Commentary
Straight No Chaser: It never ends
By Desi Cortez, BASN Columnist
Feb 5, 2010

DENVER (BASN) -- How sorry does Mike Vick have to be? How contrite, remorseful, repentant and regretful . . .  how broken and humbled-a-man must he appear to be - to satisfy . . . White America? Good God! 

Boss. Boss! Tell me boss, when will you be comfortable with Vick doing a reality show? When can he say he wants to start for an NFL team? When can he claim he wants to regain his stature and fame?

Jesus blinkin' Christ - When will White folks be comfortable with Vick being a man again? Because honestly, you're the bastion of envy and  hatred in this nation which seems determined to imprison and exile from mainstream society as many Black folks as a jury, not comprised of their peers possibly can? 

And how long must we play this little game? How long must people of color pacify and placate a nation which, according to a number of polls and surveys rather, dig this; hire an uneducated former incarcirated White guy, then a Black scholor with no criminal record. . . . ?

A country still not quite comfortable with a Black neighbors, bosses head coaches or  Presidents, of anything, the HOA or the USA.

How much ass kissing must Vick do to please White America? That's the question.

Is that an askable question?

I know the sportswriters at ESPN, FOX Sports, CBS, AOL, Yahoo or SI refuse to put it in quite those realistic terms, but, in the eyes of most Black Americans, and most likely other Americans . . . of color - this type of begging for forgiveness is precisely what a certain particular segment of the country deliriously desires to see. 

White America, that intentionally isolated and extremely insulated element of the US has a historical track record which says . . . they love to see Black folks grovel.

I can't put my hand on it, I don't know when, where nor why this nation's White minority demands this type of self-loathing on our behalfs, but it's clear to all, a Black man can never have bygones . . .  actually be gone.

We are guilty before being proven innocent, we can never really quite pay our dues to society. We are eternally the villain in the Black hat and Black skin.

Additionally, it seems irrelevant that a guy like Vick, with no prior criminal record  . . . had the book thrown at him. Vick was, as usual with Black males . . . made an example of . . . for all the other arrogant, defiant , uppity Black bucks to behold.

The moment Dog-Gate erupted, there were angry White folks already inflamed that "their side" was losing this nation's cultural war,  and who viewed Vick as the beginning of a new era in football, and saw this calamity as an opening, an opportunity to ensure their son could still fit-the-mold of NFL Signal Caller. 

Like Jim Brown, Gale Sayers and OJ redefined the running back position, and in essence made it off-limits, unattainable and unachievable, a meth-pipe dream for the vast majority of White athletes - Mike Vick had/has the raw potential to redefine the QB position, so much so, the average White athlete can't compete at that position.

His rise had to be derailed.

He scared the good ole boys, and on top of that . . . they didn't like his walk, talk, look, feel nor flavor . . . he was simply too Black - so from the day he entered the NFL - there's been a ton of nay-sayers who couldn't wait to condemen his every move - so when he hung himself . . . and a few other four legged dumb friends - the red necks went balistic, the lynch-mob was gathered and off they rode to hang Vick.

Now, after Vick's payed more dues then George W. - who has the blood of thousands on his hands - there're millions, yes millions of Americans who aren't satisfied that Vick's suffered enough - they wanted the man's career, they wanted his life, his boy hood dream . . . for killing dogs and gambling on the enterprise. 

A Black mans life exchanged . . . for a pit bulls.

That sounds like America, Mississippi circa 1931, or . . . right now, today, all across these divided states.

All so oddly, this split personality nation demands justice when it comes to Vick, but not when police beat and execute unarmed black men multiple times . . . not when it comes to corrupt CEO's on Wall Street, incredious health care pimps, bankers n' morgage hustlers -  who depleted peoples retirement funds, emptied children's college funds.

Not when it comes to Dick Cheney, a guy who helped "out" a CIA agent for personal and political gain. It's extremely telling who this nation demands play by all the rules, and what law-breakers this nation turns a blind eye to . . . different strokes, rules and laws for different folks.

Ah . . . the ole American way. 

This racially, culturally bias attitude is why Mark McGwire will be in the MLB Hall Of Fame . . . and Barry Bonds won't. And they're both guilty of the same un-truths, the same cheating.

It's how Brett Favre was forgiven for his drug addiction. The same way Mike Phelps was caught, ass-naked making mad passionate love to Mary Jane . . . and today he's doing prime-time Subway commercials. 

Tell me how that works! Please, I want to know how it is Aqua-man is re-annoited, while the same cheerleading sports press wanted Vick banned from football for life because they thought he had weed hid in his water jar at the airport.

Still, I'm baffled, what do White folks want to see from Vick? Is it some shufflin' and grinnin' step-en' fetch it Uncle Clarence Thomas shuffle n' jive they're in search of?

Who's the White man, the Negro Whisperer who can peer into Vick's heart and mind to determine his actual contriteness?