Sean Bell vs. Eight Belles

Let me pose this question right from the outset: When has this country turned the corner where the life of an animal is far more valuable than the life of a human being?

On Saturday May 3, 2008 during the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby, a 2-year old philly named Eight Belles finished in 2nd place, but had to be euthanized on the track after breaking both ankles. All day Sunday and Monday, numerous media outlets have inundated the atmosphere with the horrific pictures of the eventual death of Eight Belles. The animal rights group P.E.T.A., have even gone as far to ask for the immediate suspension of the jockey who rode Eight Belles to 2nd place finish. The owner/trainer of the horse, Larry Jones, can be seen in interviews having a difficult time getting his words out to the reporter without breaking down in tears. Yet I find it offensive and hard to stomach these actions, when the judges’ verdict of not-guilty was rendered on the three New York City policemen for the senseless execution of Sean Bell while he was on his way to marry the mother of his child.

I asked myself why hasn’t there been more talk of an injustice regarding the killing of an unarmed man, but all we have been hearing these last 2 ½ days is the tragedy of Eight Belles? What about Sean Bell? Why is euthanizing the horse Eight Belles more worthy of the attention from the public and the outcry from the media than the killing of Sean Bell?

I feel that this country has regressed when a Michael Vick must spend 2-3 years in a federal prison in Leavenworth for simply financing a dog fighting ring, and these men and others who have performed similar acts of injustice towards humanity, more specifically black men in America, have not held accountable for their misdeeds. Now while I am not a proponent of cruelty to animals, I just have a hard time placing more value on a four-legged animal than I do a human being who was made in the image and likeness of God.

In the summer of 1964, the great civil-rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, while addressing the Credentials Committee for the Democratic National Convention, asked this powerful question that I will ask in 2008, "Is this America"? Is this the place where the founding fathers decided to break free from the tyrannical clutches of “Mother England” because they no longer desired to be oppressed by them? Is this the place where the 3rd President of our country in drafting the Declaration of Independence, opined that every form of slavery is wrong? Is this the place where that same document clearly states that “all men are created equal”? Is this America? Eight Belles was put down for being injured in a race, while Sean Bell was killed for being black in America.

I am deeply affected by these events even though they are not happening directly to me. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere”. I am hoping for the day when this country will truly live up to its name, the United States of America, and place its true value where it belongs, the people that make up this great nation.