Black Lives Matter.
And it's about time that Black Lives Matter has finally gotten the international support and solidarity it deserves. It also goes to show what can happen when the possibility of real change (and fear of what will continue to happen if the status quo doesn't change) galvanizes people into action.
So what about All Lives Matter? Because from a vegan perspective, the idea that all lives matter (including other animals, specifically) seems to be reasonable and almost self-evident. And that notion IS what drives many vegan activists, this belief that all lives are worthy. Or to borrow from this quote:
The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world. --Paul Farmer
But we have to remember context here as the rallying cry of All Lives Matter has been used too often to dismiss the BLM message. A message often misunderstood. Black Lives Matter does not mean that ONLY black lives matter, but that black lives matter TOO. And that if black lives don't matter (with systemic racism suggesting they don't), all lives can't matter.
But for some reason this has confused people in a way that other campaigns have not. For example, those who fundraise for breast cancer won't get the pushback that they're ignoring other types of cancer. It's implied that all cancers are worthy of being eradicated, but that the particular focus here is a specific form of cancer. Same for other diseases. Campaigning for Diabetes, for example, doesn't mean Alzheimer's matters less.
So I was impressed to see Steve Jenkins from Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary thank the person who helped him understand why using the AllLives instead of the BlackLivesMatter hashtag was problematic, and state that he was willing to learn in order to be the best ally. Sadly though, I think a number of his followers didn't get that particular point of his post.
It takes humility to admit you may have been wrong, and strength of character to be open to growth. And isn't that what vegans hope nonvegans will do? Take information that may be new to them and consider it with an open mind? While I understand his followers defending him (because yes, Steve has a heart of gold and we see his values exemplified daily), it's a bit disheartening to see some followers continue to insist that saying All Lives Matter is absolutely fine, when actually, it isn't.
Also disheartening is that Canadians have been a bit ignorant (smug, even) in denying racism in our own backyard, as evidenced by Ontario premier Rob Ford declaring on June 2nd that Canada doesn't have the same systemic deep roots of racism that the United States does. Um, right. Thankfully he quickly backtracked on that comment after receiving massive criticism.
But the belief in the absence of racism in Canada is something many Canadians share. And I can even see how they may have that perception. Take the small town I live in; so incredibly white it's rare to see someone in it who isn't. You almost couldn't even blame anyone here for not knowing what white privilege is, and that almost everyone in this town benefits from it. That is, of course, if you conveniently forget the historic (and current) treatment of Indigenous people. Or the internment of Japanese Canadians back in 1942. No, racism is definitely NOT absent in this country.
What does systemic racism in Canada look like? Here are five charts illustrating the challenges Black Canadians face in terms of income, employment, education, and hate crimes. Contrary to the claim that systemic racism doesn't exist in Canada, Black Canadians say racism is just as harmful on this side of the border.
Want to be an ally in the anti-racism fight? Here are some actions you can take to help in the fight against racism.
Two books I have read recently that personally have helped me to better understand the topic of race are: So You Want to Talk About Race by American author Ijeoma Oluo, and Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by UK author Reni Eddo-Lodge. I highly recommend both.
The takeaway for vegans in particular, I think, is that we have to be willing to listen and learn. Just as the feminist movement was rightly criticized for being mainly relevant to white middle-class women, vegans have to listen when we're told that veganism is mainly relevant to white middle-class folk. (Did you hear the echo?) We have to listen, respectfully, when we're told comparisons between the animal rights movement and the civil rights movement may be problematic. We also have to pay attention when survivors of sexual assault tell us that having their experience of rape compared to artificial insemination of animals may be inappropriate.
We have to remember that the ultimate aim of veganism is to eliminate oppression, period. That includes racism, sexism, classism, ableism and a bunch of other isms too. While it may be tempting to say that you only care about animals, humans ARE animals, and we have to help end oppression of them as well.
And one way of doing that is to honour the fight for racial equality by not routinely saying all lives matter whenever you hear Black Lives Matter.
Very well said.
I missed a LOT of posts so I went back to the earliest one I missed and I'm trying to think of how to reply to this one because I do think you made great and valid points - and maybe it's because I'm a misanthrope that I feel the way I do (I dislike all humans equally based on only their behavior, not their color or religion or anything else other than personal behavior, which leaves me disliking more folks than not), but this topic you posted reminds me about when Morrissey got flamed so much online when he wrote about farmed animals and compared them to holocaust victims. He is 100% correct about that and I appreciate that there are vegans who are trying to understand why some black folks might not understand the All Lives Matter slogan, but they need to understand that slogan as much as any human being who isn't black needs to understand the Black Lives Matter slogan.
No human being no matter what color they are has a worse life than the non-human animals we have all enslaved, exploited, tortured and abused since we all started coexisting on this planet.
I know that racism and sexism share many common traits with speciesism and that all of those isms are wrong and need to be eradicated. I just feel like now more than ever, our fellow beings are more in danger because of so many things going on in this world.
There was a time in my life - and I didn't realize this until recently when I was talking with my brothers - when all the friends I had that I spent time with were gay black men. I didn't even think about it at the time, they were (and some still are) my friends and I didn't see the demographics of that. I know the struggles some of them went through that are more than a lot of the rest of us can even understand. And at the same time, they are at the top of the pyramid simply for being human.
So for me personally, All Lives Matter is something that every human being needs to make an effort to understand and it's a little scary and sad to me that folks who have been mistreated so much by other humans don't have more understanding and empathy with other creatures than the rest of us do. Maybe Native Americans, but even though they aren't vegan culturally/historically...they at least recognized and showed respect that they were killing another life when they killed other animals.
I'm so sorry if this comment came off in a way I didn't intend. I absolutely know that everything you wrote is valid and is the way the whole thing has to be approached. I'm just sorry for our fellow beings that humans are so ridiculous that it's even an issue for anyone to say All Lives Matter at any point in history, now or before now or later. But yes...the road to finally making things better for other animals is tied to our species - and we clearly can't get things right even between ourselves.
Thanks for posting again! I'm sorry I'm so far behind and I don't know how quickly I can catch up, but thanks for speaking up for those who need a voice now more than ever!
Thanks for your reply and I hope/wonder if it can be a post of its own (?).
I've been getting madder and madder and madder watching humans who I know in my personal life who don't care about "others" (whether that be a different race or different species) speak up about things that they are simply mimickng to try to jump on a bandwagon.
Your reply deserves a better reply than I'm writing here, but I am too emotional about all this to write something intelligent. That is one of the reasons that I thank you again for being the voice for those who can not speak for themselves because of who they are.
Hi again.. sorry we're about to make a whole thread here, but maybe it's not even that bad in the event that there are lurkers. First, I really hope you have the time to make a follow-up post to this and also to make other posts.
Something I thought of as regards our like-mindedness and also sometimes not seeing things the same is that we live in places that are sooooo different. When I was in the States, I lived all over the place and what I consider home (Pendleton, IN) is probably close to what you go through. You know I lived in NYC, L.A., etc. but anyway...
Before I lived in Berlin, I would not have seen so many things that I see on a daily basis and I think that is making me even more firm in my beliefs/opinions that you and I maybe don't agree on. It sounds 'simple', but I think that might be it. If not, and if this is just me without any outside influence...that's fine, too. But there are things I see every day and experience every day that are so far past what I was used to (and not in a good way) and I think it has made me become even more close to our non-human family than I already was.
Your voice and insight are needed now more than ever for our fellow beings. And I understand that if we can't get it right among ourselves, that's not helpful for anything and dangerous in ways that affect our non-human family (we see things on the news here every day that make that clear). Just keep speaking up as often and as loud as you can for those who don't have a voice. You already do that, I know. 💛👍🌎 Thank you!!!
George Floyd's sister says 'all lives matter'. And they do, including animal's lives. A fire department would put out whichever house was on fire because All Fires Matter. A lifeguard would rescue whichever swimmer was drowning because, All drowning swimmers matter. All lives matter helps whichever race is in need of help. It is inclusive. Yes of course black lives matter - all lives matter. The racial response to black lives matter is white lives matter and not all lives matter.