Runnin’ With the Big Dog

On ongoing investigation into alleged dog fighting on the property of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick picked up steam this week. More information about the brutal practice is coming to the surface as the issue becomes salient (at least for now). What has been less frequently discussed is the relationship of race to dog fighting.


While there is very little chatter that explicitly notes that modern high stakes dog fighting is primarily an African American activity, there is much suggestion as to that reality. Nearly all of the high profile athletes who have been linked to dog fighting are black. The Virginian-Pilot noted last month that pit bulls – which are the overwhelming majority breed for fighting dogs – “have become iconic in the rap and hip-hop music culture. Missy Elliott and rapper DMX feature the animals on album covers, and an unedited version of rapper Jay-Z’s video ‘99 Problems’ features footage of dogs preparing to fight in a pit as spectators watch.”


We offer some thoughts about why this link between dog fighting and black culture may exist.


1. Counterculture: From all accounts, the reason that dog fighting, while illegal in all states, continues is the devotion of its participants to absolute silence. Forced from mainstream culture since the first slave ships arrived and systemically ushered into poverty after emancipation, black Americans share similar characteristics to other subculture groups that seek to operate outside of the mainstream. Such countercultural expression can be manifest in vernacular language, social separatism, or illegal activities involving such symbols of rebellion as guns, drugs or, in this case, dog fighting.


2. Competition: Our capitalist culture teaches us to compete (to “fight”) to get ahead in the world. We are urged to be aggressive, strategic, hard working, and smart. In communities where disadvantage is rampant, the realistic “outs” are limited. In recent decades, rapping has been an out, but before that and since, drug dealing and sports have been perceived as the most viable options to youngsters who were not getting the sort of education that would lead to competitive standardized test scores or result in the skills that would help them succeed in college even if they did get in. Today, we can see expressions of excessive spending (“bling”) on jewelry, cars, homes, etc. by wealthy black Americans who grew up with very little. The large amounts of money being spent on fighting dogs, as well as the money involved in gambling on fights, is yet another symbol of one view of the American capitalist dream.


3. Power: Dog fighting is primarily, if not wholly, a man’s activity; there is a high degree of machismo involved. In a piece for ESPN.com, Elizabeth Merrill notes that former running back Tyrone Wheatly is familiar with the subculture: “Wheatley grew up in a neighborhood near the Detroit area where it was prominent, and took care of pit bulls when he was a kid. He says he saw one dogfight, when he was about 13, and was drawn to the breed's strength, power and loyalty.” It is not surprising that so many dog fighters are tied to professional sports, where the focus is on power, speed, agility and aggression. The dogs might be seen as representatives of the owners, or even extensions of themselves. While this can be true for athletes of any color, combined with numbers one and two above, we can speculate as to how the intersection of these elements is an offshoot of the black professional athlete’s lived experience.


Of course, this story is not about Michael Vick. ESPN.com reports that he will likely not be indicted, even though an anonymous source revealed back in May that Vick was one of the “heavyweights” in dog fighting. But his celebrity and ties (whatever they are) to this Virginia circuit of fighting certainly helps to place the issue on the public agenda. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Jeff Schultz argues that the NFL may be so concerned with its reputation that they don’t want to see this covered up.


For its part, Virginia officials don’t seem particularly attentive to any racial components. Commonwealth's Attorney Gerald G. Poindexter wonders why the federal government is involved. Said Poindexter, “. . . what's driving this? Is it this boy's celebrity?” (sigh) (It’s good to see that the 19th Century is alive and well in Virginia’s justice system).



There seems to be no explicit motivation in the tartgeting of Vick under these circumstances. However, the context surrounding the allegations, charges and scrutiny by legal officials, journalists, the NFL and others certainly fuels at least implicit associations between race and various forms of negative behavior that are much a part of America's racist legacy - associations between blacks and criminality (see one or two or three of our earlier blogs on this topic) , savagery, or something as seemingly benign as financial extravagance. The present case of Vick and the allged connections with the savage world of dogfighting merely fits into an already preformed picture many Americans have of black Americans.