Let's just get it out there: Historically speaking, black people and white people just don't view dogs the same way. Black people's attitudes towards dogs are softening towards dogs, probably because many of us who grew up in the 70s and 80s remember our parents basically not giving a shit about the dog.
We had a dog that wasn't allowed inside to do anything except eat. We chained him to a tree in the backyard all day and at night, he slept in the garage. We had another, smaller dog who was allowed in the house, but when he needed surgery on his leg, we just ignored it. Shit, he wasn't whining about it and he could still run, so we just figured he was fine. We gave that dog away when we moved to England, because my parents weren't willing to pay for him to be quarantined for six months. The last we heard of him, my uncle was dropping him off on the interstate because that solution was easier than actually curing him of worms.
Growing up, we had dogs around the house, but they really weren't like members of the family. They were just our dogs. They weren't like hairier, stupider cousins or anything. They didn't lick us in the face or sleep in our beds or anything like that. They were dogs and we were people. There was a clear dividing line.
Now, the same parents who wouldn't let George in the house or get surgery on Rudy basically adopted my dog, Chico III, regularly take him to the vet, gave him his own room, and my mother is probably feeding him potato chips right now. Black attitudes as it relates to dogs has changed over the years. Which isn't to say that we're all "enlightened" about the love and devotion of dogs. I have an uncle that's from the old school, back in the days when you tied your dog to a truck rim, so he'd strengthen his chest muscles.
But it wasn't that long ago that we all laughed at black comedians who told jokes about how we treated dogs, and how weird white people were for treating their dogs like extra children. I remember some comedian telling a joke about how white people would spend any amount of money to fix their dogs and how funny that was, because there was Rudy, hobbling around the house. I felt bad for Rudy, but it was just understood that you didn't spend money like that on your dogs.
Fifteen years later, Samson is sleeping in my bed with me. Three years after that, I took in a stray puppy that I would name Chico. I couldn't imagine that sort of thing when I was a kid. We're changing.
But in our minds, most of us still don't think that the life of a dog is worth that of a human. We love our dogs, but we're not taking a bullet for one. We just don't view them the same as white people do. Which is why we're not completely mortified when we think of Michael Vick. To us, he did wrong, but it wasn't worth all of what he's had to go through. And it really isn't worth his continued harassment.
We don't think he's evil. We don't think he's a sociopath. He's just a guy who made a mistake, like many other people. And we believe he's paid his debt to society. He should be left alone. The crime was horrific, yes, but we don't think he's capable of being a serial killer. When I was 14, I watched a girl lift her dog up by the ears and throw him down the stairs. She thought it was hilarious. But I don't think she was crazy. Well, at the time I did, but that was because her older sister had spent two years pretending to be pregnanat. That kind of crazy tends to rub off on younger siblings.
Our views on dogs are simply a cultural difference, like why we like Newports and bass guitar. Some stuff just appeals to us and we can't always explain it. We just weren't brought up viewing dogs the same way, eating off of our plates and shit like that. Sorry. We do agree that dogfighting is wrong, though. Most of us. We might have some real bama (backwoods, country) cousins who still do it. Hell, I have relatives who still don't have bank accounts.
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