Those bastards...

This is the last thing I'm going to say about the Vick situation

...probably.

(Note: I wrote much of this back in August and posted it on my other blog which I don't update much. I put it here since Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison today.)

The Michael Vick case is not about sports. It’s about the law…and second chances.

I won’t take up any time recapping his animal abuse/dog fighting charges, as they are easy to find. What has been shocking though, is the number of Blacks who have a zero tolerance for athletes breaking the law. Some bloggers and columnists have gone as far as to say that since Vick broke the law off the field, he should lose the “privilege” of going to work as a football player permanently. If he can’t go back to the NFL, then where is it acceptable for him to find employment? Is there work left in America for someone convicted of dog fighting?

We have become a judgmental society. In 1994 California voters approved a “three strikes and you’re out” law that puts those convicted of a similar felony 3 times away under minimum sentencing guidelines. “60 Minutes” profiled a man who was convicted of shoplifting 3 times and he is now serving two 25 year sentences for stealing less than $200 worth of video tapes.

But now in 2007 we have a one-strike law for Vick. Pretty soon, we won't be given a chance at all and we'll be back in the 1940's where Blacks were considered less than human beings, women couldn't vote and other injustices were imposed by the dominating race and gender.

Is Vick a victim of racism? I say yes, but most of you Black bashing African-Americans will say no. No one called Vick the n-word or called his mother’s hair nappy so it can’t be racism right?

By no means am I saying that we don't need law enforcement. Enforce the law. He was been sentenced and will serve time and hopefully come out alive and in reasonably sound mind.

But what I AM saying is that continuing to punish people after they have served thier time HAS TO STOP.

In Kentucky, convicted felons lose most of their civil rights even after being released from serving their time in prison. They can't own a fire arm, some can't enter the military and none of them can vote.

We have laws against "double jeopardy" but none against double punishment.

In The National Urban Leagues publication, "The State of Black America 2007: Portrait of the Black Male" Barack Obama says this in the foreword and it should apply to Vick’s circumstance:

"The crisis of the Black male is our crisis whether we are Black or white, male or female. It is too easy and sometimes too fashionable to demonize Black men...who have strayed. But in so doing, we degrade ourselves, we weaken the bonds of shared interest that are necessary to sustain us. We fail to give people the first chance they deserve, and the second chance that we all sometimes require."

Marchers surround Justice Department building

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Thousands of demonstrators encircled Justice Department headquarters in the nation's capital on Friday to demand the government crack down harder on hate crimes.

Let's keep it going!!!

We can exhale...

He's home...for now.

No better service to your community...

As I mentioned before I was so excited to be contacted about jury duty. Because of the lack of justice in so many areas including the legal system, I am excited when I get to really make a difference. I think jury duty is especially critical for Black people to take seriously because this is a time when your experiences and judgment are respected.

I don't consider myself a "conspiracy theorist" but there is a heck of a lot of stuff that I question. Knowing me, you know that this experience couldn't go off without a hitch.

As I was reading all the materials that came in the mail I realized that in my county (or State?) you serve for a calendar month. So after the first day of orientation you call in each night to see if you are due to come in to be considered for a trial. I have waited 20 years for this and today was my first day. Here's how it went...

8:30 a.m. Orientation- I'm in this room of about 300 people. I was surprised with how many Black people I saw. Mostly there were Black men!!! (This is great since so many defendants will probably be Black men.) After roll call the judge comes in and explains that some of us will get to be on the grand jury for June. I wanted to jump up and say, "Please pick me!!!" In case you don't know, the prosecutors present their reasons for wanting to put a person on trial then the grand jury decides if there is enough to indict the person or if the person can go free and not be charged. It was a random selection of 12 jurors and 3 alternates. We are called by number and not name so I guess it is pretty random. The first man called was Black. Then another Black man. Then me and the Black guy next to me started smiling. Some white people who were called said that they had conflicts, so they called another number and by the end of it 6 of 12 were Black and one of the alternates was too. I think there were only 5 women too. We joked that this was going to someone's lucky month to get that many Blacks on one grand jury. (Not that we all think alike, but you sure have better odds of someone being suspicious, oops, I mean, critical of the information presented when they are Black). It was looking to good to be true. Then before we took a break and the grand jury was escorted out, the prosecutor asked to approach the bench. When we came back from break, someone mysteriously had a conflict and they had to select another person. She was a white woman. This is "mysterious" since they gave us the dates and the chance to opt out of the grand jury 3 times before they were sworn it. I think the prosecutor didn't like the make up and pulled someone.

I'll let you know what happens next, but of course I can't discuss my cases. Just my experiences.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

What's good?
I did a "Biggest Loser" competition and went to the finale. The sister who won lost over 40 pounds in 12 weeks!!! Impressive. It was a great night of sharing success stories and eating tasty, properly proportioned food. It's always a tense situation when I go to a church. Somehow there's always a negative Muhammad or Allah speech. But we were right at home and they praised
God without tearing down His other names. Shout out to LeDatta, an excellent writer, who was the first runner up and lost BIG poundage. You look GOOD girl! The other good news is, I'm still going with the weight loss and I'm still feeling motivated.

I'll combine the bad and the ugly for this...it's THAT bad and THAT ugly!
Last year I reported a story that was so sad because some teenagers made a bad judgement call and found themselves in trouble with the law. The mothers of the children were clueless as to how to get help and no one around them had sound advice. After we put thier story in the paper a pastor offered to help. It came with a few requirements for the boys but the mom's took the help, because it was the only help offered. As I was covering the case it seemed like a lot of "weird" things were going on so I called 3 "soldiers" and asked them to attend a meeting that the pastor was having with the mothers to make sure he wasn't leading them in the wrong direction. The soldiers suggested picketing in front of the court house to draw attention to the case. The pastor said no, "We're doing this God's way". Did this dude just presume that the soldiers were not with God??? Then all sorts of drama erupted when the pastors wife got up and talked about how she didn't want anything to happen to her husband if they started calling out judges, etc. "The Lord just sent me this man and I'm not going to let anyone take him away from me!" Pu-leeze! Then a scared member of the church started talking about how she saw the police put dogs on people for picketing. Yes, she did!!! Dog's...sicked on people....in Big City Wanna Be,KY .....in 2006!!! Then the pastor talked about having hundreds pack the court room as a show of strength. He couldn't get 15 "protestors" there on any day. So that was a busted idea! Well, needless to say there was not a protest, no public awareness of the case, and the boys were mistreated by the system and were sentenced on Friday to 15, 16 and 17 years in prison. NOW the pastor wants to hold press conferences and have a justice panel with local judges, etc. NOW the pastor is callling in to radio shows that are giving out misinformation and calling for the boys to get the maximum sentence. TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE.

This is both BAD and UGLY and SHAMEFUL. I feel so bad for those boys, that sometimes I want to put down my pen and take to the streets, but someone has to document this crap and I'm glad to do it with as much "slant" as I can. But really, I'd much rather report something PROACTIVE instead of always getting the REACTION.

Why are people afraid to defend the defenseless? Why don't people become involved based on principle instead of based on relationship to the victim?