Celebrating Coretta, Who Celebrated Nonviolence--and Stopped Eating Animals
Published January 19, 2009 @ 07:40AM PT
This is the day when we annually celebrate the life, spirit, contributions, and philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr. But I'm not going to write about MLK today. I'm going to write, just briefly, about Coretta. Those opposed to the idea of animal rights, those who consider the fight for animal rights to be distinct from and lesser than other social justice movements, and--most clearly--those who consider veganism extreme could learn something from Coretta Scott King.
For more than the last decade of her extraordinary, compassionate, and passionate life, Coretta Scott King was a vegan. Really. Not an "extremist," not a "fanatic," not a "one-note," "single-issue" zealot--just a vegan.
In addition to fighting against racial injustices, Coretta Scott King fought openly and loudly for LGBT rights. She opposed war and violence and championed peace. And for the last 15 years of her life, she improved her own health and life and saved hundreds of animals' lives by refusing to eat their bodies or what came from their bodies.
On her health, she said in Ebony in 2003, "I feel blessed that I was introduced to this lifestyle more than 12 years ago by Dexter. I prefer to eat mostly raw or 'living' foods. The benefits for me are increased energy, a slowing of the aging process, and I have none of the diseases like hypertension, heart disease and diabetes that many people my age seem to get." And Coretta and Martin Luther King's son Dexter, also a vegan and, as noted, the one who introduced his mother to the lifestyle, considers veg*nism the "logical extension" of his father's philosophy of nonviolence, reported Vegetarian Times in 1995 in the write-up of the magazine's interview with him.
Every time someone remarks or implies that vegans are nothing but animal rights "fanatics" or health-obsessed neurotics who care about nothing else, who are vegans to the exclusion of caring about or fighting against any other injustices, one of the many people who comes to mind as proving this wrong is Coretta Scott King. So today I remember and honor not only Martin Luther King Jr. but Coretta Scott King as well. If I must be an extremist or a fanatic simply because I am a vegan, then I am at least happy with the company.
Martin Luther King taught us all nonviolence. I was told to extend nonviolence to the mother and her calf.
-Dick Gregory
Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.
-Martin Luther King Jr.
Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?"
Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?"
Vanity asks the question, "Is it popular?"
But conscience asks the question, "Is it right?"
And there comes a point when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right.-Martin Luther King Jr.
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Stephanie Ernst is an independent animal rights advocate, a vegan, a tree-hugging environmentalist, and a freelance editor and writer. She lives in St. Louis with an aging corgi-lab and an adolescent rescued pit bull. In her advocacy, she works to challenge prevailing perceptions of animals, to show the connections between animal exploitation and other injustices, to help people see that animals are more like us than different, and to encourage compassionate, nonviolent living and eating.
Bless Mrs. King for leading the way; I've just spent a dispiriting morning reading blogs from meat eaters who say they tried not eating meat and their bodies almost exploded - what nonsense - refraining from having a hamburger for a few days is not what veganism is about.
The world-famous China Study clearly shows that animal fats and proteins DO raise blood cholesterol, DO raise the chances of getting cancer and diabetes, ARE hazardous to your health. And videos all over YouTube prove that the way we treat farmed animals is nothing less than revolting, degrading and a filthy despicable reflection on the human race.
When I hear a meat eater say, "ooh I love to eat the little lamb", or otherwise giggle over their delight in eating flesh, I have to ask myself, "What would MLK say in response to that human being's hatred of other living creatures?"
Oh Lord how I wish he were here today. No offense to Barack Obama, but Martin Luther King cannot and never will be replaced, nor will his devoted and wonderful wife. But how we need them today, as much as ever.
Posted by Bonnie Shulman on 01/19/2009 @ 08:57AM PT
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Brilliant. We blog this every year - at least I do. But she and those of her family (and of us) who celebrate nonviolence are breathing the air of hope, which nonviolence keeps alive.
Posted by Maynard Clark on 01/19/2009 @ 09:31AM PT
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Beautiful. Thank you for posting!
Posted by M. Hayden on 01/19/2009 @ 11:00AM PT
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She also realized the civil rights fight of the GLBTQ community and said:Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood.
Posted by Lee Dorsey on 01/19/2009 @ 11:21AM PT
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Stephanie, thanks for this. I didn't know Coretta Scott King was vegan. I'm gonna post this on my Facebook page.
Posted by Tracy Habenicht on 01/19/2009 @ 11:52AM PT
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Let us not wallow in the valley of despair!
I have a dream of a time when all of God's children have a place in the choir, and when we can all rejoice together that all personal beings are loved, all creatures, all sentient beings, for all of us feel, think, hope, and maybe someday will believe.
But let us not wallow in the valley of despair but, today, even though we and animals face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I have a dream - a dream that is deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and fulfill its ecological destiny for all lives going forward to live peacefully on this planet - from the red hills of Jordan to Beijing and Bangkok, Baghdad and Brooklyn, Buenos Aires and Brownsville.
I have a dream that somehow, somehow in part through our efforts, that our nation and our planet will be transformed into an oasis of peace, prudence, and justice. That's a big change for our species; we are not always wise - or kind - or smart.
But I have a dream today!
There, with the voices and practices of speciesism, we will one day be able to live together, cats and sheep and cows, lions and tigers and horses and humans - without killing any for food, nor destroying themselves in the process.
I have a dream... Yes, I have a dream.
I have a dream that one day, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair into hope, into a symphony of post-speciesist possibilities.
Let freedom ring for all species, from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee to every mole hill in Mississippi.
Let freedom ring for all species, from every hamlet and every village, when we feed up that day when all Gods critters have a place in the choir, and in our own ways sing together, Thank God Almighty, Free At Last.
I have a dream of a time when all of God's children have a place in the choir, and when we can all rejoice together that all personal beings are loved, all creatures, all sentient beings, for all of us feel, think, hope, and maybe someday will believe.
That day will be a new day of redefining possibilities for All Americans -- human AND nonhuman - and for all life in our planet, from now and for the future going forward.
Yes, the story goes on, the story continues, and thankfully, the story can and will improve. Yes, ALL of us have a constructive place, a good place - and even work ought not to be evil.
I have a dream - and maybe you do, too - a dream of a time when all of God's children have a place in the choir, and when we can all - all of us -rejoice together that all personal beings are loved, all creatures, all sentient beings, for all of us feel, think, hope, and maybe someday will believe.
Of course, it will take ALL our human ingenuity and grace - wherever that cones from - to change our ways - and our diets.
Yes, I share a dream - hopefully with you, and your friends and your family, with your neighbors and our coworkers, hopefully with all people everywhere - a dream of a time when all of God's children have a place in the choir, and when we can all - all of us -rejoice together that all personal beings are loved, all creatures, all sentient beings, for all of us feel, think, hope, and maybe someday will believe.
Posted by Maynard Clark on 01/19/2009 @ 12:15PM PT
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Thanks for posting this. I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian and so is my 11 year old daughter. I am trying to go totally vegan but with milk in most of the foods my daughter likes it is hard and I am trying to get her there slowly and not make her give up her favorite foods at once. It's nice to know that someone so great was a vegan and it helps give me the courage to take more steps towards becoming vegan. It's nice to have someone to aspire to be more like.
Posted by Kitty Karma on 01/19/2009 @ 01:16PM PT
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Yes! And Cesar Chavez became a vegetarian later in life, too.
I would just like to offer a huge F.Y. to all those who will wear fur to the inauguration. I'm sure they would have owned slaved, too.
Posted by Stanley Jones-Umber... on 01/19/2009 @ 05:38PM PT
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Yes! And Cesar Chavez became a vegetarian later in life, too.
I would just like to offer a huge F.Y. to all those who will wear fur to the inauguration. I'm sure they would have owned slaved, too.
Posted by Stanley Jones-Umber... on 01/19/2009 @ 05:43PM PT
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Thanks Janine. I actually did not know this about Coretta Scott King, even though I've been a vegetarian since 1984. Vegan for the last two years! Woo hoo! Thanks for the info - it's always great to learn! -cheryl
Posted by Cheryl England on 01/19/2009 @ 05:47PM PT
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Thanks for reminding us of these important vegans. Veganism is just one facet of my person, a result of actually caring about things....
Posted by Lisa Smolen on 01/19/2009 @ 09:15PM PT
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That's awesome. I always admired Ms. King for speaking out in favor of LGBTQ equality, but I had no idea she was a vegan as well.
Posted by Kelly Garbato on 01/20/2009 @ 07:52AM PT
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Arguing for anything on the basis of some favored person's choosing it (e.g. celebrity, relative, leader, etc.) is an 'appeal to authority' (not necessarily legitimate in any particular cases), ad hominem, etc.
In classical logic, it's a logical fallacy. PETA does this repeatedly.
Doing so may make graphic and thinkable a transition one might not ordinarily make, but my gripe with PETA in its appeals to celebrity (a special case of the logical fallacy 'appeal to authority') is that the 'celebrities' it chooses are sometimes admirable, but more often they are notadmirable (and a great many of them 'fall of the wagon' and fail to continue to be vegetarian.
The arguments should be firmer and stronger than some other person's choices. In fact, all human choices are fallible; maybe we ought to stop affirming choice itself and go for the stronger stuff.
There are real reasons for being vegetarian - even vegan - not MY half a lifetime plus of being vegan (no, I'm not even my own reason for being vegan!).
Utilitarian or consequentialist reasons - improved outcomes
AND
Rights-based reasons - the rights of real persons are compromised in meat production
Those supersede what Joe Schmoe and Madonna and even religious figures (Charles Wesley, The Buddha, et al) chose or choose. Even if Barack Obama and his entire family went vegan, the reasons for going vegan are real BEYOND the fun and popularity of it.
Wouldn't it be nice if we had a more mature human species than we have?
Maybe we won't ever become more mature,but I continue to hope that we will.
Yes, a smart woman whom we admire goes vegan; more of us should, and the reasons could be communicated in language and logic. Maybe that would be (as vegetarian Paul Harvey call's it) 'the rest of the story'!
Left, right, or middle in politics - we can ALL see the reasons FOR being vegan INDEPENDENT of our political positions.
Get the point?
Posted by Maynard Clark on 01/21/2009 @ 01:20PM PT
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