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Saturday, Jan 16, 2021

Have animal-rights advocates long been seen as insensitive to racial concerns?

Emanuela Podda Ankrom, Gigafact Foundry
yes

Black Americans are more likely to be vegan than white Americans, but the public positioning of the largely white-led vegan and animal-rights movements has been challenged for years by many in the community.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a leading animal-rights group, has drawn criticism for comparing animal cruelty with human slavery since at least 2005. In 2020 PETA produced a Super Bowl ad depicting animals taking a knee, invoking Black Lives Matter protest actions by NFL players. The ad was rejected, but not before it drew sharp backlash on social media.

About 8% of Black Americans are vegan, compared to 3% of all Americans, the BBC notes. But “mainstream veganism is overwhelmingly white and inaccessible,” a widely-seen Instagram post argued in June, as the protests responding to George Floyd's killing spurred discussion across many areas of U.S. society.

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