Racism/PETA/MLK

PETA's display was right across the statue of MLK. Whether it was pure coincidence or on purpose they chose it to be that way; it still symbolizes the ethical dilemma at hand. MLK was against racism and PETA is against speciesism. Racism and speciesism are the same if it is looked at in a certain way, even though a "comparison to an animal has come to be a slur" in our soceity. (319) Racism is "the idea that one's race is superior and has the right to rule others." (317) Speciesism is "the idea that one's species has the right to rule and use others." (317) Slaves were seen as animals. People that were not African slaves considered themselves superior because of the color of the skin. Which technically is racism within speciesism. The movie Earthlings defines everyone as a habitant of the planet. It does not seperate earthlings into categories like human, animal, mammal, reptile, or beings with reason. Alice Walker summarizes racism and speciesism in her quote saying: "The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humant anymore than black people were made for whites or women for men." (314) If all the speciesists and racists considered the world in this perspective, a lot of damage that has happened in society, and that is still occuring, could have been prevented.
Slavery in America was accepted because "the ethic of human domination removed animals from the sphere of humanc concern...[which] legitimized the ill-treatment of humans who were in a supposedly animal condition." (321) The idea of speciesism was grounded into their minds which established racism. Because of our lack of respect for animals, humans were tortured and abused for many years. This racism and speciesism was brewed because of lack of empathy. During the holocaust laws were passed to segregate the Jews which "was necessary to reduce people's understanding of, and empathy for, Jewish people. This way, whatever happened to the Jews was out of the line of people's moral vision." (334)

To completely stop racism, we must completely obliterate specisism. Albert Schweitzer claims "compassion can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to humankind." (311F) Compassion for all beings is what will stop racism and speciesism. Society and humanity need to recognize: "The Earth does not belong to man; Man belongs to the Earth. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself." (311E) Humans are not superior to animals or to any other human who is different. In the end we are all inhabitants of this planet and need to live together to survive. The concept that humans are better because they can reason and advance in many aspects makes us better than animals needs to become irrelevant. We have come to an era where we need to finally realize we have been wrong. We have been immoral in assuming animals are inferior and that has lead to the idea that other races are inferior to our own.

Martin Luther King's dream was to see America without segregration, and it was accomplished. Leonardo da Vinci believed that "the time will come when people will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men and women." (311C) Perhaps that time will come soon for the sake of the animals and humans alike.