About 200 people braved rain and thunderclaps outside the Georgia Dome on Sunday to condemn the country, the media, Nike and, most of all, the Atlanta Falcons for treating Michael Vick like a dog.

"We Support Vick a Human Being Over Dogs," was the message of one placard to honking passing cars on Northside Drive. Other supporters said they believed Vick should be given the benefit of the doubt until his day in court.

Elissa Eubanks / AJC (ENLARGE)

Anisa Wright, 13, holding dog DJ, joins mother Charita Wright and Imani Wright at Sunday's rally in support of Michael Vick.

More on ajc.com More photos from the rally Mora hopes Vick charges aren't true

"Look at what he has done for this city — he's made this city a ton of money every Sunday," said Hiram Melvin, 50 of Decatur. "This dogfighting has been going on for years. It's not something that just started. It's not a big deal."

Sunday's rally was organized by New Order, a Marietta-based human rights group.

On Friday, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference issued a statement and the NAACP has called a news conference for today to ask the public to withhold judgment until all the facts come out in court.

"There have been too many people vilifying Michael Vick before we have full access to information on what allegedly happened," said Atlanta NACCP President R.L. White in a telephone interview.

Vick, 27, has pleaded not guilty to a federal indictment that charges him in a multistate dogfighting conspiracy. Sixty-six dogs, most of them pit bulls, were found in a kennel on property he owned in Surry County, Va. The indictment said some underperforming dogs were brutally killed.

The ex-Virginia Tech star could learn today whether one of his three accused co-conspirators — Tony Taylor, 34, of Hampton, Va. — will cooperate with prosecutors.

Many of Vick's supporters outside the Dome on Sunday said the Falcons and the NFL should stand up to animal rights groups such as the American Humane Society and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

They said the NFL had thrown Vick to the wolves almost immediately while it had allowed Baltimore Ravens Ray Lewis and Jamal Lewis to play.

Jamal Lewis was indicted for drug charges in Atlanta and pleaded guilty to using a cellphone to set up a drug deal. He was sentenced to four months in prison, and the NFL suspended him for two games. Ray Lewis was indicted on murder charges in Atlanta in a double homicide but the charge was dropped in exchange to a guilty plea to a misdemeanor of obstructing justice. He was sentenced to probation and was never suspended by the NFL.

"I don't like the double standard they have with Vick," said Rod Green, 54, of East Point. "They look the other way in these other cases and they castrate Vick."

On the West Coast, former Falcons coach Jim Mora said he has given Vick moral support in a text message Wednesday. " I just wanted to let him know that I was thinking about him," Mora, now the Seattle Seahawks' assistant head coach, told The Associated Press. "And that's not to condone what he supposedly did, at all. ... You obviously hope the charges aren't true."

SCLC President Charles Steele Jr. said his organization prefers to focus on Vick's redemption and plans to honor him for his community contributions at its convention next month in Atlanta. "We need to support him no matter what the evidence reveals," Steele said.

Tyvis Holliday, 37, said she was at the Dome Sunday because of a Vick good deed. She was working at a toy store in Gwinnett County last Christmas and told a cashier she was too broke to buy toys for her son. Vick overheard and slipped her a $100 bill, she said.

"He helped me buy my son Christmas," she said. "When you don't have much, $100 is a lot."

The New Order National Human Rights Organization is calling for a boycott and protest of Falcons games until Vick returns to the field — and season-ticket holders in the crowd plan to demand their money back. The NFL has asked Vick to stay away from training camp until its investigation is completed. His trial, set for Nov. 26, also could delay his return.

"This is still his dome," said New Order President Gerald Rose, referring to the Georgia Dome. "That's still his house."