This Was Not The Plan

At what point does keeping it real become stupidity?

Any moment now Michael Vick will be making an agreement to plead guilty to dog fighting charges and will probably end up in prison for a few months. Sunday night, 60 Minutes ran that “stop snitching” piece where those kids sat around talking about how they would never tell on anybody. There are going to be many black people are going to say that Mike Vick is a victim of the racist justice system of America. They are going to talk about how his people turned on him and the government was targeting him because he is a high profile black man. I have no fear in being labeled a sellout by making the statement that I have zero sympathy for him at all. I wish I could give him three years of community service (you know I don’t like jail) for being stupid. I was also ashamed at anyone who got on TV Sunday night and defended a practice that results in killers walking around the neighborhood. If you want to know why, I will be happy to tell you.

For the majority of the history of this country our people didn’t have a chance to do anything but accept a second class position. Our entire basis for the Civil Rights movement was to get to a point in this country where a black man would be judged on the same level and receive the same status as a white man. We were born here, we live and work here, and we pay taxes here. That means we are due the same rights and privileges as any other man. Am I right about that? If I am then the only question I can come up with is after all the blood, sweat and tears have been shed to reach this point, why are we always trying to defend dumb behavior and our willingness to not follow the law. Do you realize how stupid we look to the rest of the world to actually go on TV and basically say its ok for murderers and criminals to do what they want to us because we have a code of not snitching? Is there really a human being in the country with the money and access that Mike Vick has who doesn’t understand how America feels about dogs? He never heard of PETA or the SPCA? Am I the only brother who thinks not fighting dogs is a small price to pay for the blessing of moving all your family and friends out of poverty? How can you defend that? We have got to stop being hypocritical and start having some standards for ourselves.

Somebody has got to have the guts to tell the people of the hood that no one outside the hood thinks the way you do. You can’t smoke weed every single day and get a really good job. You can’t have your baby daddy’s name tattooed on your forehead and go to an interview. Every now and then, you might have to get a haircut, wear slacks and tuck your damn shirt in. That comes along with getting an opportunity to take part in the game. We fought for a seat at the big table and now we want everyone to be cool with us eating off of the floor. You can’t have it both ways. The moral of the story is this, if the goal of the struggle was for thugs to prey on us, black politicians to rob us blind, and rich black people to have loyal support even when they do something to embarrass us, we could have just stayed segregated and let Martin, Malcolm, Medgar and everyone else who gave their life grow old and watch their grandkids “make it rain” in the club.

That’s how I feel about it.