Is Veganism Elitist?

By Linden Mackey, Guest Contributor

Once I was asked if my decision to become vegan wasn’t in part influenced by my middle-class and academic background – and if isn’t perhaps veganism somewhat elitist, meaning, aren’t the ranks of vegans mainly populated by relatively middle-class, highly educated and predominantly Caucasian peoples?

I was taken aback slightly by the question, but it was a fair one, although clearly there are many cultures mainly vegetarian for religious or philosophical reasons, regardless of monetary resources. But I think it is an especially relevant question in the United States, where, if I had to take a very unscientific poll, most vegans I have encountered have tended to be more highly educated, affluent, and not of color.

In light of this, I was very affected by “The Gritty Life of a Day Laborer,” a newspaper article written about Fidel Antonio, a Mexican immigrant struggling to make it in the Oakland/Berkeley, CA area. He lives in Fruitvale, a predominantly Latino neighborhood in East Oakland, and tries daily to find work in Berkeley as a day laborer.

He speaks of the hardships of his life, which are many, and which most of us cannot imagine – leaving his wife and children to find viable work in another country; performing difficult labor for low wages; often getting cheated and mistreated because of his status.

Still, his insight and compassion for animals was inspirational – all the more because of the general unavailability of non-animal food for people with less means in these urban deserts:

“I don’t eat meat anymore, because if you do you become complicit in the killing of defenseless animals. In addition, eating meat isn’t good for your body. Fruit, vegetables, beans, rice and wheat are better for you… who knows where [the meat] comes from…

“…when I ate beef and saw blood coming out of it I would think of the way they kill animals, the cruelty of it. In my town in Mexico, they string a pig up by its feet, and then cut its throat with a knife. The animal just dies a little by little. Animals have the right to life, just like us. They have life just like we do, and there are much healthier things to eat.”

This man gets the essence of it, a truth that transcends status, nationality, race or species – animals have the right to life, just like us. And we do not need to eat them to live and thrive.

I understand that for some of us, finding a variety of non-animal food may be difficult, depending on our circumstances, locale, etc.

Still – if a man of little means can see the truth and live it, how can any of us strive to do less? Fidel Antonio and others like him provide inspiration to reach beyond and above what is ‘easy’, ‘tradition’, and ‘what’s always been done’ – no matter where you come from, no matter who you are.

Photo credit: East Bay Express republished with permission

Editors note: Fidel Antonio is currently searching for, and in need of, gainful employment.  To reach him, readers can write to [email protected].