Through Their Eyes: Racism and Speciesism

I open with 7 lines from a poem that first introduced me to the idea of imprisonment and lack of agency, be it emotional, psychological, physical, or whatever the source may be.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing...
Maya Angelou
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"

I have to look at animal and race relations as something very delicate and complicated. It's a multi-faceted issue. There are the obvious correlations between animals and individual race experiences: destruction of family and social units in slaves ( "I will furnish you with a better husband, or man, as you call him, than your old one." "I don't want any better and I won't have any other as long as he lives." (155) How horrifying would this be to not have a family. I have to think of my pets and all the animals I work with as a part of my extended family. To think that I tear them from one to another and that they are greatly hurt by this beyond repair is unacceptable to me.) , subjection to laws and experiences they never chose, crude transport, psychological and emotional berating--- the list goes on and on. And so do the victims (human trafficking for the sex trade, slaves, victims of the Holocaust, child soldiers, etc.)
I mean, I know we should probably avoid using comparisons of animals to people in the first place because the words we associate with giving humans animal characteristics tend to be swathed in negative connotations, and understandably, these groups of people are particularly sensitive to how these words feel and the emotions that they can stir up. That should be respected. Then again, I tend to be one of those people who doesn't take rhetoric seriously enough (an English major saying this?!-- It's shocking, I know!) I'm a dyed-in-the-wool idealist and advocate of self-empowerment--- meaning, I do not allow words, even from those who oppress me, to have any bearing on my self-worth, emotions, or the development of my sense of self, nor will I allow words associated with others to offend me, because I see the worth and value of whatever that might be. (I can just imagine that I'm going to have a very hard time selling that to my niece when people call her names, but I'll try!) 

Why are you brown? Weird! Racism rears its ugly head.

If I grossly simplify this, I can give you an example. I'll never forget when my best friend from elementary got called a "mutt" by a classmate (among other less than savory names) because she is part African American, part Filipino, and part German Caucasian. I mean, he wasn't just calling her multiracial, but he was also calling her a dog. When she looked at me and just mouthed, "he's so ignorant," and as I saw the pain in her eyes, I had to lighten the mood. "Sharla, hybrid vigor sweetie! You're going to live forever! Like FOREVER... He's going to bald early and get melanoma. Don't worry about it." And surprisingly it really cheered her up. She never questioned being called a dog or a mutt or any of the other names that I don't care to mention that were thrown her way. Sure, it doesn't hurt that Sharla is breathtakingly gorgeous and although she had the rare ignorant comment fly her way, she for the most part regarded as an "exotic beauty" instead. (I guess this shows the sign of the times. Even when they're not being mean to you, they're still separating you somehow. At least the separation of being "special," not "odd" seems to come with some perks.)
 But, that was 15 years ago, and I don't think we convinced that little boy then that he was wrong. And I don't think that embracing her characterization as a dog made him feel like he had lost whatever power he thought he had over her. But I am proud that she owned up to it instead of taking the route of "Uh-uh. I'm no dog," and starting a fight which even now I would think would have been pointless with this kid. That would have been trying to prove "to our masters... that we are similar to those who have abused us, rather than to our fellow victims, those whom our masters have also victimized." (150) After all, we're fighting institutions of ignorance, not people. It's more of an idea than an actual confrontation I'm speaking of. Either way, though, it would seem that there's work to be done. After all...

"By eliminating the oppression of from the fabric of our culture, we begin to undermine some of the psychological structures inherent in a society which seems to create and foster masters." "philosophy of universal respect for others' lives" (151)

 

A young girl with DS that I work with."I had forgotten the depth of feeling one could see in horses' eyes." (169)

Now, I don't know how that works out directly, or for the little kid who gets teased and called a pig or a cow, but I appreciate the philosophy behind it of "universal respect." If only we could learn to put it into practice. Self-love wouldn't be bad either. I inserted a famous psychological experiment by Dr. Clark about race perception of little girls in the 1960's. That subjugation and inferiority starts so young. It's as if no one were safe. I mean no offense here, but I think the concept of positive and effective communication (as well as exposure and attempts to learn about each other) from a young age, like what Alice talks about with Blue, can extend to children's acceptance of diversity as well, and help aid in the understanding.

"I had forgotten that humans and animals can communicate quite well; if we are brought up around animals as children we take this for granted. By the time we are adults we no longer remember." ~Alice Walker, Am I Blue (169)

 For it certainly has its opposite: Frederick Douglass, in his book, suggests that if slaves are made rather than born, the same is sometimes true of slave owners. The mistress who began teaching him to read and write "at first lacked the depravity indispensable to shutting [him] up in mental darkness" (p. 81). Under the influence of her husband and, more generally, the institution of slavery, "the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness" (p. 82)
But as an added bonus, I wanted to consider what race relations really mean today compared to historically.
First of all, I'm a history major, and I tend to focus all of my classes in Cultural Diversity flag courses (Native American history, History of the Anglo Abolition Movement, Western Civilization, LAS Church & State, etc.), so I've seen my share of racist propaganda, from the claim for America to immigration policies to the civil rights movement, and they all have two common denominators. 1. There are frequent animal references. And 2. There are similar institutions set up to subjugate these peoples.

"Look of a beast." "And what that meant was that he had put up a barrier within to protect himself from further violence." (171) Siegers in Wounded Knee- 1973. Look it up.

"The animals are forced to become for us merely 'images' of what they once so beautifully expressed." (171)
Ishi was the last of his people. He lived out his days as an anthropological exhibit in San Francisco. 

Even Irishmen were depicted as monkeys (seemingly ironic as how we now think of them as uber-Caucasian. Thus speaks the voice of a "master," free to dole out judgment as they please.

War brides. Offensive.

Native Americans as entertainment

Even worse... white men dressing up as black men as a punchline.

WWI American propaganda. I would say that it's nice to see a role reversal of Germany being represented by the ape, but at this point I've learned that it's not good for the 2 to be compared. And it makes apes seem really bad no matter what :(

Marrying Asian brides, only to have the "marriages fall apart:" once she learns to speak English.  "What then did the men see, when they looked into the eyes of the women they married, before they could speak English? Apparently only their own reflections." (170)

And isn't this what we're fighting. These are all representations of people's lives that they have no control over. They have no voice. Much like animals have no voice over how they are represented in the media or advertisements. And their lives are on the line in much higher numbers nowadays.
Again, we get this issue of voice. There's this ever recurring theme that animals don't have a voice. Like slaves didn't have a voice. Like those put into concentration camps don't have a voice. Like child soldiers don't have a voice. Liket hose in human trafficking don't have a voice. Then, there are the physical manifestations of this--- the more brutal methods, like the Richard Wright's account of "slitting the vocal cords" of the dogs... "a symbol of silent suffering." (162) To the victor belongs the telling of the history.

Is anyone or anything "disposable?" Take a good, long, hard look at how we place value on the things around us. Appreciate those who grace your life with their presence.

"Utter passivity in total independence of individual traits, under the will of the white man-- this was American slavery" "Whey the are "good" they are good by the white master's standards for chattel." (152) "All independent actions are thus discouraged, and the dog learns that he will win approval -- and avoid future beatings or other punishments -- by suppressing his own desires and conforming to those of the omnipotent human who legally owns him." (152)

So let's go back to that idea of why the caged bird sings, shall we?

Sometimes it's not so much about "rights" as doing "right." In the past, there were cases where lives were saved because they were someone's property. It's one of those things where I thank goodness that those lawyers worked the system, but am upset by the reason behind it. (165) Dred Scott case Chief Justice Taney: "Negroes have no rights which the white man is bound to respect."

 

"I am eating misery... And I spit it out." (171)

I also took the liberty of doing some questionnaires/outside research about current race/animal issues.
I think it's interesting to look at just how complicated race and animal relations are and what we're facing:
There are the people who are offended at having their pain compared to animal pain, because "they're more like their oppressor" than the other victims, or because they see the animals' suffering as getting more empathy than theirs from the white community. Consider the footage after Hurrican Katrina. pets being evacuated on an air conditioned bus. This image was a sickening juxtaposition to the conditions faced by tens of thousands of black residents trapped by the storm

 Then, there is the facts that dogs were used by enslavers to catch, trap and return those who were trying to escape to freedom. Dogs were used to terrorize Civil Rights demonstrators. Subjected people spent their lives working behind an animal that they may or may not have identified with. In short, animals have been weapons used against black bodies and black interests in ways that have deep historical resonance.
Tucker Carlson call for Vick's execution as punishment for his crimes. It was a contrast made more raw by the recent decision to give relatively light sentences to the men responsible for the death of Oscar Grant ( an unarmed black man). Despite agreeing that Vick's acts were horrendous, somehow Carlson's moral outrage seemed misplaced. It also seemed profoundly racialized. For example, Carlson did not call for the execution of BP executives despite their culpability in the devastation of Gulf wildlife. He did not denounce the Supreme Court for their decision in US v. Stevens (April 2010) [5] which overturned a portion of the 1999 Act Punishing Depictions of Animal Cruelty. After all with this "crush" decision the Court seems to have validated a marketplace for exactly the kinds of crimes Vick was convicted of committing. For many observers, the decision to demonize Vick seems motivated by something more pernicious than concern for animal welfare. It seems to be about race.
Anyway,
EL FIN


Rabbit