Thank you “La Chola” for this post that deals with the use of comparing people of color to animals—we see this in the testimonies at Winter Soldier and from PETA activists. As someone who also tries to be vegan, but wants to critically engage with the problem she addresses, I agree that it serves no purpose to rank oppressions. Unjust killings of people and animals is done to reinforce the power of a few. At the same time, I do not appreciate campaigns that compare the treatment of people of color to the treatment of animals or the use of women’s bodies to inspire veganism.
For me, personally, my veganism is the result of many things; I justify it for many reasons. I do not believe in a Vegan Utopia and therefore do not believe we should all become vegan. I understand that I am privileged because this diet works for me, for my lifestyle, and for my budget. I am lucky enough to live in a city that has many vegan resources (although I wish we had a veggie restaurant), and I can find support groups very easily. It makes me feel healthy, which only came after educating myself through books such as Becoming Vegan and speaking to nutritionists. I believe that our abundant use of cheap meat is involved in polluting our ground water, using up nature’s resources, the mistreatment of animals, and unfair labor practices against those working in slaughterhouses (which is predominantly an immigrant labor force).
A long time ago, I began collecting the testimony of soldiers who had participated in genocides. I had been studying the My Lai massacre, and noticed some similarities between the testimony of one of the soldiers there and the testimony of one of the soldiers who had participated in Abu Ghraib violence. The soldier at the My Lai massacre had said killing Vietnamese people was like shooting dogs. The soldier at Abu Ghraib said being in Iraq was like going on a turkey hunt.
The comparison of brown people to animals–the justification of the murder and torture of brown people because they were considered animal like was a disturbing idea that I have continued to explore for almost two years now. It’s brought me to some really dark places, places I’m not really all that sure I wanted to be.
I admit, it is really hard for me to talk/listen to the many white vegans who insist on defending PETA’s comparison of human slavery to the violent treatment of animals in today’s society. I’m very empathetic to the cause of veganism–but the defense of the PETA campaign is often not a defense of veganism so much as it is a defense of seeing nothing wrong with comparing black people to animals. Many white folks are perfectly happy to insist that *they* have no problems at *all* being compared to animals–but it is not white folks that are being killed on genocidal turkey shoots either.
For me, those people who are interested in animal liberation (as I am), must realize, this comparison of brown human beings to animals/insects, is not something in the past that is occasionally drawn on to make a point. The comparison of brown human beings to animals is something that exists in the very fabric of our current society and as such, carries very real repercussions for the people of color that are compared to animals.
The first mission that we had when we got to Iraq was at this place called Al Assad, and our job there was basically to run a prisoner of war camp. And at this prisoner of war camp, our job was basically to keep prisoners who had been deemed enemy combatants sleep-deprived for periods of up to seventy-two hours in order to, quote-unquote, “soften them up for interrogation.” And the way we did that was by yelling at them.
So my first question to the people who were training us on how to do this was, you know, “How do they understand? I mean, they don’t speak English.” And he said, “Well, they’re just like animals. They’re just like dogs. If you keep yelling at them, it doesn’t matter what language you’re yelling at them in, they’re going to get the point. If you yell at them, ‘Get up!’ enough times, you know, just like a dog gets up, they’ll get up. If you tell them to move left, eventually they’ll get it and they’ll move left. And they said, “But that’s not going to always work, because they’re so tired.” By the way, they were hooded with sandbags, and they were tied with plastic restraints, barefoot, and circled around with concertina wire. So they were not only being deprived of sleep, but also of light and sense of space.
I support animal liberation wholeheartedly. And I think that for now, I will continue to approach animal liberation in a way that does not center veganism/vegitarianism. Not only do I have my own issues with eating meat, but I also have to continue to work through this idea that seems to dominate animal liberation movements like PETA that what we *eat* is more important than societal and cultural norms that justify the murders of brown people, women, and animals alike.
In other words, I almost think that veganism/vegitarianism should be the *last* step to animal liberation or something that happens *after* you lead community workshops on the connecting histories of violence against animals and human beings or other structural/cultural shifting of opinions through dialogue. Not eating meat is an important thing to me, and I continue to work towards that goal every day. But I think that creating a world where the abuse of animals is not used to justify the abuse of the brown human beings requires that different tactics, strategies and priorities than what currently exists.
Thanks to the Vegans of Color for your site, it’s helped me work through a lot of my thoughts.
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