Hey, I'm here from your vegan / racism post. I do agree if what you're saying, but I don't understand how the two are related - please may you explain?
(To clarify, this is a genuine question, I want to learn and be better, but I don't understand [yet] :>)
I’m willing to believe you’re being genuine here and I’m even willing to believe you might actually listen to what I have to say but I do need you to understand how bone fucking tired I am of explaining why white vegans should care about anti-Indigenous racism at this point.
I’ll start with what’s probably the simplest to understand. There are some Indigenous communities, particularly in the Subarctic but across the continent really, that do not have access to reliable and affordable food sources outside of hunting. To suggest that these communities need to give up meat to truly respect animals is to ask them to starve. This is anti-Indigenous.
Beyond that, though, is the general air of white saviorism throughout all of it. You (not you specifically, the hypothetical white vegan in this scenario) are speaking to communities who have been engaging in respectful and mutual relationships with nature and our animal relatives for generations. Not in some sort of abstract and mystical way, but like materially speaking. We tend to the land and the land tends to us. It is true that not every single Native person is living this relationship all the time, a lot of us have faced disconnection and assimilation. And across indigenous cultures these relationships are going to look different. But it is presumptuous and racist to tell us that the relationships to the land and animals our people have been cultivating since before the present white understanding of veganism ever existed is now unethical.
I don’t think this is a full comprehensive picture of the entire issue, there’s plenty more I could get into, but as I’ve said: I’m tired. There’s definitely more nuance here, for example I of course know many Indigenous people who are vegan themselves, and this exists in tandem to our culture and traditions rather than as a contrast to it. As I’ve stated over and over, I don’t believe all veganism—or even all white veganism—is inherently anti-Indigenous. Where you lose me is when you start to sever humans from animals and from nature as a system and speak in absolutes as though this is the only correct and moral way to view the world. I agree that humans often find themselves in a position as stewards of nature, I just think what those responsibilities look like in practice are far more complex than the “eating meat is always evil and wrong no matter what” crowd is making room for.
Frankly, at this point, you white people owe me money for the amount of energy I’ve had to spend explaining all of this. But I digress.
