A story on the front page of the local paper today disturbed me, before promptly making me remember a somewhat obscure movie.
In Yonkers, a black man slashed the face of a German shepherd named Jenna, causing her to lose her eye. The reason he had this outburst of violence towards the dog is because she was known for barking at minorities.
It’s an upsetting story, and a little confusing for a guy like me. I despise racists, but I adore dogs, so I’m conflicted. Honestly though, this story immediately reminded me of a movie called White Dog, from the great director Sam Fuller, in which a black trainer tries to shake a dog from its racist programming. Things don’t turn out well there either.
Unlike the dog in the movie, Jenna’s owners never trained her to hate minorities. It just works out that way sometimes. Or does it? Who knows.
The older I get, the more that violence and racism just make me sad. I still get furious about it – believe me – but more than anything, I just think it’s really sad that there’s so much sickness and hatred still present in the heart of humanity that we might even be able to spread it to our best friends.
