Inspiration from Rosa Parks – Civil Rights Leader and Vegetarian

Happy birthday to Rosa Parks, who was born this day (February 4) in 1913!

This fearless, peace-promoting, civil rights activist (and vegetarian) remains an inspiration to us all. And, her refusal to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in 1955 ignited the fight to end the injustice of racial segregation.

But today, 62 years later, we still have a long way to go in our struggle to fight injustice for all. And, when considering what “for all” means, let’s not forget that:

• Each year, we systemically kill about 65 billion land animals for their flesh, eggs and dairy, and up to 2 trillion aquatic animals for “seafood”.

• Humans have no biological need to consume any animal products for our health, and in fact we are healthier avoiding them.

• Once you recognize the above two points, the inescapable conclusion is that we are inflicting this unimaginable scale of death and suffering upon the most vulnerable beings on the planet without any necessity or morally justifiable reason.

Like any other form of injustice that devalues and destroys the lives of others, we must work fearlessly in our efforts to raise awareness, open hearts and end this violence.

Hopefully, as a civilization worthy of that term, we are beginning to awaken to injustice everywhere. And, as we educate ourselves on injustices committed against human and nonhuman alike, we begin to take a more rational, consistent and compassionate stance against the completely unnecessary discrimination, exploitation and killing of the vulnerable.

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