{"id":762758,"date":"2021-01-18T08:35:18","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T13:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=762758"},"modified":"2021-01-18T08:49:17","modified_gmt":"2021-01-18T13:49:17","slug":"the-speciesist-within-petas-employees-revolt-against-organizations-plan-to-speak-up-for-animals-in-honoring-mlk-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=762758","title":{"rendered":"THE SPECIESISTS WITHIN: PETA’s employees revolt against organization\u2019s plan to speak-up for animals on MLK Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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One PETA staffer wrote: For PETA to connect MLK to the animal rights movement projects an image that we use Black people for our cause's gain. This is wrong.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

EMILY SHUGERMAN:<\/strong> Employees of the People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are revolting against the organization\u2019s plan to \u201cspeak up for animal issues while honoring MLK Day,\u201d emails obtained by The Daily Beast show… and PETA President Ingrid Newkirk isn\u2019t taking it well…<\/p>\n

The controversy began unfolding at 6:30 a.m. on Jan. 12, when Newkirk\u2014in an email to every PETA employee in the country\u2014attempted to address internal staffer concerns, calling them \u201cextremely saddening.\u201d \u201cWe are against ALL exploitation, discrimination, needless violence, abuse, theft, and slaughter. All of it,\u201d she wrote in an email. \u201cOur mission is to get people to think about the harm caused by any form of discrimination, and how all forms of it are one thing. The \u2018who you are\u2019 is not important”…<\/p>\n

In the nearly 800-word email, sent under the subject line \u201cPlease absorb this,\u201d Newkirk went on to claim that \u201cusing race as a reason to be quiet is actually racist,\u201d and to suggest that her critics simply found it \u201ctoo awkward\u201d to advance her cause of \u201cunderstanding for all.\u201d \u201cYou don’t have to be Japanese to know internment camps were wrong; you don’t have to be a hippopotamus to protest captivity; men must fight sexism and racial injustice must be decried by people of every race,\u201d she wrote…<\/p>\n

\u201cWhite, black, brown, yellow, striped or polka dots, who cares?\u201d she wrote, in the kind of \u201ccolorblind\u201d language that racial justice advocates have long decried as unhelpful. \u201cGay, straight, transgender, whatever, who cares? Muslim, Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, who cares? The only divide is between those who want liberty and justice for ALL and those who want it only for the few. We must UNITE for what’s right!\u201d…<\/p>\n

On Jan. 15, a junior staffer replied-all to her email, expressing their deep appreciation for Newkirk\u2019s work before meticulously dissecting her points. \u201cThough your email makes clear the fact that all lives matter, on MLK day it is a Black life that is being celebrated,\u201d the staffer wrote. \u201cFor PETA to connect MLK to the animal rights movement projects an image that we use Black people for our cause’s gain. This is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

While acknowledging Dr. King\u2019s legacy was important, the staffer continued, tying his legacy to the animal rights movement would take space away from the Black community. MLK Day, the staffer wrote, should be \u201ca chance to demonstrate that PETA knows how to give space to other movements that are important partners in our cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

The staffer also took issue with Newkirk\u2019s \u201cwhite, black, brown, yellow, striped or polka dots\u201d line, writing: \u201cListing out identities and following it with “who cares” is insensitive. We should care about our identities that make us uniquely ourselves and celebrate them. A color-blind perspective will not get anyone in this organization to unify and if anything only makes divisions more apparent.\u201d \u201cThe intersectionality, differences, and nuance to our identities matter,\u201d the staffer added. \u201cTo be truly diverse and inclusive PETA’s President should not suggest that they do not.\u201d<\/p>\n

A second staffer, who identified themselves as a \u201cHispanic and Latinx vegan animal rights activist,\u201d responded shortly thereafter to thank the first staffer for their email. \u201cAs a community of animal rights activists it\u2019s very important that we learn how to adapt, evolve and be tactful about the way that we spread our message in the fight for animal liberation”…<\/p>\n

In an email to the Daily Beast, Newkirk said she would be posting the entire conversation on PETA\u2019s website, to \u201cencourag[e] similar conversations in households over the long weekend,\u201d and claimed that there were \u201cmany supportive staff who are behind the call for recognizing MLK as our hero”… \u201cWe will never be silent, not for an hour of a day, on the need for animal liberation,\u201d she added. SOURCE…<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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