I Got Arrested For Stopping A Truck At The World’s Largest Slaughterhouse. Here’s Why I Would Do It Again.
A few years back I was arrested for the second time (you can learn about the first time here) trying to protect the nonhuman animals that we share this world with. While being arrested is scary and uncomfortable, I have a lot of privilege as a white, able-bodied person that makes it less dangerous than me and feel that civil disobedience is a powerful tool for social change. This blogpost will give you a chance to view that action, as well as listen to it via a podcast episode. I hope that you feel inspired to get active (whatever the looks like for you) and fully embody your ethics. Here, you can see the action for yourself:
About Smithfield’s Impact
Some key facts to understand about Smithfield:
- Smithfield Foods is the largest ‘pig producer’ in the world, with large scale farms and slaughter operations across the US and Mexico.
- Smithfield kills over 31 million pigs per year for an estimated $15 Billion in annual revenues.
- Smithfield’s slaughterhouse in Tar Heel, NC is considered the largest pig slaughterhouse in the world, killing about 33,000 pigs every day.
- Industrial pig operations like Smithfield produce manure that contains over 150 pathogens that are toxic to humans, responsible for thousands of premature deaths and $Billions in healthcare costs. —
- There are 10 million people in North Carolina and 9 million pigs.
- Billions of gallons of pig feces, urine, blood and rotting pig body parts are collected in open cesspools each year in North Carolina.
- 37 schools in North Carolina are within 2500 feet of a cesspool.
- 288 churches are within 2500 feet of a cesspool.
- 136 public water wells are within 2,500 feet of a cesspool.
- 170 cesspools are within the state’s 100-year floodplain.”
Information above sourced from Save The Animals Save The Earth’s article “The Truth About Smithfield Foods”
Yes, The Police Are Part Of The Problem
The following I nformation shared from Collectively Free’s article, “A History of Animal Use by American Police” are important things to note when learning more about how police uphold unjust systems in the USA. Collectively Free shares that “The police are 21st century fugitive slave catchers. Just as they were when they first arose two hundred years ago from the dark shadows of America’s racial history.
The capitalist system was built off the labor of enslaved Africans. And racism was created as the one of the system’s ideological justifications. And police were created as the system’s enforcers. American police have for generations used animals to protect the system of capitalism; which is the source of the oppressive social-political conditions facing the world today.”
While animal rights activists believe in the personhood of all animals, the state believes in the personhood of only those animals which it can use to legitimize its violence. ‘Animals are not the perpetrators of violence; they are the victims of violence.
Laura Schleifer
Why You Should Divest From Animal Agriculture, And How To Start Practicing Veganism
The impact that Smithfield has on the world around us is horrific. It is destroying the environment, exploiting humans, and crushing the health of the public. On top of that, it’s taking countless lives each day in the name of profit. But you don’t have to support the system.
It’s often times possible to eat an entirely plant-based, vegan-friendly diet on a low budget. But not always. Because of how our food system is set up in the USA, folks don’t aways have access to fresh produce or healthy foods. Keeping in mind that we all have different experiences, resources, and incomes, there are some simple tips that you can follow to reduce food costs while keeping animals and their secretions off your plate. When you’re ready to learn more about veganism, check out my guide, complete with free resource and much-needed answers for old and new vegans alike called How To Go Vegan, And Why You Should.
Cover photo taken by Eninahs Oelce.
