Word: Vick in black and white

“For a lot of African Americans, who have in the past either been accused themselves or seen people they admired not be given due process, they are skeptical about proceedings against well-known African Americans.”

— Atlanta NAACP President R.L. White to ESPN.com

“I said, ‘Stay on point. The convention is bigger than a particular man.’ There are a lot of young people who need our help. Michael Vick is not one of them. ... What has he ever done except throw a football, run a football? I don’t think he has done anything to deserve any special recognition.”

— State Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) to the AJC on why he counseled the Southern Christian Leadership Conference not to honor Vick at its convention this week

“Depending on who’s doing the talking, Vick can be the devil incarnate or the persecuted victim of a racially motivated attack that has ignored the basic tenet of due process. Anybody paying attention to the divide over this issue, much of it racial, has to understand we’re looking at one very divisive story that will play out for months. Already, it has swept up passions everywhere, from the nation’s most powerful animal rights advocates to its most visible civil rights groups.”

— Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon