Black & White Vegans, Can We Join Forces? By Prof. Johanna Sophia The divide and what we can do about it.
Much of the segregation, separation, and conflict that
In stores, clerks lock up the cases of products for black
other biases. Consequently, white cultures still live
toiletries for whites without locks. Black people are
we all experience has to do with societal, cultural, and by ‘black is bad and white is right’ - a value scale that colonizers and their descendants have assigned to most everything except chocolate.
As a young girl in Germany, a country whose people had been militarized under Hitler, and who were still in that mindset in the 50’s, I had a uniquely
different upbringing in a family of pacifists. My parents encouraged us to see and interact with all people
as humans, irrespective of their cultures or status.
This was a good foundation for my personal growth. It led me to exploring the world, writing a thesis on
multiculturalism, and campaigning for human rights. The Western world purports that we do not have a caste system, but we encourage something equally as vile. Many names can be given to this evil in the country that likes to be known for equality and freedom:
underfunded schools, food deserts, lack of health and government services, low income neighborhoods,
stigma for non-white immigrants, and police brutality. Even though laws may have changed, in many white people’s minds, minorities by the mere fact they
were born with more melanin, are still placed at the proverbial ‘back of the bus.’
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hair and skin care, whereas right next to them are the
followed by detectives in department stores and malls. Yes, store chains are now promising to make changes -
but will they do enough? When black and brown people are stopped or arrested, they will be prosecuted,
incarcerated, or even killed, while whites get away with a slap on the wrist. According to data gathered by the NAACP, African American males are five times more
likely to be incarcerated than whites - and not because they commit more crimes per capita than Caucasians. This results in one third of the male African American
population experiencing imprisonment at some point in their life. Private prisons profit from this system.
Is it surprising then, that even black vegans and white vegans are still divided?
It takes a whole lot more than removing locks,
changing healthcare, and improving nutrition to right these incredible wrongs and bring us together. But
maybe we can start where we have already achieved
commonality, in going vegan? Can we begin to embrace each other in the realization that we vegans have all
decided to end violence against animals, and nature by
adding each other to that list? Can we share the various ways we have begun to self-heal and teach others to heal themselves?
