Vick meets with inner-city youth near Atlanta

By RHONDA COOK

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Former Falcons quarterback Michael Vick slipped into an Atlanta community center Saturday for a private session with young men who might be fighting dogs.

Vick will work with the Humane Society of the United States’ anti-dogfighting program at least twice a month, speaking on what it’s like to “be on the other side” and the damage it did to his life, according to Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the organization. This was his first forum.

Pacelle said Vick asked to do the program to make amends for the dogfighting operation he ran that led his federal prison sentence. Vick was released in May with only two months remaining on his 23-month federal sentence on felony charges related to dogfighting. The Humane Society declined to discuss the first forum in Atlanta or to release details of Vick’s visit until it was over. The organization wanted to maintain a “controlled setting” and to avoid “Vick mania,” Pacelle said.

He said next forums will be publicized and open.

Vick spoke 12 minutes to about 50 people, most of them young men, and then stayed for the rest of the hour of speaking, Pacelle said.

He left when the participants began hands-on training of their dogs. Vick is not allowed to be around dogs.

The program is already established in Chicago but it’s relatively new in Atlanta. Pacelle said the Humane Society was about to start more programs in Virginia.

Pacelle said Vick’s representatives approached the society several months ago about him joining the organization’s anti-dogfighting campaign.

“I was initially skeptical, but I agreed to talk to him,” Pacelle said. “We want him to demonstrate over time that he’s committed to this program. We’re going to give him the opportunity, but Michael must stick with it.”

A long-term commitment was required. “Twice a month for at least the next year and we hope two, three, four, five years. It depends on where he lands in her professional career,” Pacelle said.

The NFL has reinstated Vick but few teams have expressed interest in signing him.

The program uses former dogfighters to find boys and young men at risk of getting involved in fighting their dogs.

“We have folks on the street,” Pacelle said. “Some are ex-dogfighters [or] ex-gang members, people who have been in trouble or have been on the street and can talk with credibility. We encourage them to bring their dogs and get them involved in the training.”

Vick is one of those “who used to be on the other side who have seen the light. [He] can provide a powerful narrative of what happens [with fighting dogs],” Pacelle said.

At Saturday’s session Vick “talked about it being a cultural norm in his community. He said he got involved in dogfighting at an early age. He told people that they have to break out of that and not get mixed up with animal cruelty ...”

“He said he made terrible mistakes and cause a lot of suffering,” Pacelle said. “But now he wants to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.”