Mind-numbing, isn’t it?

Via The Voice:

IN ONE of her powerful YouTube videos, US writer and vegan Aph Ko reasons that if we, as black people, don’t take animal oppression seriously, we’re “siding with white supremacy.”

It’s a hard-hitting statement that will either evoke intrigue – or a swiftly-issued eye roll from black folks, who refuse to entertain the idea of aligning themselves with animals.

For Pennsylvania-born Ko, race and animal oppression go hand in hand. It’s a view that is held by countless black vegans, but with the promotion of veganism often being dominated by white people, issues of race are frequently overlooked when discussing the lifestyle.

Ko launched her website Aphro-ism, and the digital platform Black Vegans Rock to counter this balance. She will also share her views when she gives two presentations at the upcoming vegan festival VegFest London.

Here, the feminist blogger talks to Life & Style about embracing a meat-free diet and the need for black vegans to discuss animal oppression from their own standpoints.

In one of your YouTube videos, you argue that if we, as black people don’t side with the animals, we’re siding with white supremacy. Can you break that down?

The reality is, “animal” is wrapped around race. This is why the most ideal human being is a white man, and the most undesirable, primitive being is an “animal.” They are opposites because they both are racial spaces that bolster white supremacy. Black folks need to start understanding how our negative attitudes about animals strengthens white supremacy.

What do you think it is that stops more black people from considering this view?

Unfortunately, a lot of black folks adopt a white-centric world view in almost all of our social justice movements. So, we tend to be exposed to veganism or animal oppression through documentaries made by white folks – that don’t include any analysis about race – or theory written by white folks, or even campaigns created by white people. This directly impacts how we understand what animal oppression is and this can be troubling because black people have a very different social experience than white folks.

There are even a lot of black vegans who are quite Eurocentric and don’t understand how race fundamentally connects to animality outside of a superficial understanding.

HT: Jason