The REAL VICK STORY...

[KSUChiefsTarheelFan]

"The Real Vick Story"

Friends,,

 

This is worth the read.

 

Here is the story. All the breathless debates about Michael Vick are missing the point. The bigger issue has nothing to do with whether or not he deserves the right of due process, or whether NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell should suspend him, or whether Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank should enable him or give him tough love. It's not even about whether or not crappy shoes from spammers should be launching another designer shoe with his name on it. All of those are minor distractions from a much larger and far more significant issue. Here's the real brainteaser that we needto get a handle on: How dd someone like Michael Vick ever come to exist?

 

Are we really ready to have that conversation? Do we dare explore how a young man of such unique athletic gifts and such obvious on-field marketing appeal was allowed to turn into just another unfortunate mug shot and potential ruined life? How did that remarkable athlete get a $100 million contract with the Falcons, become crappy shoes from spammers's poster boy, rake inendorsements from airlines and cell phone companies, then find himself on the verge of blowing it all because of an incredible tale that seems to come straight out of some hardcore gangsta rap video? We can save the "presumption of innocence" conversation for another time.

 

As improbable as it might sound, technically, there's a possibility that Vick actually could own a house, rent it out to his relatives and be dumb or naive enough to not know that there was a dog-fighting enterprise going on in the back yard. The U.S. Constitution provides Vick with the right and opportunit to prove that preposterous possibility to a jury of his peers. I am far more interested in how it all came apart for Vick and why it keeps coming apart for too many black athletes in America .

 

The ultimate symbols of black athletes in our society used to be men of substance and positive image. Men with social conscience and resolve such as Jackie Robinson, Curt Flood, Jim Brown, Bill Russell and John Thompson used to be our heroes. They carried a burden and deep-rooted responsibility to portray themselves with a sense of dignity, pride and purpose. Even the cool, counter-culture rebels such as Muhammad Ali and Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood for something more meaningful than a multimillion-dollar shoe deal. But somewhere between Jackie Robinson and Michael Vick, things got all fouled up.

 

"Street cred" became the anthem of the modern black athlete, this misguided notion that the only way to appeal to the young demographic of the sneaker-buying public was to adopt the negative attitudes of the thug life popularized by black hip-hop/gangster rappers. According to the 18-page federal indictment, Vick is accused of sponsoring the sort of gruesome dogfighting enterprise that is readily identified as a part of the dark side of that culture. So that's how someone like Michael Vick came into existence. He got hijacked, and we all let it happen. We let it happen by passively condoning this mess. We did it when we turned Allen Iverson into a marketing icon and ejected someone like Grant Hill because he lacked "street cred." We allowed it to happen every time we gave Vick the benefit of the doubt when he kept stumbling and offering weak alibis for his stupidity.We allowed it to happen slowly, insidiously over the past 20 years.

 

The problem is the hijacking of African-American culture by the hip-hop generation that has helped glorify every rotten, foul and disgusting racial stereotype it took generations to eradicate.The minstrels used to show up in black face, shuckin' and jivin' like Amosand Andy or Stepin Fetchit. Now they come in baggy pants sagging over their butts, glamorizing thug life and prison fashion, legitimizing derogatory racial insults into the main stream, and convincing an entire generation that this is the measure of true blackness and anyone who bucks this system is either a racist, hopelessly out of touch or a sad Unle Tom. Fortunately, not everyone is buying into this nonsense. We're at war, and we have identified the enemy. "We have to start making sure folks understand who the 'Toms' really are," says my man on the other side of the state, Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock. "It's the gangsters on the corner who are killing black folks. It's the idiots who are on TV rapping about it and glorifying it. We have to make black people understand those are the real sellouts, not the ones who refuse to accept it."

Edited September 7, 2007 by DMD

[Vet]

Can you condense that mess into three or four bullet points and post it again? Thanks.

[The Vatican Hitsquad]

Can you condense that mess into three or four bullet points and post it again? Thanks.

remove some of the page breaks...

 

some of the brackets...

 

maybe delete it all?

[budlitebrad]

I agree with the argument, but I don't think it really has much to do with the backwoods culture of dog fighting.

[LooGie]

Could you maybe, you know, not do that?

[KSUChiefsTarheelFan]

Can you condense that mess into three or four bullet points and post it again? Thanks.

Is THat better?

[tonorator]

agree.

[Ursa Majoris]

The problem is the hijacking of African-American culture by the hip-hop generation that has helped glorify every rotten, foul and disgusting racial stereotype it took generations to eradicate.

And there you have it.

[Perchoutofwater]

I agree with the big stupid bear.

[Ursa Majoris]

I agree with the big stupid bear.

I knew we had common ground somewhere.

 

Seriously, hip-hop / rap, call it what you will, is a cultural disaster on a grand scale, helping to create an entire generation of losers and undoing all the work of great black people who have preceded.

[rajncajn]

The problem is the hijacking of African-American culture by the hip-hop generation that has helped glorify every rotten, foul and disgusting racial stereotype it took generations to eradicate.

That is an awesome quote.

[Possum Jenkins]

Ah yes, let's not forget Pacman and his dollar bills, Ray Lewis and his Escalade, Travis Henry and his nine kids by nine different women (making Shawn Kemp look like a piker), Ron Artest and his tremendous self control, virtually the entire Bengal roster, Mike Tyson, etc.

 

Hey, let's also not forget that it's not only black athletes that have gotten caught up in this culture - there are plenty of wigga's out there doing their best to lower the bar.

[tonorator]

virtually the entire Bengal roster

 

this is an exaggeration

[NSab]

remove some of the page breaks...

 

some of the brackets...

 

maybe delete it all?

 

 

Nice Sig

[Azazello1313]

That is an awesome quote.

 

it's not bad, but the problem is a helluva lot deeper than hip-hop. it really goes back to when the 'civil rights movement" shifted its message from that of martin luther king, jr, to the message of malcolm x and the black panthers. around the same time, white progressive society -- after having been convinced by the message of MLK -- decided that the way to racial harmony was to take a patronizing attitude toward black culture. this was embodied by "the great society" social programs, "affirmative action", multiculturalism/cultural relativism.

 

that's an oversimplification too, but i think it's a little more accurate than just blaming hiphop.

[Ursa Majoris]

it's not bad, but the problem is a helluva lot deeper than hip-hop. it really goes back to when the 'civil rights movement" shifted its message from that of martin luther king, jr, to the message of malcolm x and the black panthers. around the same time, white progressive society -- after having been convinced by the message of MLK -- decided that the way to racial harmony was to take a patronizing attitude toward black culture. this was embodied by "the great society" social programs, "affirmative action", multiculturalism/cultural relativism.

 

that's an oversimplification too, but i think it's a little more accurate than just blaming hiphop.

I think we can definitely agree though that it's a cultural problem. Hiphop is just a manifestation of the issue. There's also a hugh amount of money to be made by continuing to feed black kids "musical" propaganda that it's cool to be a stupid thug. That then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[zmanzzzz]

its good to see someone read it.

[Azazello1313]

I think we can definitely agree though that it's a cultural problem. Hiphop is just a manifestation of the issue. There's also a hugh amount of money to be made by continuing to feed black kids "musical" propaganda that it's cool to be a stupid thug. That then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

very true. the most vile thing about this cancer is the way it perpetuates itself. a snowball effect. and each race, in essence, blames the other. it is very sad.

[isleseeya]

Good comments by ursa and azello ..really hit some key points which are very true

[AtomicCEO]

it really goes back to when the 'civil rights movement" shifted its message from that of martin luther king, jr, to the message of malcolm x and the black panthers.

 

Then maybe whitey shouldn't have killed MLK.