Equal Rights, Why Not?

I hope I'm not the only one who thinks it's ridiculous that a you could go to jail for hitting a man with your car, but a little guilt, if any, is the most you get for hitting a dog. The world was both surprised and hesitant when the blacks were claimed equal to white men. It was hard for most of the white men to wrap their heads around the idea because all they had ever seen the black men as were slaves and animals. So why did this change? Because someone questioned logic. Where are we ever going to get if we don't question everything we think we know? Nowhere. How is equality between animal and man any different from equality between white men and black men?


I'm not saying that I think that animals should be treated like people. They shouldn't have to pay taxes, but their lives should be valued equal to a man's life.
For example, American Football quarterback Michael Vick was arrested for involvement in an illegal dog fighting ring that had been active for 5 years. He lost all of his team contracts and was sentenced to 21 months in prison. This was for the death and injury of countless dogs that he had trained to fight each other until one died. The typical sentence for someone who kills another person is a life sentence in jail, or the death sentence in some states. This is for killing one person. But he can watch a plethora of dogs kill each other and get a little under 2 years behind bars. After he was released he also returned to his original football team after claiming bankruptcy.


I know that we've placed the value of money above the value of life countless times. I'm afraid to say that it's in our nature. But deliberately placing one of our lives above a group of another species' is unbelievable. And the fact that he didn't do it for money, but for personal enjoyment disgusts me. Who are the animals here, really?