Without Fur, We Would Not Exist

POEM by NIKITA LARTER

Says the pin on a woman's jacket in Manhattan

F*** real fur

Ah, a militant vegan

I have met plenty of her

The final evolution of the social justice warrior

So intersectional she doesn't oppress animals

(Her) survival doesn't depend on the death of others

It's 2019

After all, it wasn't her

Who "pushed" the Lenape out of their homelands

It was her ancestors

Who founded Manhattan with a fur trading settlement

And if it wasn't for her ancestors

Manhattan wouldn't have become

the "cultural and financial capital of the world"

But if it wasn't for real fur,

She nor Manhattan would exist

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NIKITA LARTER was born in Inuvik, NT and raised in Fort Simpson, NT. She is the daughter of Allison Raddi, and granddaughter of Emma and Moses Raddi. Nikita moved to Ontario in 2013 for university and became the first Inuk to obtain a Bachelor’s of Global Business and Digital Arts. In 2017, she moved to Toronto where she worked for TELUS and Home Depot Canada as a website designer. She now lives in Chicago, IL, where she works for a global software consultancy. Nikita wrote this poem in response to the overwhelming amount of anti-fur campaigns she saw during a trip to New York City.