With so many people condemning Michael Vick, they fail to see a much bigger story.  Michael Vick is not so much the problem as it’s the culture he grew up in.  I hate to turn this into a race issue, but it really is a race issue.  Dog fighting usually takes place in poor African American neighborhoods where people gamble to watch these dogs tear each other apart.  They train these dogs to become vicious ruthless killers, and it becomes very difficult to reverse a vicious dog into a lovable pet.

If Michael Vick is willing to apologize, I’m willing to accept it.  I’m willing to applaud him for taking the steps needed to join in on the fight against dog fighting.  If he’s willing to admit his faults and go against dog fighting, then how can I still hate him?  Michael Vick is a victim of his own background.  He grew up around dog fighting.  It’s easy for a 40 year old woman who grew up in a white suburban neighborhood to condemn him when they’ve never lived in neighborhoods like that.  It’s like that old saying.  You can take a person out of the hood, but you can’t take the hood out of the person.

We need to view dog fighting as this cultural phenomenon that happens behind closed doors in people’s basements.  This is bigger than Michael Vick.  This is something that is happening every single day.  Young kids who are 12 or 13 years old are being taught to dog fight.  The media needs to send out a stronger message in condemning the actual act of violence against dogs, and stop focusing on Michael Vick.  Vick is only 1 percent of this entire thing.  If you keep focusing on Michael Vick, then dog fighting turns into this recycled joke on shows like Jay Leno and Letterman.

Just the other day, I heard an African American girl talking on her cell phone about how she saw dog fighting.  She even went into the bloody, gory details of it to the person on the phone.  When I overheard her speaking, it made me realize just how widespread of a problem it is.  It’s so widespread that I have people standing 13 feet away from me, talking about it happening inside of their homes.  The white suburban dog lovers have no idea what is going on in these urban cities.  You have no idea of the horrors and pain that are unleashed on animals over some money.  It is quite disturbing, and again, it’s all associated with culture and upbringing.