Racist or Just Plain Wrong?

This past Monday, January 16th American honored Martin Luther King and remembered the true greatness of his dream. Today that dream is not a dream, but a reality. Or is it?

Last year, ESPN held a panel to discuss the black athlete. The Panel included athletes

and coaches. As I was watching a taping of the show on youtube, a topic was brought up that really made me think.

Michael Vick played for the Atlanta Falcons but was suspended when he pled guilty for partaking in dog fighting. Along with being suspended he was sentenced to serve 23 months in prison. He now plays for the Philadelphia Eagles. There is still controversy of his sentence and if it was because of the color of his skin.

Ben Roethlisberger is a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 2009, a civil suit was filed for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room in 2008. Roethlisberger was not sentenced any jail time. In 2010, Roethlisberger was again accused of sexually assaulting a 20 year old women. Though he was not sentenced to jail, he was suspended in 2010.

Would there have been a difference if Micheal Vick was white? Would there have been a different outcome if Ben Roethlisberger was Black?

The topic and question of the show was is race a factor?

Before this accusations and suspensions, Roethlisberger was not a popular teammate. "Najeh Davenport also discussed a time when Joey Porter called out Roethlisberger in a team meeting for being the last one in to practice and the first one to leave. Porter also accused Roethlisberger of not being dedicated to the team and criticized him for not fraternizing with his teammates." An interesting survey was realized last year by ESPN that notes that 30 percent of African-Americans admire Roethlisberger and 22 percent of whites admire the quarter back.

ESPN wrote an article that most likely everyone would like to know, what if Vick was white? Race is something that is very important to Vick. Another question was asked in the article. It is interesting because this topic of African Americans and single parent households became a topic of discussion in the ESPN show. The question: "If Vick grew up with the paternal support that white kids are more likely to have would he have been involved in dogfighting?" It becomes a valid question because,72 percent percent of black children are born to unwed mothers compared with 29 percent of white children. Vick's father was noted as not have such a supportive father. His father was an strong cocaine user and was frequently drunk around young Vick.

So this becomes a question of was it really a race issue or was it his upbringing?