PETA message faces support, protest

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ new Animal Liberation Project began its 28-campus tour last week at VCU but not without controversy.

A 250-square-foot exhibit was displayed at Park Plaza behind the Hibbs Building from Sept. 20 to Sept. 22. Twelve panels featured dual images that sought to parallel injustices faced by animals and humans, including hangings, brandings and beatings.

Sangeeta Kumar, education coordinator for the youth outreach department of PETA, said the display juxtaposes images of animal cruelty with cruelty to American Indians, African-Americans and Jews to help prevent future injustices.

“We should never forget the things we have done in the past,” she said. “And we should not repeat the same mistakes.”

Pulin Modi, youth campaign coordinator for PETA, said he hoped the Animal Liberation Project would get students talking.

“Our intention is not to offend people. It is to provoke dialogue,” he said.

But on the final day of the touring exhibit’s stay at VCU, students gathered to protest the project’s message.

Jessica Smith, a senior theater education and African-American Studies major, said the struggle for human and animal rights is not equal.

“We were going to support PETA, but when we saw their message, we couldn’t,” she said. “They (PETA) use African-Americans when it’s convenient to them.”

Smith said once other African-American Studies majors found out about the exhibit’s message, the students e-mailed each other and decided to have a silent protest.

What started out with a few students quickly turned into a large crowd, with many people holding signs featuring the message, “Different species, different struggle.”

A petition was passed around by members of Africana, a student cultural group, hoping to prevent the PETA exhibit from continuing its tour to 27 other schools.

Steven Milton, a graduate student, said he felt insulted that PETA brought their exhibit to VCU.

“We’re not animals,” he said.

Christopher A. Brooks, associate professor of African-American Studies and Anthropology, also questioned if PETA would bring its exhibit to a historically black school.

“Chances are, no. I think for sensitivity purposes that we should be equally thinking along those lines,” he said. Brooks also mentioned that felt PETA would not bring this tour to a campus with a large African-American population.

Members of PETA responded by saying they had been invited by members of Students for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a student activist group at VCU.

Micah Risk, a junior exercise science major and member of SETA, said the images were necessary to educate people about the suffering of animals.

“People need to know, whether or not it’s controversial,” Risk said.

Modi said although the images were offensive, they needed to be seen.

“They (the images) are saying racism is bad. They are saying ‘not to hurt,'” he said.

Kumar also led a discussion on human and animal rights Wednesday night in Richmond Salons III at the University Student Commons.

“When individuals have been oppressed, they become vegan because they are empathetic to the suffering of others,” Kumar said.

She used a PowerPoint presentation to accompany the discussion, showcasing how a vegan lifestyle can be a healthy one.

Ben Cohen, a freshman who switched to vegetarianism several months ago, said PETA coming to campus awakened his questioning of how and why he should be a stronger vegetarian.

“They (PETA) tend to overemphasize scientific research … but them being here really helped,” he said.

Timothy A. Reed, director of the University Student Commons and Activities, said VCU neither approved nor disapproved of PETA’s message, but was glad that students were actively participating.

“Communities need to talk. Sometimes the conversations are easy and fun, and sometimes the conversations are difficult.

“This is one of those more difficult conversations … with people with very different points of view,” he said.

PETA members decided to take down their exhibit a few hours earlier than intended to have a public discussion with the protestors, but the crowd diminished once the images had been put away.

Kumar said PETA will continue its tour, but will also further look at its exhibit to decide if any of the images need to be removed.

Harvey Hall contributed to this story.