From the AJC: White culture's hypocrisy about Vick
Note: The article below, taken from the August 29, 2007 Atlanta
Journal-Constitution Guest Opinion column is the best opinion article
that I have read about the Michael Vick dogfighting case. The author
Kathy Rudy an ethicist and professor at Duke University peels back the
layer of the onion and dually refuses to give Vick or white animal
rights activists a free pass.
I strongly oppose what Vick and his accomplices allegedly did
concerning dogfighting and how they killed losing dogs and Vick is
wrong to have participated in these activities. But the frenzied
attack on Vick seemed to have an undercurrent of "we gotcha" that
hinted of racism to me.
I am sad about the animals that suffered and died during dogfighting
and about Vick recklesslly throwing away his career. But I am equally
concerned about how there is such a gulf between cultures and values
that the Vick case illuminates.
Please read the article below it will show the complexities of this
case, like nothing else that you have read.
Beni Dakar
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White culture's hypocrisy about Vick
By KATHY RUDY
Published on: 08/29/07
As a strong advocate of animal welfare, I despise dogfighting. I have
worked in dog rescue for many years, and know firsthand that pit bulls
are among the sweetest, most devoted animals on earth. The pit bulls
used in the dogfighting ring operated from property owned by Atlanta
Falcons star Michael Vick deserved a far better life.
Yet, I find what's happening with Vick, who pleaded guilty Monday to a
felony charge, alarming.
We need to face the fact that dog fighting is not the only "sport"
that abuses animals. Cruelty also occurs in rodeos, horse and dog
racing (all of which mistreat animals and often kill them when no
longer useful). There are also millions of dogs and cats we put to
death in "shelters" across the country because they lack a home, and
billions of creatures we torture in factory farms for our food.
Vick treated his dogs very cruelly; there is no question about that.
But I see one important difference between these more socially
acceptable mistreatments and the anger focused on Vick: Vick is black,
and most of the folks in charge of the other activities are white.
Some might argue that the difference between dogfighting and these
other forms of animal abuse is that dogfighting is illegal. That's
true, but the fact that dogfighting is illegal while other
institutions remain acceptable is because dogfighting no longer a
sport of the middle and upper class.
Dogfighting (and cock fighting) used to be "sports" enjoyed by the
upper classes in the United States and were, then, perfectly legal.
In the last 50 years, however, they have become the domain mostly of
blacks, Latinos and poor whites -- and were ruled illegal. Now, while
white middle and upper classes continue to watch horses run to the
point of exhaustion and risk breaking their legs, they regard
dogfighting as something that only low-class "thugs and drug dealers"
find entertaining. Indeed, a reading of many of the Vick news stories
indicts him and his friends as much for being involved in hip-hop
subculture as for fighting dogs. Several proponents of animal rights
have used the Vick case to draw attention to the widespread abuse of
animals, but they are primarily trying to persuade people to become
vegans.
I look at this another way: If we find dogfighting unacceptable but we
can live with other forms of animal abuse, what is the underlying
distinction? Could it have more to do with the culture surrounding the
human beings involved and less to do with the animals?
I am not saying dogfighting is acceptable, but rather that Vick should
be publicly criticized for that activity, not for his participation in
hip-hop subculture. Whether or not dogs are fought more by minorities
than white people is actually unknown, but the media representations
of the last several weeks make it appear that black culture and
dogfighting are inextricably intertwined. We need to find ways to
condemn dogfighting without denigrating black culture with it.
I would like to believe that in 25 years we're going to look back on
our current treatment of many animals as cruel and intolerable, and I
do believe that the welfare of animals is coming into focus as the
next great social movement in this country. Civil rights, feminism,
gay and lesbian rights, and the Latino movement have transformed
American life for the better. I think that can -- and should -- happen
for animals.
However, I've been involved in animal rights and animal welfare both
intellectually and personally for many years now, and in my experience
animal advocacy is predominantly, if not exclusively, a white
movement. Animal advocates must start building coalitions with other
social movements and non-white minorities if we hope to bring about
widespread change for animals.
If we want to build a better world for animals, the animal rights
movement must examine its own racial politics and figure out ways to
put minority concerns on its agenda.
-- Kathy Rudy is an ethicist and associate professor of women's
studies at Duke University.
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Update September 1, 2007
August 30, 2007 letters to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution editor in
response to Dr. Rudy's article. The two letters printed appear to be
from white readers who are angry at Rudy for bringing up the white
chauvinism angle. Only proving how right she is about the white/black
cultural divide in evaluating the Vick case.
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/printedition/2007/08/30/lettsed0830
.html
Michael Vick: Responses to "White culture's hypocrisy about Vick,"
@issue, Aug. 29
Cruelty is relevant factor, not QB's race
Why is it that when a black man is accused of a crime, no matter how
strong the evidence, someone inevitably plays the race card? The
public is upset with Michael Vick for many valid reasons, not because
he is black. First, he lied to everyone about his involvement,
including the commissioner of the NFL, his coaches, his team owner and
the public. As much as I abhor the sport of dogfighting, I do realize
that it is a sport to some. But what bothers me and I imagine most of
the public is that Vick participated in executing those dogs in ways
that were unimaginably cruel. We are disappointed in Vick because he
turned out to be a hollow shell of a man, devoid of compassion or
morals --- not because of the color of his skin.
TARA WIDENER, Sandy Springs
Horse races are not equivalent to dogfights
Kathy Rudy comes across as an angry woman looking for any reason to
bolster her cause, which is, I gather, to protect the rights of all
animals while bashing upper-class white folks.
But her argument that horse racing is equivalent to dog fighting is
specious. The intent of a horse race is not to glorify the
disfigurement or death of the contestants. And, Rudy conveniently
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