Michael Vick Gets His Second Chance

CNN is reporting that Michael Vick has just signed a deal with the Philadelphia Eagles for a two-year stint, which makes ME for one, VERY happy!

Not because I think it's okay to torture animals, I don't. I just believe firmly that Vick was tried, convicted, and paid his debt to society. He lost everything he had, and did it by most accounts without complaint - he took it all like a man. And so whatever his crime, as disturbing as it was, he is free to go on with his life, and what he's chosen to do with his life is play Football. He is a Football player by trade, and he SHOULD be allowed to do what he does best, now that his time behind bars is over.

But the announcement has just come down, and I can just see the reactionist commentary that will likely bubble up over this already. In fact, I predict that:

1. Rush Limbaugh will accuse Barack Obama of pulling strings with the Eagles to get his "homeboy" back on the field
2. Glenn Beck will bust out crying over the deep inhumanity Vick's return to Football will cause stray dogs everywhere
3. Sean Hannity will declare the owners and managers of the Eagles 'Un-American" and demand a boycott of their franchise, to be acted out in loud fashion at a series of townhall meetings and
4. PETA will do the rounds of the cable news shows, begging America to "climb back off of the ledge", and "get Vick the brain scan he needs before it's too late"

I wish number 4 was a joke, but PETA representative Dan Shannon actually suggested this on MSNBC's "The Ed Show" a couple of weeks ago. Take that in for a moment.

At a time when the far right is gleefully accusing the left of government takeovers, and plotting to set up death camps for the elderly, it puzzles me deeply that by this time tomorrow, most of them will have weighed in on the Vick signing by the Eagles by declaring that "something" must be done to prevent Vick from doing what they normally would condemn other black men for not doing well enough - making an honest living. I am completely relieved that someone was intelligent enough to respect the justice system's assessment that Vick has repaid his debt to society by allowing him to begin making a living again. Relieved not because of a lack of faith in the justice system (which clearly did its job in this instance) but because of a deep fear that if you make a terrible mistake, even if you are a talented, able-bodied, productive citizen, you have no chance at redemption or anything else - if you are a black man.

It would be so easy just about riiiggght here - to draw parallells between Michael Vick and the pummeling that President Obama is taking from the crazy fringe right on Healthcare Reform. Signs outside of town halls calling the President the 'N-word', open prayers for God to strike down the President and all liberal legislators, crazy constituents sneaking into Obama events with guns and knives. But worst of all, right-winged commentators, like Beck and Limbaugh, droning on day after endless day about President Obama's plan to destroy the country, about his questionable citizenship - almost completely disregarding who he is and has been as a legislator and community organizer in favor of whatever dribble will boost their ratings and advance their agenda.

And how have they done this? By inciting the very people in this society who still have not gotten over the fact that a black man is the Leader of the Free World. That's how. A very wise man, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said it best in a recent column:

They're probably reacting less to what Mr. Obama is doing, or even to what they've heard about what he's doing, than to who he is.

I mean, damn, PETA-boy. Brain scan? Are you serious?

I think maybe PETA, and all those others who want to see Michael Vick riding on the back of a garbage truck for the rest of his life are probably reacting less to what what he's being allowed to do, or even what he was convicted of, than to who he is.

A black man.