Re: Vick accepts plea deal
The Atlanta Chapter of the NAACP has weighed in. About as rational as the SCLC and the huggers on the Falcons board (who want Leonard Little banned for something he did 9 years ago - which would be fine with me if we could charge Vick under the new Federal felony animal abuse/dog fighting statutes that were enacted just a month after he killed 8 animals). The heads of this organization also need to read that open letter to young black men and stop their wrongheaded efforts to coddle and enable them to feel OK about remaining culturally out of step with mainstream society.
I got news for Mr. White. Lots of us regret that the details of the case may never be known due to the pleas... This is patent BS - wait 'til he's found guilty, then when he pleads guilty cut him some slack 'cause them other black guys who rolled on him may have all been lyin' and Mike just got backed into a corner where he had to plead to things he may not have really really done... Couldn't be Mike was the one who said said things to save his own neck when he swore to Arthur Balnd and the Commissioner that there was no dog fighting on his property and he never visited there anyway...
Hey Mr. White - his crime wasn't that the deceased was a dog, it was that what he did to and with his victim up to and including killing him is a crime...
This is the crap that sets race relations and black advancement back and fuels stereotypes more than anything society does. Can't they get someone with half a brain and an ounce of moral fiber to front these organizations that are supposed to uplift and advance an entire segment of the population? Or are these clowns so afraid of being perceived as not keeping it real that they exist just to pander to their sadly emerging gangsta mentality generation...
ATLANTA -- An NAACP leader said Michael Vick should be allowed to return to the NFL,
preferably the Atlanta Falcons, after serving his sentence for his role in a dogfighting operation.
"As a society, we should aid in his rehabilitation and welcome a new Michael Vick back into the community without a permanent loss of his career in football," said R.L. White, president of the NAACP's Atlanta chapter. "We further ask the NFL, Falcons, and the sponsors not to permanently ban Mr. Vick from his ability to bring hours of enjoyment to fans all over this country."
White said the Falcons quarterback is a human being who has made a mistake and should be allowed to prove that he has learned from that mistake.
Last month, state and local leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People urged the public not to rush to judgment in the Vick case. The civil rights organization said animal rights groups, talk radio and the news media were vilifying the embattled athlete, and that his team and corporate sponsors were prematurely punishing Vick.
White said the Atlanta chapter supports Vick's decision to accept a plea bargain if it's in his best interest, but he questioned the credibility of Vick's co-defendants, saying an admission of guilt might be more about cutting losses than the truth.
"At this point, you're not looking at guilt or innocence," White said, referring to the possible harsher sentence Vick could have received had he taken his case to trial and been found guilty. "You're thinking, 'What I better do is cut my losses and take a plea.' But if he saw this as the best thing to do at this point for his future, then I think he made the correct choice."
White said he regretted that the plea deal will mean all the facts of the case might never be known.
"Some have said things to save their own necks," White said. "Michael Vick has received more negative press than if he had killed a human being."
White said he does not support dogfighting and that he considers it as bad as hunting.
"His crime is, it was a dog," White said.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2986382