Heart Bleeding for Vick, But Not His Victims

Earl Afari Hutchinson, the author of nine books about the African American experience, yesterday published an article at the Huffington Post about the recent experience of animal brutalizer Michael Vick.

Entitled "Drop State Charges against Vick--The Public Gouged it's Pound of Flesh Out of Him with Fed Sentencing," Hutchinson asserts that Virginia prosecutors should abate their prosecution of the confessed criminal, contending that other states, Louisiana especially, are not hard on dog fighters and that, after all, the American system of federalism (i.e., federal and state jurisdictions, each with its own laws) should be ignored in Vick's case because "The feds and the public have more than gouged their pound of flesh out of him."

Putting aside the speciousness of Hutchinson's "reasoning," his talking about "pound(s) of flesh" only reminds us of the flesh torn from Vick's pit bulls by others of their species who were turned into killing machines in the name of "sport" and profit.

Michael Vick violated the laws of two jurisdictions. He should be made to pay twice, and any Virginia sentence should run consecutively with his federal sentence, not concurrently.

Maybe then he and other animal abusers will begin to get the message.