Today, a grand jury sitting in Surry County, Virginia indicted (i.e., found enough evidence to support a formal charge) Michael Vick with one count of "beating or killing or causing dogs to fight other dogs" and one count of "engaging in or promoting dogfighting." While each is punishable for a maximum of five years, these are Class 6 felonies in Virginia, so the jury, or the court, may choose imprisonment for one to five years OR jail for up to 12 months and a fine of up to $2,500, either or both. Poindexter the DA (sounds like a rapper) in Surry County, had threatened at least 10 charges, but it seems the grand jury found only 2 charges supported by the evidence, declining to indict him on 8 other counts. One of his co-defendants was not so lucky, getting hit with four .
This ESPN article says that Vick's attorneys are challenging these charges on the grounds of double jeopardy. Unless I missed something, I thought there was no "double jeopardy" across jurisdictions. That would mean you can be charged with the same crime in two different state courts, or in federal and state court. It seems other lawyers have weighed in on this (click here and here for confirmed attorneys) and have all come to the same conclusion. These sites are placing the blame on Vick's attorneys for not working out a deal with the state beforehand once he pled guilty to the federal charges.
But back in Surry County, Virginia, Poindexter says that he can't wait to get rid of these cases. So he can keep trying Jethro for DUI's on tractors? Yeah, not buying it.
What I'm also not buying is the skepticism or should I say flat out denial that race has anything to do with this case, because I'm about to show you that it does.
Earlier today, CNN.com posted an article discussing Vick's indictment:
The grand jury is composed of six people, two black males, two black females and two white females.
That was all the article had to say about race. No mention was made of why this mattered or was worth mentioning. Now, here is a link to that same CNN article. As of the latest update, you will notice that this sentence appears nowhere in the update, nor is there any mention in the article whatsoever of race. But it was in there, and you can do a Google News search for the sentence if you don't believe me. You should hurry because that may disappear, too.
Even ESPN tried to couch the race issue in terms of questions posed to Poindexter:
In a written statement, Poindexter and Sheriff Harold Brown attempted to diffuse in advance any suggestion that race influenced the grand jury. Brown, Poindexter and the four defendants are black, as are four of the six grand jurors.
"These are serious charges, and we can assure you that this grand jury was not driven by racial prejudice, their affection or lack of affection for professional athletes, or the influence of animal rights activists and the attendant publicity," the statement said.
I read this very interesting article by Howard Bryant on how race is intertwined with the Vick case. He talks about how we accept difference in other facets of life, but we can't agree as a whole to accept that one's race makes a difference. He even includes quotes from letters that he has received over the course of the proceedings, which are interesting all by themselves because he takes heat from both sides, white and black. Please take the time to check it out for yourself, but here's an excerpt from the last two paragraphs:
When it happens again, when the next story hits us like a flash flood and we're asking, dumbfounded, how race again became so prominent, remember that Vick has already provided the answer: It always was. Go back to W.E.B. Du Bois and read the first paragraph: "The problem of the 20th Century is the problem of the color line, no longer in opportunities, perhaps, but certainly in thought."
Take the umbrella words -- equality, reality, justice -- and throw them in the trash. Umbrellas are useless, because here, it always rains sideways. One day, maybe we'll believe in truths that aren't our own. Start from a new place. Maybe then we'll have a fighting chance next time.
Of course, one glance at the comments following the article, and you can see that all of this went in one ear (or eye) and out the other. Speaking of comments, check out Montez's comments to my Vick post yesterday. I mean, seriously, is he lying?
Maybe you were like me and said the pledge of allegiance every day at school. If you did, I bet you, also like me, never really questioned what "with liberty and justice for all" meant. Maybe we should have, because evidently some people actually think that's true!
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