsequently, Goldberg claimed that she was not condoning what Vick did but she was asking us not to judge him.

Around this time, a whole wave of African-American athletes came out to support what Vick had done. Among these were Stephon Marbury, Roy Jones, Jr. and Clinton Portis. Essentially, Marbury compared dogfighting to legal hunting, Jones mentioned how dogs fight all the time in the wild and Portis talked about dogs being private property and Vick should do with them what he pleases.

What the above-mentioned individuals are ignoring is that dog-fighting is cruel and inhumane. Most importantly, it is illegal. I could probably think of a plethora of activities that are indicative of the cultural heritage of certain areas of this country, but are despicable and illegal.

Recently, in a game between the Houston Texans and the Miami Dolphins, Dolphins quarterback Trent Green attempted to block Texans defensive tackle Travis Johnson and put his shoulder close to Travis Johnson's knees. Johnson ran into Green and his knee connected with Green's helmet, knocking Green out cold. Next, Travis Johnson stood over Trent Green, pointing his finger at him. He was immediately flagged for taunting and the Texans suffered 15 yards as a penalty.

In the locker room after the game, Travis Johnson was interviewed and he had an assortment of harsh words, calling Green's attempted "chop block" malicious. Meanwhile, Trent Green was placed on injured reserve effectively ending his season. After the game, the Texans coach came out calling Johnson's reaction inexcusable. I just cannot accept that a 37-year old, 210 pound, concussion-prone quarterback would attempt an illegal, dangerous "chop block" on a 315 pound defensive tackle. Like most people I felt that Johnson's reactions were deplorable and could not fathom a defense for him.

However, I was wrong, the following day on Around the Horn, this incident was a hot topic. Out of the four commentators, three of them were white. The three of them all said basically the same thing: Johnson's reactions were awful, the league should look into fines or suspensions, if Green did anything wrong it wasn't worthy of Johnson's reaction. The final commentator, who happened to be African-American, came out in defense of Travis Johnson, who also happens to be African-American. He said things similar to "don't judge him until you are in his shoes", etc.

Moreover, another African-American football player, Chris Carter, whom I used to respect, came out supporting Johnson's actions and behavior.

Quite simply, how Travis Johnson behaved was wrong and he should have appologized. Keep in mind I am not saying anything about what he did during the play, but how he reacted immediately afterwards and in the locker room.

In the interest of brevity, I will stop the list there with these two recent examples, but I know it could go on. And I am by no means limiting this strictly to African-Americans. As humans, we are obviously always going to identify more closely with members of our own race, social class, religion or ethnic background. that is inescapable.

This brings me to question why there is such a sentiment of allegiance towards members of one's groups who have done disgraceful things. If Vick's mother had come out and said, "my son is a good man and has done nothing wrong", I would have expected that. I mean unconditional love and support are what mother's and family are for. So what was Whoopi Goldberg's roll here?

Quite frankly, this unending support for members of one's own race is only going to succeed in deepening the schism between the races that this country has spent the past 150 years trying to erase. If this sort of support continues, it is likely that entire groups will begin to be judged by the actions of the "fringe" individual and we will be forced down a path of prejudice we are desperately trying to escape as a society.

Sensible representatives should come forward to remind people that this is not how members of theirr race behave. I will be the first to say Britney Spears, amogst countless other tabloid-headline grabbers, is not indicative of white people, and a majority of white people do not behave in this way. I will not excuse or defend her behavior and I will not permit my race to be judged by her actions. No ,we should not support or attempt to excuse the "fringee" members of our race. They should appologize publicly and beg for society's forgiveness or forever be shunned to the fringes.