As though the O.J. trial was not evidence enough of the disparate perceptions of black Americans and white Americans, the Michael Vick brouhaha here has been a sobering reminder. Where were you when the O.J. verdict was announced? I remember being in a conference room filled with work colleagues who were about evenly divided between white and black associates. And I remember being stunned both by the verdict and by the applause from the blacks in the room.
Tonight, Michael Vick gets his first start as an Eagles quarterback. And there will be marches outside the stadium, but not the sort of protest rally you, or and least I, would have expected. The marchers will be representatives of the NAACP and local black churches and other organizations that support the ex-convict. These are being referred to as "civil rights marches" by the local media and by the marchers themselves.
By what stretch of the imagination does this scumbag millionaire deserve a "civil rights march?" It puts to shame the real civil rights marches in Selma and Chicago and elsewhere that brought together people of all races to protest injustice. These marches are a sham and a disgrace.
I concur. Heartily. This "my homie, right or wrong" attitude in support of an amoral and unrepentant latter-day Caligula-Crassus cheapens the memory of true civil rights pioneers. Imagine the reaction these same lemmings would have to the rehabilitation of a Klansman, or the hero's welcome accorded that Libyan bomber.
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