RICHMOND, Va.
Virginia Commonwealth University sophomore Hampton Couser stood pensively before graphic pictures of tortured animals. He was having an ethical crisis.
His grandmother slaughtered pigs for a living in South Carolina — a job she had to take to keep food on the table. Vegetables have always been part of his diet, but an ear of corn doesn’t replace a good steak. Still, he couldn’t turn a blind eye to the brutal images before him: cows being strung up and seals being beaten.
“It’s got me kind of stiff, trying to weigh now whether I should eat meat,” the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., native said.
It was exactly the reaction People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) hoped for as they kicked off a national college tour of “Animal Liberation,” a display juxtaposing life-size pictures of American slavery, racist violence and other human oppression with pictures of animals being beaten and burned.
The visit marks the first stop on a 28-campus tour targeting youths, said Sangeeta Kumar, education coordinator with the Norfolk group. The message is that animal mistreatment mirrors other civil rights injustices.
“Racism and sexism (are) as deplorable as discrimination against animals,” she said. “School is where everybody learns, so certainly, hopefully, they may learn a good lesson from this exhibit.”
