PETA GRRR ISSUE 1 2004

Putting Compassion Into Action, Kweisi Mfume, Dick Gregory, Dexter Scott

So, you're studying up on sit-ins and speeches for Black History Month (February), but your textbook totally skips the stuff about African-Americans who have made historical things happen for animals. Why not earn some extra credit with these fun facts?

Pop Quiz
Can you match the famous African-Americans to their words and actions? (Cheat sheet at bottom of page)

Alice Walker, civil rights activist, humanitarian, and author of The Color Purple and other works
Paul Laurence Dunbar, poet and writer, the son of two runaway slaves
Dick Gregory, civil rights activist, actor, and vegetarian
Kweisi Mfume, president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Martin Luther King Jr.'s son, Dexter Scott

1. Wrote, "I know why the caged bird sings!" in a poem called "Sympathy" that compared a slave to a caged bird.

2. Is a vegan because "There is a connection between how you live life and how you treat others."

3. Wrote that animals "were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men."

4. Wrote, "Animals in circuses represent the domination and oppression we have fought against for so long. They wear the same chains and shackles."

5. Recently asked the head of KFC's parent company to adopt animal-welfare improvements, like stopping scalding chickens to death in defeathering tanks.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably know that tons of hip-hop artists are totally into animal rights. Realizing that it's a movement for justice, just like civil rights and women's rights, many musicians know the world won't get any less violent as long as we exploit and hurt others. "I look at my dog, Zoe, and it's like, if I wore fur, I'd be wearing Zoe," said Russell Simmons, cofounder of Def Jam Records. "Cruelty is cruelty, whether it's cruelty to children, to the elderly, to dogs and cats, or to chickens." Hip-hop phenom Jeru the Damaja grew up in a place where cockfighting and dogfighting were common and calls them "barbaric." " To put two men together to fight is really cruel, but at least two men can say... 'I don't want to do this.'"

Common, who stars in PETA's vegetarian ad that asks people to "think before you eat. Go 'veg' for life," says, "When I think about animals, I think we're doing them all wrong. ... I don't want to contribute to the detriment of animals, taking their lives away and abusing them. It's not where my heart is." Canadian MC K-OS remembers, "Back when I was a kid, when I was, like, 8 years old, I told my mom I didn't want to eat chicken... when you stop eating meat, you stop supporting slaughtering animals."

A national poll found that the suffering of animals killed for food is a growing concern with African-Americans.

1. Paul Laurence Dunbar 2. Dexter Scott King 3. Alice Walker 4. Dick Gregory 5. Kweisi Mfume