You don’t have to be a conspiracy nut, paranoid or mad-at-the-world to insist that black Americans run an inordinately high risk of being unfairly accused, prosecuted, tried and convicted. A slew of reports, both government and private, have documented the “special” treatment that blacks -- especially black men -- get from the so-called justice system.

A particularly famous study of nearly a decade ago exposed the scandal: If a young black guy and a young white guy were each caught with drugs, and both were first offenders, the black guy was more likely to be arrested, while the white offender was sent to rehab. If they were both arrested, bail was either denied or exceedingly high for the black offender, while the white offender was released on his own recognizance or on a very low bond. If they were both to be prosecuted, the black offender drew a more serious charge than the white offender. If they were both sentenced, the black offender got prison time,  while the white offender got probation. And if they were both sent to prison, the black offender got more time and in an adult prison, while the white offender got less time and was placed among other youths.

And that’s not to mention the high rate of false accusation or wrongful prosecution and conviction for black men, which is the real -- and only -- reason we cheered for O.J. 

Last week, the feds brought a felony indictment for a dog fighting conspiracy against Michael Vick, the dynamic quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons, and the lynch team has already become a mob. They want Vick’s head.

It may be that Michael Vick is guilty. He will need a dream team to give him a fighting chance in court. Fortunately, he can afford good, experienced, hard-driving attorneys and not have to depend on a court-appointed lawyer with too many clients and too few resources to give Vick the kind of defense he’s going to need to avoid the steep fines and up to six years in prison a conviction would bring.

But, it seems we owe him the benefit of the doubt that, if the heinous activities occurred on his property as alleged, he was unaware of it -- though, he surely should have known -- or that, if he knew, his crime was to let it go on. 

We owe him that fair doubt because it is the only protection any of us has against frontier justice and kangaroo courts, and we must defend it at every turn.

Besides, we need to believe that Michael Vick was nothing worse than irresponsible, stupid or naive –- another privileged man taken advantage of by low-lifes and ingrates who have never outgrown their idiocy.

We need to believe that because we need to believe that fame, money and opportunity can take you out of the game and allow you to relax and enjoy a good, legal high-life, free of notices posted to the door, persistent phone calls from collectors, police sirens or boys with glocks turned sideways. 

At this point, it doesn’t look good for Michael Vick. And what a shame it would be if the dastardly charges turn out to be true because Vick not only could have been a contender, he was one -- a phenomenon who could do it all. He could throw like the blazes, had uncommon strength and could run as fast as any wide receiver, running back or cornerback on the field. No wonder some folks are eager to take him down. Hatin’ is not just a street game.

If all that talent, privilege and potential go to waste in a trough of ignominy, conviction and prison time, it will be an awful day for pro football, for Michael Vick and for the people who believe that you get to give up desperate measures when desperate times end. Otherwise, what’s the hustle all about?

It will also be a sad day for the benefit of the doubt, for it would be foiled again.

But until it is, may we hold onto it for dear life. We owe it to what the principle has done for us. We owe it to Michael Vick. We owe it to what we know about justice gone awry.