Would you believe me if I told you that pit bulls were once considered non-aggressive animals, especially towards people? Or that pit bulls were actually commonly seen as the perfect “nanny dog” for children because of their friendly nature, loyalty, and stability?

I assume that you probably wouldn’t because today pit bulls are stereotyped as inherently vicious and aggressive animals. Pit bull owners can attest to witnessing people draw back their children in fear in order to protect them from these “savage” animals. Pit bulls are a breed that very frequently bear the discriminatory legislation that unfortunately makes it hard for these dogs to find a “forever home.”

Since the 1980s, the media has portrayed pit bulls as much more dangerous of a breed than other strong dogs. During this time, dog fighting had a major revival in America in that decade.

“In that time there were people who took an interest in romanticizing the horrors of dogfighting … living through the accomplishments of the dog.”

- John Goodwin, Director of animal cruelty policy at the Humane Society of the United States.

Anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 pit bulls are killed a day. They are currently rising in popularity as well as disposability. Dog Pounds and Animal Shelters are left in disproportionate numbers of pit bull breeds as they continue to overflow with these dogs……. What does this sound like?

As a result of inaccurate perceptions of the pit bull, many animal shelters even put down the dogs before giving people the chance to adopt them. Lately I’ve heard about quite a few dog attacks in which in most of these stories, the dogs who are attacking other dogs and people, are pit bulls. And from these stories I’ve heard, there is the suggestion that the owner put their pit bull down. There seems to always be an urge to end a dog’s life based on their owner’s mistakes, especially when there’s a pit bull in discussion.

Are we not going to address the owner or society or the system that was created that is ultimately causing these breeds to turn out the way they are and stereotyped? Of course, we’re not because a whole lot of us like to live in our inaccurate perceptions of things we don’t understand or don’t even try to give a chance…. Now doesn’t that sound familiar?

I’ll tell you why it sounds familiar. Who else other than the black community can relate to this? White women clutching their purses and pearls when they see a black man walk passed them on the street or better yet, decides to cross the street to avoided crossing paths. Does that not sound like the way people react when they see a pit bull? The only reason they do this is because of the stereotypes that are distilled in today’s society. Violent and negative attributes are being associated with both subjects.

In 2015, young black men were more likely to be killed by police than any other American, ending the year with a total number of over 1,134 deaths at the hands of law enforcements. It is an epidemic that is disproportionately affecting black people. As we waste the promising lives of black youth we are wasting the lives of pit bulls as well. People of color make up about 30 percent of the United States’ population, however, they make up 60 percent of those imprisoned. 1 in every 15 African Americans and 1 in every 36 Hispanic men are incarcerated in prisons compared to 1 in every 106 white men.

- (Data collected by The Guardian.)

Inner city school systems are irresponsible when educating the black youth. Just take a look at the inner city schools of Baltimore. Middle Schools even are seemingly like jails. Their classrooms, like psych wards. Students running up and down the hallways, desks being slammed, trails of graded and ungraded papers scattered everywhere, fight videos being recorded on cell phones, Rae Sremmurd blasted to the highest level. What a failure of our government because of their lack of interest in finding a solution to better facilitate the minds of our young people.

Is this no different than a lazy pit bull owner that does not teach their pet in the correct manner by letting them learn in worst of conditions and glorification of violence? And the saddest part about it is, many parents have no choice but to send their kids to schools like these. "Why?", you may wonder? Because they can’t afford to send their children anywhere else. Ultimately making it quite difficult to receive an education. As a result of these environments, black youth tend to have higher rates of juvenile incarceration and more likely to be sent to adult prisons. It also makes it astronomically difficult for black people to find jobs.

It’s no surprise that African Americans need to work much harder than white people to get a job. Many times they’ll have to send more than one resume and fight to even get that first job interview. This might as well be compared to a pit bull trying to find a home. It sounds like in this time people are taking an interest in romanticizing the horrors of racial profiling and stereotypes not only in the Criminal Justice system and education systems but in the working class as well... in order to live through the impotencies of black people.