By Kassy O | August 15, 2017
While I often feel energized when I get together with a group of fellow animal advocates sometimes it feels challenging.
At this year’s National Animal Rights Conference I experienced a microaggression.
A white male pushed through the banquet crowd approached me and said: “Hey, you would be the right person to ask this: Why aren’t there more African Americans at the conference?”
I wasn’t wearing a staff shirt pinning me as an organizer, so I can only assume that he asked me this because I was the closest person of color to where he was standing. This is problematic for a number of reasons including:
1) I’m not a Black person, and
2) I don’t represent Black folks or all people of color (POC).
As you can imagine, this was a very uncomfortable situation.
Unfortunately, this was not a unique experience. During the one panel at the conference aimed at discussing racial inclusion, a Latina woman shared a similar story. She said that on the first day (and this was her first conference) a white attendee approached her randomly and asked in broken Spanish, “Why don’t Latinos care about animal rights?” And went on to say, “You have to bring more Latinos to the conference.” The woman expressed confusion and frustration.
Sadly, I know many more POC who have had similar such experiences.
And this year was not unique. At last year’s National Animal Rights Conference, leadership a well-established animal rights group spread a rumor about me, claiming that I did not identify as a person of color. This was then repeated by another advocate publicly during a panel. I confronted the organization’s leadership about this and said it was not only extremely inappropriate, unprofessional, and racist, but could tarnish my reputation and was hurtful. They responded with an email that generally stated: “Oh, I must have heard you wrong then,” and told me to “let it go.”
These types of experiences are commonplace for most people of color in the vegan movement, but they shouldn’t be. It’s not okay to ask people to speak on behalf of entire communities. It’s not okay to make assumptions about what language people speak based on how they look. It’s not okay to talk about how people identify behind people’s backs. We are a social movement that needs to be better to each other and we need to learn how to talk about–and deal with–race.
The National Animal Rights Conference and the animal rights movement should be a safe space for everyone. Unfortunately, racism, tokenization, microaggressions and people of color being under-represented in the animal rights community is a problem that needs to be acknowledged and addressed. For us to succeed, the animal advocacy movement must be racially inclusive and that means we have a lot of work ahead of us.
Encompass Note:
Part of the reason we posted this blog was to highlight the experience of POC in predominantly white spaces.
Encompass exists to be the bridge and explain what POC feel/why and help them feel comfortable to join the movement while also elevating them into leadership positions.
We also are serving as a resource for the more mainstream (and predominantly white run and led) organizations to understand why having a more sophisticated understanding of race is important to our bottom line of helping animals, and how to concretely fold this into the culture of their organizations.
We work from a positive point of view as much as possible. In this case, Encompass has heard repeated frustration from activists at the National Animal Rights Conference. We wanted to use this as a learning opportunity.
Of course, while there were many positive experiences at this conference, many POC don’t feel comfortable attending it because:
1) They are made uncomfortable by microaggressions (definition: a statement, action, or incident regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group such as a racial or ethnic minority).
2) They do not want to be put in the position of explaining race relations to white people — they want to enjoy the conference at face value, just as white folks do.
Most of these experiences/microaggressions come from a place of ignorance and this is a problem we can solve.
At Encompass we want to help shine a light on why these types of moments are difficult for POC and help pave a path forward. We’d love to see a conference where POC and white folks equally feel comfortable in addressing the issues at hand: animal exploitation.
Perhaps what’s happening now and the wonderful united opposition to real bigotry and oppression will stop people from complaining about such things as being asked by a probably earnest, honest man who apparently mistakenly thought this person might have some insight and could help make things more inclusive. Instead his intent was dismissed and he is deride for asking because of his color, the goal missed and the emphasis placed on being somehow slighted to be mistaken for black? There are wonderful people at the conference, open and friendly, and this experience is not representative at all. This post also promotes exclusion, not inclusion. Concrete positive ideas should be welcomed, always. I hope this forum will be used for that.
Thanks for your response, Ingrid. Please see the Encompass note (above). I’ll paste it here for easy viewing:
Part of the reason we posted this blog was to highlight the experience of POC in predominantly white spaces.
Encompass exists to be the bridge and explain what POC feel/why and help them feel comfortable to join the movement while also elevating them up into leadership positions.
We also are serving as a resource for the more mainstream (and predominantly white run and led) organizations to understand why having a more sophisticated understanding of race is important to our bottom line of helping animals, and how to concretely fold this into the culture of their organizations.
We work from a positive point of view as much as possible. In this case, Encompass has heard repeated frustration from activists at the National Animal Rights Conference. We wanted to use this as a learning opportunity.
Of course, while there were many positive experiences at this conference, many POC don’t feel comfortable attending it because:
1) They are made uncomfortable by microaggressions (definition: a statement, action, or incident regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group such as a racial or ethnic minority).
2) They do not want to be put in the position of explaining race relations to white people — they want to enjoy the conference at face value, just as white folks do.
Most of these experiences/microaggressions come from a place of ignorance and this is a problem we can solve.
At Encompass we want to help shine a light on why these types of moments are difficult for POC and help pave a path forward. We’d love to see a conference where POC and white folks equally feel comfortable in addressing the issues at hand: animal exploitation.
This is a shockingly obtuse comment from a person who hasn’t ostensibly stood against oppression for 36 years. You can recognize that an animal should not be called “it,” but not that a person of color shouldn’t be called the wrong thing? You object that this experience doesn’t represent the whole movement, but have no problem with a person of color being asked to represent ALL non-white people? How intentionally ignorant can you be? Despicable.
Perhaps it is not about CREATING division, but acknowledging that division ALREADY exists, division that we as white vegans can easily ignore and not realise is there. Instead of silencing and criticising someone who has put themself on the line by calling out these micro-aggressions, we should be thanking Kassy for being willing to take the time to help us be BETTER and make our communities stronger and more inclusive.
THANK YOU KASSY FOR THIS ARTICLE.
Hey Ingrid Newkirk, your whiteness is showing. Your comments are a perfect example of the problem. You cannot dismiss a POC’s experience. Your whiteness doesn’t allow you to do that.
Oh, Melissa, judging me by my race is the problem, isn’t it? My goal is to stop ALL race-based oppression, and all species-based oppression. That shouldn’t be something to attack and your comment is precisely why I made this post, to say let’s try to unite, come together, find commonality, not put up more and more barriers to that, and even revel in doing so.
A cool and normal response from the head of the largest animal rights organization. Very normal, very cool. .
If you want to stop race-based oppression, maybe you should LISTEN when POC say they are experiencing racism in our communities, rather than dismissing it out of hand? This isn’t your experience, this isn’t your life. So why are you so convinced there is no way this isn’t a problem and something that we should be addressing? We should be LISTENING, not silencing POC who are willing to tell us when something is WRONG in our communities.
Oh, Ingrid, you missing the point (more than once!), is the problem and you’re missing it because of your white privilege, you can’t seem to grasp that. If your goal is to stop ALL race-based oppression than you’re doing it wrong. Start off by listening more, talking less.
I respectfully disagree with Ingrid. I don’t see Kassy’s post as decisive, rather as valuable feedback. The AR movement owes it to animals to be the best it can be, so its leaders should take feedback they receive and act on it to do a better job for the animals. If people of color in the AR movement are telling white people in the AR movement (myself included) that there are ways in which we can do better by humans and by animals, we should listen and act accordingly. Constructive criticism can be hard to hear, but it is only by taking the feedback to heart and working hard to do better that we can improve.
divisive*
Thank you, Lucy!
I also disagree with Ingrid. I’m really sorry that these things happened to Kassy and I am very appreciate her for writing this. People who don’t have to deal with these things need to listen and learn how to do better instead of make excuses or pretend these aren’t real problems. Do not correct someone else’s reality! Racism subtle and not subtle has been a problem in animal rights for a long time and it’s sad that I’ve heard about many other stories like this about white spaces like at the conference and at AR companies which is why this exact website and group is very needed. I hope that the WHITE people who need to be reading this will read it and LISTEN NOT TALK because if we are really fighting all oppression then we shouldn’t silence people speaking up about their experiences.
Thank you for bravely sharing your experience, Kassy. I and many of my friends (POC and White) have witnessed and/or experienced racism and microaggressions from others in the movement and it’s painful and frustrating, but it helps to know that there are people out there fighting prejudice and calling it out. This post means so much to other people of color who have felt like they’ve been marginalized, tokenized, or dismissed by people in the AR community who pretend that racism doesn’t exist or that it doesn’t factor into animal advocacy. The more that people like you speak out, the faster we can start to address these very real issues and become more effective advocates for animals.
Thanks for posting, Kassy. As a white AR activist, I appreciate hearing how I can do better by my fellow activists who are of color. Thank you for all you do for animals.
Ingrid, if you’re interested in stopping race-based oppression, here’s a helpful article brought to you by people who experience race-based oppression: http://encompassmovement.org/8-ways-white-folks-can-support-poc/
Thank you, Kassy O for sharing your painful experiences, at the hands of white vegans. It is inexcusable that you were treated in this manner. It is clear that the mainstream white animal rights movement has not been/is not safe for any other than white males. And the clueless response from the Queen of the animal-killing, pretend-animal-rights group that puts sexism, racism, ableism, and fat shaming on nauseating display, at every opportunity, is a perfect example of why we must move past this white, mainstream movement, into an anti-speciesist movement that is part of the larger social justice sphere. As a long-time white vegan, I am tired of being ashamed of this movement and feeling the constant need to speak out against its constant oppressive actions. The animals on whose behalf it supposedly acts, and the humans it tramples in the process, deserve so much better–and that they are getting from the activism done by vegan POC—THAT is who should be supported by activists and who should be the featured speakers at conferences.
Hi Susan, I’d like to take the opportunity of your comment to suggest that the notion that the animal rights movement is a white movement is a U.S.-centric position. From both my colleagues who work with PETA’s various international affiliates in India, in the Philippines, and elsewhere and my friends who work on AR issues in Mexico, the countries of South America, Africa, and elsewhere, it’s clear that the global movement is a beautiful, multi-hued tapestry strengthened by a diversity in tactics, priorities, and philosophies. Our movement is richer if we reject narrow constructs defined by our particular cultural blinders and the moral outrage generated by our monocultural perspectives. Your comment that PETA is a “pretend animal rights group” suggests that you’re not familiar with our work. My own work focuses on animal experimentation issues, which has included dozens of (successful) complaints against laboratories, stemming from eyewitness investigations, whistleblower allegations, and sleuthing through published scientific papers; original research aimed at changing policies and practices related to the use of animals in laboratories; and shutting experiments down. I invite you to check out PETA’s work at our website: http://www.peta.org. Since we’re all interested in creating a larger tent, hearing from diverse voices helps–and this PETA video helps highlight some of this diversity with three very different African American voices discussing their journeys to veganism: https://www.peta.org/features/russell-simmons-mya-waka-flocka-vegan/
Thank you Kassy for a description of your real lived experience. I can imagine if I were in that position I would feel alienated, a bit disgusted and angry. I wish I was there to smile and engage with you as another person who is against oppression because we are the best kinda folks there are!
I can’t say anymore that hasn’t already been said in previous comments regarding our famous commenter. I try to come with forgiveness, as a half white middle aged person I am in touch with how zhe’s been taught. I think it’s important to help change vs exclude. Zhe’s flawed like alot of people who have accomplished amazing things in history. I hope zer ego doesn’t prevent opening up, listening and becoming an even better person.
Thank you for sharing your experience Kassy! Speaking as a white vegan, it is so important that we take note of these (sadly regular) experiences and try to make the movement as inclusive as possible.
Kassy, I appreciate your sharing your experiences, though I’m sorry you had them. Although I am not a person of color, I have twice attended national AR and even spoke there in 2015. As an activist against all systems of oppression, however, I decided this event wasn’t for me because they currently demonstrate such a lack of insight into racial issues in the U.S.—and that these issues are connected to the suffering of all beings—that I decided such a place wasn’t for me.
From my observations, PETA only cares about race, only cares about slavery, the Holocaust, and the genocide of Native people when they can steal those histories for ad campaigns. They pilfer past oppressions for photo ops with seemingly no sense these injustices *still exist*, albeit in different guises.
I’ll always be vegan, and I’ll continue to fight for animals, but to be honest, I’m ashamed to part of the animal rights movement in its most mainstream manifestations in the U.S.
Hi Kim,
I’m saddened to read your comments re the larger AR movement and PETA.
As a person of color who has attended the national AR conference at least half a dozen times since 2001, I have not found the environment to be hostile or difficult. Like everyone here and in concordance with the goals of Encompass, I would like to see greater diversity in the roster of speakers–but my understanding is that the conference organizers have worked hard (and are continuing to work hard) to make this happen.
Regarding PETA, I began receiving materials from PETA in the early 1980s when I was starting to learn about AR issues. In the mid-1980s, when I decided that I needed to get active for animals, PETA sent me materials (for free) teaching me how to organize a literature table, how to write a news release, how to speak with the media, how to organize a demonstration: the full A through Z of becoming an activist. When I needed help in strategizing over a campaign or a protest, I called Dan Mathews. He didn’t know me from Krishna but he took the time to talk through ideas with me. Ingrid Newkirk would send me cards thanking me for my articles in my student papers about AR issues (I kept some of those cards, so I have proof!). Ingrid didn’t care that I wasn’t white; she was always kind and respectful and took the time to encourage a young activist trying to make a difference for animals. I’ve heard similar stories from many of my friends — both white friends and people of color (and perhaps they have their own collection of cards and notes).
I don’t want to debate the ads that you’ve referenced, but as you know, the core message of those ads has been articulated by others, including Isaac Bashevis Singer, Marjorie Spiegel, Charles Patterson, and Alice Walker. My sense is (and please forgive me if I’m misinterpreting your comments) that you don’t trust the motivations of PETA and/or Ingrid in some of the campaigns we’ve undertaken. I’m sorry that that’s the case; I can tell you that from my vantage point, having volunteered for PETA for nearly 30 years and having worked for the organization for nearly 15, my perspective is very different. Thank you for hearing me out.
I appreciate the time you took to respond to my comment, Alka. Everything you note in your response reaffirms my position that PETA cares deeply about other species. I’ve never doubted it, and I applaud a lot of their work, though I am always saddened by their use of sexism and racism to promote animal liberation.
I’m not surprised or taken aback that you or any other person of color is warmly welcomed by PETA, for I don’t think the organization is knowingly racist or even crypto-racist, but there is still a danger here. They they have a uninformed view of the complexities of racial dynamics, and I’ve never seen an example of true solidarity with other anti-oppression movements. In fact, I’ve seen the opposite, as when they promoted anti-LGBTQIAA preacher Franklin Graham’s pronouncement that he was taking on a vegan diet to lose weight, as when they reached out to Sheriff Joe Arpaio to veganize jails, a man who holds anti-immigration views, supports racial profiling, and abuses his power on a regular basis.
In other words, PETA seems to have no politics beyond animal rights, thereby neglecting to see that the hate of Graham and the hate of Arpaio is part and parcel to the hatred of, and indifference to, the suffering of other species. These things matter, and I cannot ethically align myself with organizations or individuals that don’t think they do.
I was saddened to read the reflections shared by my friend Kassy in this blog and saddened to read her descriptions of feeling discomfort and a sense of exclusion stemming from racially-focused remarks that may have been made unthinkingly or without consideration by people in our movement. I don’t doubt that the comments made to Kassy were hurtful to her and I don’t doubt that there is racism in the animal rights movement (just as there’s racism in the larger society), but I would like to weigh in to say that as a person of color who has been active in the animal rights movement for more than 30 years—first as a grassroots activist for nearly 20 years and then as a PETA employee for nearly 15 years—the microaggressions and inappropriate comments described in Kassy’s blog are not reflected in my experience, not in the movement as a whole and certainly not at PETA.
Please don’t think that I’m blind to racism. I grew up in Canada in the late 70s and early 80s during the height of “Paki-bashing.” Our house was routinely spray-painted with racist slurs and racial “jokes” and pelted with eggs. I’ve had racial epithets hurled at me from moving cars and spat at me inches from my face. My father was a beloved professor at the university, lauded with teaching and research awards, but someone had carved the word, “Paki” into the wood door of his office. I also understand microaggressions, like when cashiers at a grocery store who were perfectly chatty with the customers ahead of me won’t even make eye contact or respond to my absurdly friendly attempts at interaction. But I don’t experience this in our movement.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this issue since Kassy’s blog was posted and have been reflecting on my own experiences with racism and my ongoing journey to grapple with how we might all just get along. I’ve thought about the times when people would ask me where I was from. I would say, “Berkeley” and in response to “before that?” I would say “Canada,” and when asked, “but where are you from originally?” I would finally say, “India.” I think about those interactions now and wonder why I bristled at someone being curious about where I was from. I’m proud of being from the land of Gandhi, proud of being from a country where I’ve never been challenged on my animal rights activism with comments like, “Why don’t you work on human rights issues?” So why did I take offense?
Even if we aspire to be a color-blind society, I don’t think we aspire to be blind (with no offense to the visually impaired). When I see people who look like they might originally be from somewhere else, I am curious to know whether they might be Turkish or Greek or Armenian (don’t want to get that wrong!) or English or Irish (more identity mires!) or Taiwanese or Korean. I am genuinely interested in people and knowing where they’re from helps me to have some references to possibly understand their trajectory and experience. Should I be allowed to ask someone where they’re from because I’m not white, while a white person is denied the same opportunity because they’re white?
When I was growing up in Canada, kids at school would ask me all sorts of ignorant questions about India (“did you live in a hut?”), Hinduism (“do you worship cows?”), and vegetarianism (“where do you get your protein?”). I was painfully shy and horribly awkward and I hated these questions. But I realize now that these questions didn’t necessarily stem from cruelty; in most cases, they stemmed from, well, ignorance. In a similar vein, when I moved to the U.S. from Canada, I heard similarly ignorant questions (“Does everyone live in igloos?” “Do you have to wait a long time to see a doctor?”). The thing is, we humans may think we’re the crowning glory of creation, but the fact is that we don’t really know a lot about each other. Sometimes this is Eurocentrism, but more often, it’s just lack of knowledge. If someone wants to fill that information gap—even if they do it clumsily—should we really hold it against them?
As I’ve gotten older (and older), I’ve attempted to cultivate a sense of humor about human foibles—in the smaller interactions that we have with each other (certainly not in larger issues involving the building of walls and the like!). I know I make gaffes all the time—and I hope the people interacting with me will recognize my humanity (read: my fallibility) and grant me pardon.
Alka, I have really loved and respected most of what I’ve seen from you until I saw your comments on here. Ingrid came here to say absolutely disrespectful things about multiple people of colors’ experiences with racism in animal rights circles. She repeatedly silenced those concerned then even accused those people of judging HER by her race.
Then you came here to further silence them saying you have not experienced racism in animal rights movements. Good for you, I am very glad you’ve had that luxury. But, that doesn’t matter here and it doesn’t help. People are sharing their experiences with racism in white animal rights circles and those experiences are real and valid regardless of if you never notice those things happening yourself.
You have tokenized yourself in order to silence the experiences of other people of color. And I assume you ended up here after hearing from Ingrid. You refused to acknowledge her disrespect and outright dodged the points about peta doing EXTREMELY racist, sexist, and other oppressive things in their campaigns.
Are you trying to say that people dressing up like the KKK and handing out peta fliers is not racist? That putting fat women on billboards and saying “save the whales, go vegetarian” is not misogynistic AND speciesist? There are countless examples that you “don’t want to debate” those ads and act like the Jews and people of color you tokenize for animal rights messaging would approve of those. Stop it.
There are those of us who have our eyes open and have seen rampant racism in white dominated animal rights movements. We love animals and believe humans are harmed by racism and white supremacy as are nonhuman animals. In Western societies, Black veganism is regularly silenced by white vegans accusing them of taking focus off the animals and many other marginalized vegans are told to stay away. If you truly care about humans and other animals, you would welcome critiques like the OP and that of PETA and actually LEARN from them instead of doing what PETA always does- refusing to apologize and continuing to put up oppressive ads on behalf of animals that actually do harm in the long run.
In my 12 years as a animal lib vegan I am honestly unsure if PETA has done more good or more harm towards animals. I honestly think that for all of the awareness raised, you’ve dug thousands of times more animal graves with your oppressive, arrogant behavior and refusal to be humble. I’m very disappointed by your posts here, Alka.
I find it deeply ironic how often dissent is silenced by those who purport to be on the side of tolerance. It concerns me even more when this is done behind a veil of anonymity. This attempt to silence a POC in such personal terms, while refusing to identify yourself, shows you to be a person of very low moral character, IMO.
Is your anonymous-low-moral-character (double posted) comment doubly ironic? I go by Corvus. Everyone calls me that. More people know me as that than my legal name so that’s what I put on things. It’s what I’m known as in animal rights circles. Nice try, though. There’s a lot of “silencing” going on here from PETA in these threads but you seem to have no issue with them straight up basically saying “Sorry yall experienced racism but as far as I’ve experienced it doesn’t exist in animal rights.” Yeah. Right. You say I am “silencing” by calling out PETA wearing KKK uniforms and having the audacity to say racism isn’t in their organization? Cool story, bro.
Hi Corvus,
Thanks for your note and for your kind comments about my work and efforts prior to my posting here under Kassy’s blog. I apologize for my delay in responding. After posting my comments (I’m sorry you’re disappointed by what I had to offer), I checked in for a few days an then got on with my work. I was cleaning through my emails tonight and remembered to check back.
My intention in posting my primary comment (the one that was in response to the original blog and not in response to comments) wasn’t to silence anyone (I have huge respect for Kassy and consider her a friend; she came to speak at an event that a grassroots group that I worked with had organized about a year ago — and I felt privileged to hear about her fantastic work); rather, I posted to add my voice and my own experience to the discussion — and to suggest that we might all consider giving others the benefit of the doubt. I didn’t realize that by speaking what is my truth — gleaned after having experienced a lot of very overt and ugly racism and a lot of very overt and ugly sexism — I was assuming the role of a “token.” The notion that a person of color would be assuming the role of a token because she has taken a position that may not conform with another person’s idea of what she should be thinking seems … um, weird. The idea that I “ended up here after [I] heard from Ingrid” is a little odd; my husband & I donate to Encompass and we’ve been following the work of the organization since it launched. I saw the discussion here and wanted to add my two cents.
I find it deeply ironic how often dissent is silenced by those who purport to be on the side of tolerance. It concerns me even more when this is done behind a veil of anonymity. This attempt to silence a POC in such personal terms, while refusing to identify yourself, shows you to be a person of very low moral character, IMO.
It is obvious we have a lot of work to do. It was my first time at AR2017 and I did hear a woman talk about not feeling welcome during a Q&A session on Sunday Aug 6th (I am pretty sure it was at 3:45pm-4:45pm during One Struggle Against All Oppression … you can probably hear it on the tape available on the website). It was deeply troubling to hear … and that is the whole point – we should listen and listen carefully. It should be troubling and concerning to everyone. I would like to see more workshops and seminars about this because as a white person, I don’t necessarily know what I can do and how I can help create inclusiveness in the movement. I have to say that to me it is the most crucial issue facing veganism today.
As a white person I have not experienced the problems that so many people of color and other ethnicities have. As a result I remain mostly quiet when I’m in a group because I fear saying the wrong thing out of ignorance.