Jamal drops a real serious blog about dog fighting. This is a great read.

It has been said that while dog fighting is morally wrong and illegal it is still a part of life in the inner city. That statement is correct. Hondo and I were

It has been said that while dog fighting is morally wrong and illegal it is still a part of life in the inner city. That statement is correct. Hondo and I were talking about dog fighting in Detroit and he asked me if I had ever seen a dog fight and I told him yes. But when he asked me if I had ever been to a dog fight my answer was no. I have never been to an organized dogfight such as the ones Michael Vick has been accused of attending/running.

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I have seen dog fights more often than I would like. When the instruments that were found at Vick’s property were made public, it wasn’t my first time hearing of such tools. I’ve seen some of them in person. Now I want to make this as clear as possible: I despise dog fighters and anybody else who abuses animals. I do not condone these actions in any way and hope that people who kill or injure innocent animals for their own amusement are locked up or have a vicious dog unleashed upon them and see how they like it.

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Growing up in the D, one of the things I learned quickly was that if somebody isn’t dying don’t expect rapid arrival from the police department. This isn’t a knock on the boys in blue, it’s just pointing out the fact that because the city is so large and there really aren’t enough policemen to go around, they kind of take each call in the matter of importance. So after seeing citizens’ calls to the police to report men fighting their dogs go unanswered, I realized maybe it wasn’t a big enough deal to the authorities.

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I remember seeing men fight their Pit Bulls in the park. I remember seeing men fight their Pit Bulls in neighborhoods on their lawns. It wasn’t shocking to see a man challenge another man to a fight between their dogs to see who had the biggest, baddest dog around. And to make a little bit of money off the results. It was a sense of status to these men: If they had the strongest dog, then that MUST make them the strongest person around. How stupid!

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I have many friends from small towns who can’t fathom this. They ask me “Why was it allowed?” or “Why do they do this?” It’s not an easy answer. In fact, I’m not sure I have the answer. Somewhere in the lives of these men (because it was always men, hardly ever women) they found it acceptable to abuse animals. Either they were never taught any better, or people’s attempts to teach them were futile. My mom would smack me silly if she ever saw or heard of me abusing an animal, and then she’d tell my dad so he could punish me too.

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Either way these grown men, not children, find it completely acceptable to be so cruel to a dog that it becomes a savage beast. They say dogs aren’t born mean or vicious, they’re made that way. Well in certain inner cities, dog fighting is just another way to “prove” how vicious you and your dog can be. That’s just the way it is and things will always be the same…until we change them.

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Dog fighting is immoral, inhumane and most of all an act of brutality that can’t be ignored or allowed. Although I am personally sad by the dogs that have been victimized at the residence of Mike Vick, perhaps something very good can come out of it by putting a light on a very dark secret event.

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I am proud to be from Detroit and the inner city. I am proud to have the heritage that my mother and father have given me, both by the color of my skin but more than that by the character that they instilled in me. I can’t even begin to comprehend how someone can be that violent, but I have witnessed it. I am sad to say that it happens, but I am hopeful that this will lead to an ending of it. Like I said, this makes me sick but there is a sense of joy deep in my heart that a terrible and useless event may finally become extinct!