As a black person myself, I found the article by Aph Ko titled ‘3 Reasons Black Folks Don’t Join the Animal Rights Movement – And Why We Should’ to be intriguing. I knew that my approach to this blog would be to test the author’s views by applying it to a case of my own choosing.
Although I was born in Edmonton, from the age of five I grew up in a tiny Sub-Saharan African country. To be very honest, all the main animal conservationists were white people. Being an animal advocate was considered to be a “white people thing,” or in the local language, “za azungu.”
I personally found it interesting that the black people in the country I grew up in and the black people in the US have the same sentiments. I think one of the biggest reasons why black people think that way is not because we do not want to care about animals, but because we are overwhelmed by some unique problems. For example, at one point Western countries withheld aid from the country I was in, and a shortage of basic necessities such as medication and car fuel followed. People were queueing at gas stations from as early as 3AM till later in the evening. By the time one got the fuel, advocating for animals would be the last thing on one’s mind. White people were never on the queues as they could afford to send their employees. In addition, where I grew up, many people reared their own chickens or quails, or bought live chickens. When buying the chickens, everyone chose the chickens that seemed the healthiest, and so for most sellers it was particularly important that the chickens were well taken care of. Industrial scale animal exploitation such as electrocuting birds to lay eggs is unheard of. The chickens were not overcrowded and beaten in the manner depicted in the Meet your Meat video. That was despicable and I could not stomach the video.
I cannot speak for the black people who struggle to find food, lack money for education or shelter in the country I grew up in. In dire poverty, one’s survival is the priority. I know that those problems consume them, and for the poorest, having chicken or beef for dinner is a luxury. Many of those people are unaware of how badly animals are treated in certain societies. However, for those of us who are privileged to have the basic necessities of life and are aware of the cruelty animals face, there is no excuse. I strongly agree with the following statements by Will Kymlicka and Sue Donaldson: the idea that the treatment of animals could be invoked to support Western superiority is puzzling, given that the West is responsible for inventing and then diffusing the techniques of industrial‐scale animal exploitation, whereas many non‐Western societies have historically had more respectful relations with animals. Respect for animals is clearly not the exclusive property of any one race, culture, or civilization—and certainly not the West. (Kymlicka and Donaldson, 2014).
To sum it up, we all ought to care for animals. It should be a natural instinct.
RERERENCES
Ko, A. (2015), 3 Reasons Black Folks Don’t Join the Animal Rights Movement – And Why We Should. https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/09/black-folks-animal-rights-mvmt/
Kymlicka, W. and Donaldson, S. (2014), Animal Rights, Multiculturalism, and the Left. J Soc Philos, 45: 116-135. doi:10.1111/josp.12047
Wongani, thank you for sharing your personal experiences, I found what you had to say interesting and thought provoking. Philosophers like Regan say animals have inherent rights and should be respected, however maybe this is a privileged point of view. People would probably kill their pet dog and feed it to their kids if it meant preventing the starvation of their children – and they wouldn’t stop to second-guess the ethics of their actions. This is in line with what you said about peoples living in poverty not caring about animal rights. At the moment they are more concerned with survival. I think most people would agree that prioritizing survival over animal rights is justifiable. This makes me think Regan’s views are nothing more than circumstantial modifications of utilitarianism. I think ethics change with circumstances, but always boil down to the satisfaction of one’s happiness. Here in Canada we are well fed and meat consumption makes us happy so we eat it. This is until we learn of how it is processed, then to maintain happiness we avoid eating meat and the associated guilt to distance ourselves from cruelty. However, if a famine were to roll through, I would guess the idea that all animals have rights will be tossed out the window and we will eat them again. This is because our priorities will have changed to match the circumstances, the best way to pursue our happiness will have become – in a famine – to simply survive by eating whatever and in whatever way possible, cruel or not, we wouldn’t care.
Certainly we have no excuse right now to cause animals such suffering. It is wrong in the current circumstance. Without the threat of starvation it would bring most people more utility to be vegetarian and do away with cruel factory farming practices than it would to eat a delicious burger brought by a lifetime of animal suffering.
Mitchel McArthur