José Elias
Our agricultural system is built on exploitation: the torture and killing of animals, the abuse of unprotected workers, and the theft and destruction of the Earth's land.
Through his activism, Reverend Chris Carter, PhD, highlights the way that exploitative and industrial agriculture further marginalizes Black and Indigenous communities, and empowers these communities to create a just, sovereign food system.
Transcript
Rev. Christopher Carter, PhD: What I would love to see from the animal rights movement is to think strategically. You know, and say, "Okay, not only how can we address some of these issues with regards to animals, but how can we address some of this systemic racism that's built into the system that allows it to take place?"
So I grew up in kinda semi-rural community, small town, Battle Creek, Michigan. I ended up getting a really good scholarship to a school out in California, the Claremont Colleges. It was so funny going to a place like that from the mid-west, because you know, I was very much used to a Midwestern slash Southern kind of diet, because my family's from Mississippi and Louisiana.
But what really, I think for me, was that kind of defining moment, happened when I was able to kind of connect the experience of my grandfather, who was a migrant picker. And he would tell stories that, to me, sounded like he was still doing things that slaves did, right? In the 50s and 60s. And I'm like, how is this even possible? How is this even happening?
So I took a class, and we had to read a book called The Dreaded Comparison by Marjorie Spiegel, and in that book you see these pictures of like, human enslavement, and non-human animal enslavement is the language she uses. And it just—I think in that moment I was able to connect with my grandfather's story with what was happening to animals. But even more deeply, for me, I should say it was like this other third connection of knowing that people who work in those places are still people of color. And so for me, it was, in that moment, it was I was like, man I can't be complicit in this anymore.
And to be fair, I didn't become a vegan right away cause that was already going to be a huge shift. So, I became a vegetarian and worked my way towards that, and it was a process because I had to figure out how to find ways to eat that still felt like me. Like, I guess, some people call that a culturally appropriate kind of way of eating. I still need to feel like I could fit in with my community because to do otherwise would've been to, to really dismiss a viable part of who I understood myself to be as a black man. I've always considered myself as someone who's committed to the preservation and promotion of my community, right. So I am talking about, African Americans, Black people in particular, but also communities of marginalized people.
And so being able to make the connection between how there is an overarching logic of oppression. The ways in which we normalize the oppression of other bodies flows from this notion of, quite honestly, white body supremacy is the best way to call it. And so when you start deviating from that norm that allows people to dehumanize you and to be able to treat you a certain kind of way. Let alone if you are a non-human animal. And so for me, I think it was an ability to kind of make that connection.
I do think there is a way in which people and the animal rights movement are more inclined to think about and hear about the bodily oppression of people of color, because I think they're confronted with it now in a way which they haven't historically been. But ultimately, I think in terms of where it needs to go. It's recognizing that our agricultural system, as it's been set up, was designed and it only could happen with the genocide of indigenous folks and the enslavement of black folks. Like, it is literally built into the system. So if you want to change the system such that animals are not going to be exploited, you have to attend to the inherent injustices that are built into it, to try to, say I'm only going to focus on the animals, to the detriment of talking about human beings and then continue dehumanization of those people who are working jobs that they probably don't want to have, but, it's the only way they can provide for their families. And so in this sense, it's not only about helping the animals not have to suffer. It's about trying to create an alternative vision and opportunities for these communities and for these people to not have to be in those facilities at all. Right, to be in places where they can have other job opportunities, career opportunities, other work that's actually humanizing, that's actually uplifting for who they are, and actually can give them an opportunity to have some kind of self-determination.
So what I would love to see from the animal rights movement is to think strategically, you know, and say not only how can we address some of these issues with regards to animals, but how can we address some of this systemic racism that's built into the system that allows it to take place. Because if we start eliminating the racism they're enabled to do, then they're not going to be able to have workers to continue to exploit these animals, right. It's, these things can happen simultaneously.
There is a way in which I think we have to not see ourselves as animal rights folk or as vegan activists and advocates, as better than others. Unfortunately, sometimes I've been in conversations with people where they can talk about their advocacy like okay, we know we are doing this right and not be self-reflective on the ways in which there are things we can do better too. If we really take a step back and do what's considered like a U-turn, we kind of do the internal analysis, we can really refine ourselves and focus on what we need to do rather than trying to call people out all the time. It's not always about that. It's really creating a space where we know we can grow and also calling people into becoming their better self.
