Hello! If you haven't read part A yet, feel free to do so now. More importantly, if you haven't read the original whose lives matter? then you'd better do so tout suite!
In that post I was trying to convey why saying All Lives Matter (abbr. to ALM from now on) in response to Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a problem. And while I believe ALM may be said in different ways by vegans (as in, all animal lives matter too) and non-vegans (as in, non-black lives, but mainly white lives), it's still problematic regardless of who says it.
To restate, BLM doesn't mean that only black lives matter, but that their lives matter too, and that all lives CAN'T matter until black ones actually do. And while some may suggest that black lives already matter, systemic racism says otherwise. People denying that systemic racism exists clearly say otherwise too.
BLM is a movement that has gained traction for a reason. While the need for it has existed for what probably seems forever, enough people are standing up now and saying enough is enough, and their voices can no longer be ignored.
I cited a couple of examples of other campaigns where the message is not given the same type of pushback, and the fact that they don't indicates the stronghold that white supremacy and racism has. I also talked about the existence of systemic racism here in Canada as well, and provided links to books and actions for allies.
A few more examples of why saying ALM is not appropriate include a house, a pool, and a birthday. From my reply to a comment: The analogy that I've often seen used to explain why saying ALM isn't appropriate is the 'house on fire' one. Basically, if one house in a neighbourhood is on fire, it is appropriate to focus all attention on trying to put out that particular fire, and not worry about the other houses. One could argue that All Houses Matter, but in this instance the house on fire gets priority. Another analogy I've seen is the lifeguard one. If a person is drowning, then that person gets helped, not everyone else in the pool.
The birthday one I just mentioned goes something like this: if you're at a party wishing someone Happy Birthday, it doesn't mean that no one else has birthdays or that those birthdays aren't equally important, it's just that they're not being celebrated or focused upon that particular day.
I provided a few links to other articles that explain this better than I could, and am quoting from the first link here:
When someone counters “Black Lives Matter” with “All Lives Matter,” it’s appropriate to use the metaphor of a neighborhood: if someone’s house is on fire, while others are not, whose house is the priority? Similarly, choosing to insist that “All Lives Matter,” including those of non-human animals, is not technically wrong, but still distracts from and diffuses the potential impacts of an important and necessary racial justice movement.
The author of Stop Comparing Black Lives Matter to Animal Rights makes the powerful argument that non-black vegans should NEVER make that comparison:
Why? The reasons why are multiple, but let me start with the most basic: You already enjoy the opportunities and privileges that Black people are fighting for.
They end with saying:
Please, vegans with privilege, I’m asking you to join me: Show up and fight racism without equivocation, suppress that impulse to compare the plight of non-human animals to the plight of your fellow humans, see that society’s compassion will never extend to animals before it extends to all humans, and recognize your privilege as a non-Black vegan to fight for animal rights without having to also fight for your own rights.
One more link includes 9 different explanations as to why we should stop saying ALM, which means that something should resonate with everyone, hopefully.
As I mentioned in part A:
Right now the world is also more fully waking up to the reality that racism plays a role in every institution and layer of society (systemic racism), and while some vegans may continue to not want to deal with that, may continue to insist that our movement should only focus on nonhumans, a veganism without intersectionality at its core is like a feminism that doesn't want to include all women in its fight for equality.
...Which is why as vegans, we have to fight for the most marginalized of ALL groups, including both animals and humans. Fighting against speciesism is important, but without paying attention to other interlinked forms of oppression, veganism misses the mark.
One last thing. I would suggest that vegans saying ALM is even more tone deaf than when non-vegans do, in part because of the importance of intersectionality, but also because of the very history of black people being compared to animals themselves.
As a white person who doesn't suffer from systemic racism but likely benefits from and upholds it, I'm clearly not the one with any authority on the subject matter. But if I'm going to try and be an ally, and put forth the notion that vegans have to be allies if veganism is important to them, then all I can do is learn as much as possible and do the best that I can.
And if I can offer up one piece of one-word advice (before I shut up) that everyone (myself included) really could do much more of, it's this:
LISTEN
