As for the 60 Minutes interview of Michael Vick last night, I'm not into trying to read people by how they say things. I can only be able to know Vick's sincerity by the way he lives his life.
I don't know how Vick really feels about dogs. I can't read his mind and heart in an interview.
Do I think he cried many nights while in jail? Yes, but I don't think he was crying about those dogs.
He had seen his life destroyed and probably didn't know exactly why. In a way, as Michael Vick grew up, he moved from one country to another from a cultural perspective.
For the most part, black people and white people generally don't look at dogs in the same way. I'm not talking about dog-fighting I'm talking about the relationship with the dogs.
There are many people who let their dogs sleep in the bed with them. They kiss their dogs, mouth to mouth, despite the fact that dogs lick their butts.
I'm not saying a higher percentage of black people are involved in dogfighting than white people, but I am saying that black people clearly don't see dogs in the same way that whites do.
They don't feel the punishment to Vick was fair. They think it was over the top.
Most black people have a bigger gap between the life of a dog and the life of a person.
In addition, there are also many parts of the south where people don't look at dogs in the same way as people in the metropolitan north do.
I know he is sorry for how what he did affected his life and the life of his children.
I don't think Michael Vick realized how dear many people in our country feel about their dogs. He knew that what he was doing was wrong but he didn't know he was going to get this type of reaction.
To a lot of people in our country, it is more repugnant to abuse a dog than a human being.
Vick grew up in a community where dog-fighting wasn't frowned on nearly as much.
Many people pay for costly operations for their dogs.
I'm sure Vick knew after some exposure as a teenager and young man at Virginia Tech that it was time to leave that lifestyle behind, but he didn't do it.
I don't think he knew of the severity with which the majority of Americans would look at his actions.
He has paid dearly for it.
