Article: Whoopi Goldberg defends Michael Vick: he's from the south

Michael Vick is not responsible for torturing and killing fighting dogs. "He's from the south, the deep south," said Whoopi Goldberg on her debut on ABC's The View. (Watch video.)

"You know from his background this is not an unusual thing for where he comes from," said Goldberg.

"For a lot of people dogs are sport," she added.

"This is part of his cultural upbringing," she said.

"This is a kid who comes from a culture when [sic] this is not questioned."

"It's like cockfighting in Puerto Rico," she said. "There are certain things that are indicative to certain parts of the country."

Goldberg also compared the allegedly wide spread dog fighting in the south to Chinese, who, she implied, eat cats.

That's us stupid southerners for sure. Don't hold us responsible for drowning and hanging dogs not deemed up to snuff. Blame southern culture. But somehow I don't think Whoopi would accept the Klan harassing and killing blacks as a natural part of southern culture.

I mean, according to prevailing negative stereotypes, lynchings are a dime a dozen in the dirty, racist south. Therefore, it's not unusual. Ask any Yankee. And for a lot of the Klansmen, torturing and hanging blacks is sport. A sport that's part of their cultural upbringing that's not questioned, or so the stereotypes proclaim. Now, if Whoopi actually believes Vick is not fully responsible for his violence because of southern culture then the same must hold true for all southerners.

Gravelly grits, I groan. We southerners - black, white, Indian and all points in between - are not sub-humans who have yet to evolve into civilization. We are fully capable of abiding by laws and do not need to use the defense of diminished capacity resulting from being born in the south. After all, like it or not, southerners did pen the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

Further, how dare Whoopi Goldberg claim that dog-fighting and torture are a part of the common culture of the south. How dare none of her ABC co-hosts challenge such a maliciously bigoted falsehood. The vast majority of southerners that I know hate dogfighting and look down on the thugs who do it. Are ABC and The View endorsing negative stereotypes about the south?

Y'all listen up. We southerners are tired of being lumped together into one mindless mire. We are sick and tired of being openly portrayed as stupid, backward, ignorant, racist, sexist, hot blooded, lazy, inarticulate, corrupt, violent and unable to take responsibility for our own actions. Such talk toward any other group would be called hateful and intolerant. Shame on the View for allowing such blatant bias to go unchallenged.

Just think of the resulting outrage if on national television I said Goldberg couldn't help being a big-mouthed, holier-than-thou know-it all given her upbringing. Look at her culture and where she's from: New York, in the heart of the deep north. Just overlook her. She can't help but run her mouth without thinking of what's coming out. What she lacks in substance she'll more than make up with quantity, loudness and obnoxiousness.

Such remarks would be properly and promptly condemned as bigoted, condescending and divisive. Yet when someone like Goldberg bashes the south, no one bats an eye. No more. Those days of politely sitting back for this liberal while my fellow southerners are demonized are gone with the wind.