dontfeartheringo wrote:It's worth a minute of your time to read this article about Atlanta, Race, Michael Vick and the lynching reenactment in Monroe, GA (which I happened to take part in).

This may help put the whole thing in some sort of context and also frame my intentionally inflammatory comment you will find upthread.

If you didn't grow up here, I am sure that the politics of race and (in)justice in the South can be positively baffling. My lovely and talented wife's theatre company dedicates at least one show a year to trying to get people to talk to each other and LISTEN to each other.

Hope it's illuminating.

Rev. Joseph Lowery wrote:I do not seek to excuse Vick. Dogfighting is despicable. It smells of sadism, savagery, and reflects the hardening of spiritual arteries. It is cruel and betrays animals that show humans affection and trust, and thus are easily led to a bloody end. But that does not justify the violation of human rights in the principle of presumed innocence. The mad rush to execute Vick has been bloodthirsty itself.

I'm going to feel much better about taking a stand against dogfighting as soon as we dispense with zoos, steak houses, habitat destruction, and cosmetics tests on fluffy little bunnies.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, discussing the racial overtones of the Vick case wrote:“If the police caught Brett Favre (a white quarterback for the Green Bay Packers) running a dolphin-fighting ring out of his pool, where dolphins with spears attached to their foreheads fought each other, would they bust him? Of course not,”

Bradley R. Weissenberger wrote:you are news lemmings who are drawn to register your outrage for no other reason than these alleged dogfighting crimes involve a fuckin' NFL quarterback.

AlBStern wrote:

The Rev. Al Sharpton, discussing the racial overtones of the Vick case wrote:“If the police caught Brett Favre (a white quarterback for the Green Bay Packers) running a dolphin-fighting ring out of his pool, where dolphins with spears attached to their foreheads fought each other, would they bust him? Of course not,”

For the record, by the time I looked at the story, MSNBC had added this correction:

An earlier version of this article quoted from a blog entry purportedly by the Rev. Al Sharpton. MSNBC.com has determined that the blog is a hoax. In July, Sharpton signed a letter with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals condemning dogfighting, saying: “Dogfighting is unacceptable. Hurting animals for human pleasure or gain is despicable. Cruelty is just plain wrong.”

AlBStern wrote:

The Rev. Al Sharpton, discussing the racial overtones of the Vick case wrote:“If the police caught Brett Favre (a white quarterback for the Green Bay Packers) running a dolphin-fighting ring out of his pool, where dolphins with spears attached to their foreheads fought each other, would they bust him? Of course not,”

Link.

busbus wrote:

AlBStern wrote:

The Rev. Al Sharpton, discussing the racial overtones of the Vick case wrote:“If the police caught Brett Favre (a white quarterback for the Green Bay Packers) running a dolphin-fighting ring out of his pool, where dolphins with spears attached to their foreheads fought each other, would they bust him? Of course not,”

Link.

This is unbelievable. Purple Monkey Telephone?