Speak Out!

Like Mark Sheldon, I too am amazed at the comments that have been posted, but I do respect your opinions. Let's not kid ourselves; cruelty is the issue and dog fighting is illegal. It's just unfortunate that the target in this case is a high profile black professional athlete. The larger issue is that Mike will have to consider how his actions will affect him and his family for years to come. He's facing federal time. Football will continue to be exciting. There will be other players who are far superior in talent. Let's concentrate on how we as a people can eliminate the evils within our society and help brothas like Mike Vick re-enter society as productive members of our communities.

I am pretty amazed at the comments here. It is not an either/or situation. People with whom I associate react strongly to cruelty against human beings, and they react strongly to cruelty against animals. Cruelty is the issue. Whether that cruelty is carried out by a person of one ethnic or racial group or another makes no difference. There have been very serious repercussions for anyone who engages in dog fighting and animal abuse. Such actions constitute felonies. It is the law, not prejudice. These animals are not born to fight, they are cruelly trained to fight. What Vick is wrong, and he should be punished. The issue with his being able to play football in the future relates to his gambling. Pete Rose (white) will never be in the hall of fame.

I respect the fact that God does call his people to a higher calling and within that calling we do fall short. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi, and Shirley Chisholm fell short of the calling. We may never know their shortcomings but I'm pretty sure friends/family would testify differently. I respect a man/woman who stand firm in their calling. But believe me I try everyday to walk in that calling and at times I fall short. I don't intend to but I do. I don't go to bed every night with a clean record a good Samaritan record. Sometimes I have to repent of things I might have said or done during that day...but with all that is within me I try.

People by nature have extremist standards that challenges a man's ability to cope with his mistakes. He may want to tell the truth but sixteen thousand judges have already convicted him. There are far too many judges against the blk man than any other man on earth. So yes my heart is soften towards them.

People are naturally cruel and mean-spirited when one falls short of the glory. People start pulling out their judgment books of condemnation-handing down harsh sentences-causing riots in the streets and why? Because we are people without compassion and love for each other..We are stone throwers who find pleasure in seeking the demise of one another-until our hands are caught in that same cookie jar.. Ask Former President Clinton about his stone throwers.. We can be Cruel...Indeed we can. Higher Standards are excellent to walk in and I wish everyone could walk the walk. But for those of us who walk in high standards and we fall along the way- I just hope I don't have the teethless town hall judges and stone throwers there hovering over me. Let it be a man/woman with a compassionate heart-who would give me a living break. I know sometimes when I'm harsh (and I can be when it comes to issues that I'm compassionate about) I become aggressively concerned) throwing humility out the door. But when the day has come to an halt and night overshadows the day ....

It’s obvious you are passionate about the fate and discourse of black folk, and for this I sincerely embrace your opinions. Respectfully, we all can use character and conduct adjustments in life from time to time, this serves to improve the human condition. I also humbly submit that our creator calls us to a higher standard although it is a goal that we will never obtain in this life, we all fall short of the mark, however that should not prevent us from the attempt.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi, and Shirley Chisolm, among others, are all individuals I admire for answering to a higher standard of behavior. Their choice in doing so had everything to do with who they woke up each day and decided they were going to be, irrespective of the nay sayers who come from every culture, Asian, African, European, African American etc....

To be sure, my greatest inspiration in trying to live my life with sense of integrity and honor is a man they called "The Prince of Peace", I believe that it was his desire that I am rise above the world’s standard of behavior, pick up my cross and follow him. I'm not a Theology expert, but I do have a bit of experience in love and faith department, and so, I pray that heaven help us all to be better, not bitter. I pray that we face consequences with dignity for our transgressions when warranted, as you so pointed out, this is one of the ways we learn to be better.

I also pray that we learn from other's actions, wherein we can avoid the pain of wrong choices or show we are grateful in receiving reward for the right choices. Finally, I pray that we come into the understanding of what it really means to love: it’s sacrifice, it’s humility, it’s chastising, and it gives more than it asks for.

Hopefully, I will take peace to eternity with me in knowing that I honestly attempted to live up to these principles.

Peace be with you

Looks like some Black Americans have given up their God-given rights in exchange for partial rights as a human being. How do we justify being extra careful twice as good than whites. Give me a living break! Even though we fight the system every day for justice, our kids/adults are allowed to make mistakes as others do.

To say Michael Vick is not allowed mistakes is ridiculous and far fetched. Michael is a young Black male in search of himself; this will not be the last mistake he will make (judges). Unfortunately life, even for the smartest man, has obstacles that will eventually blindside or as my grandmother would say sidetrack you. Michael is a young man with lots of money. Who among us at his age lived a sacred (without mistakes) life.

When we are young-who follows rules? Not too many. So judges, Michael Vick like many of us has/will make mistakes for years to come. No one is without sin. I can remember as a kid young boys got a pleasure out of torturing cats with firecrackers; does that make it right...No; but we are talking about kids doing child-like things and in Vick's case a young man doing what young men do. Most males get a pleasure out of killing/seeing bloodshed. Something about that scenario boosts the adrenalin in men.

I totally don't agree with the Black Community accepting the notion that we must do things far greater than others so that we can be accepted-just listen to that statement; it says to me we are compromising on who we are as a person/people. We still need to erase some of our thinking. We may have to fight for equal justice but I be darn if I speak words against my beliefs.

Life and Death are in the tongue and those who love eat shall eat of it. If we speak things into the Universe-the Universe gives you in return what you speak. I may sound to some people as unrealistic about life but when you truly believe in God some things you just will not accept and I won't accept that this is a White man's world-the bible says, The earth is the Lords-and the Lord gave dominion to men all men so where in Oz are we standing.

To say we should hold ourselves to higher standards is against nature. Our kids/adults were predestined by God and in that moment (format) God forknew all our mistakes. So if God forknew our mistakes, who gives man the authority to erase God's plan to forbid one's mistakes. God allows mistakes and he also forgives. Does God put more on us than we can bear? No. Then why are we accepting the fact that we should be extremist in all we do? This is unscrutable.

I need to ask this question before I exit...Are we searching for worth through the eyes of prejudice? Because if we are-prejudice has no conscience of right or justice. It sees nothing in harmony nor will it accept unity. So to spend a lifetime befriending prejudice renders no good harvest. Let's move forward and allow ourselves to be human -Free to Grow-Free to make mistakes. After all, mistakes makes us grow in wisdom. Let's not expect our kids/adults to be more than God has allowed...

We as black people are growing weary and in doing so we are forgetting to hold fast to the word of God. The only thing we see is what's happening in our world and we are losing hope of the promise. People mock believers and call us stupid but one thing is for sure Tavis the Covenant With Black America is a movement that will supercede against anyone's thoughts. I believe that things will change if we hold fast. It takes work but it will happen. Nothing belongs to anyone. We are borrowing all that we have. So what are superficial holdings? Can we take this superficial power to eternity-whether its hell or heaven? Can we use it there? Just questions we must ask ourselves..

Mr. Smiley thanks for the opportunity to post these comments.

The question is where is the outrage?

Allow me to speak as a victim/survivor of childhood sexual/domestic abuse and currently trying to survive domestic violence as well as survive AIDS. I am an adult white male, for those who may care to know. There seems to be much apathy about sexual/domestic abuse, NO MATTER whether you are male/female/black/white. I certainly am angered and confused by this apparent lack of society's concern about the pervasiveness of HUMAN ABUSE in the United States. My own family and friends seem to have no idea what to say to me when I convey to them my own private experiences/hell.

If you are a victim of abuse you can seek help, legally and psychologically. However, I believe the current outcry over Mr. Vick's alleged involvement regarding animal abuse should be obvious: Animals cannot call 911, cannot seek psychological support, and are basically defenseless against the monsters (of the human variety) who mame, torture, bludgeon, drown, and kill them.

Need any more be said??

On a positive personal note, may I say I am proud of YOU Mr. Smiley for your personal accomplishments, and hope some day to have the honor of meeting you in
person to say GREAT JOB and keep on keepin' on. It would also be an honor to hear you speak should you be in the St. Louis area. Thanks again.

Where is our own outrage at what's going on in our own communities? Never mind if it does not get the same coverage in the [white] media. Mike Vick aside (and fighting dogs is in my opinion cruel), however, the same can be said for boxing and mixed-martial arts some of whom die, and there is not outrage.

I'm about to go on a tangent: When will we be so outraged with the lack of education, the wanton violence, immoral morals and broken homes in our own communities that we come together. Blacks are disgustingly stuck on white as if the white man had an answer to our problems and even if he did - one, we're not going to get it and two, there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Get unstuck on white and get stuck on black. Insulate our communities, nurse and heal our communities. I think that the intent of integration was good, but I feel that it is more negative than good for the time. Our core strength is taken away by constantly trying to keep up with the Joneses and trying to explain this and that to the Joneses as if we could not exist outside of the Joneses.

When the core is strong AND STABLE then we can venture out to the integration piece. Let America know that a attack on one black person is an attack on all. Shoot, you attack an American ally and there are possible consequences. Why can't we take that approach with our own?

Sadly, until we not only get it but act on it - we are no better than a cotton-picking Negro that longs to be free.....waiting for the white man to tell us to put one foot in front of the other to escape or one hand in front of the other to fight.