We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Luis Correal a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Luis, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
Atlanta’s Animal Rights March in 2019 has been the most meaningful project I have worked on to this date. At the time, I had been an animal rights activist for about two years and it was extremely exciting to tackle a project such a big project. Having organized many local events and having attended conferences, out of state events, and other marches, really sparked an intense interest in me to initiate a march here in Atlanta. I mentioned it to my friend, who I have organized all the local events with for the past couple of years, and he was on board! We then recruited a team of people who had been involved in the animal rights scene for a while and made our vision come true. The amount of compliments we got about how well organized the march was, made us feel like we did something right. Unfortunately, COVID hit the world a few months later and stopped us in our tracks from organizing our yearly march. However, I am very excited to mention we are back on track and organizing the Atlanta Animal Rights March for 2022 later this year on December 3rd!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am originally from Colombia and have now been living in the US for the past 15 years. I got involved with animal rights about 4 years ago after realizing how much suffering animals go through every single day. I always considered myself an animal lover but suddenly I realized I was part of their very suffering with my daily choices every time I sat down to eat. One day, I was watching a couple of YouTube video about these guys, Joey Carbstrong & Earthling Ed, who were advocating for animal rights in the streets by showing footage of what happens to them in slaughterhouses and asking people questions about it how they can help stop their suffering and at that moment, I felt a fire in my heart, that’s when I knew I wanted to advocate for animals rights too. I went vegan and started my animal rights activism journey. Going to events, organizing my own events, going on tours with a few animal rights organizations, attending workshops, traveling to learn more about the movement, organizing a tour as well as a march and connecting with others who share the same vision of a world where animals are no longer exploited for their bodies.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn speciesism. I’m still unlearning it. Speciesism is the assumption of human superiority leading to the exploitation of animals. As humans, we all grow up believing that some animals are worthy of love, compassion and justice while simultaneously believing that others are ok to exploit, commodify and use as we please. I came to realize that the lines we draw are quite arbitrary and that the animals we exploit feel pain, want to live, and value their lives just as much as our cats and dogs at home. When I learned about how animals were exploited because of me, I had to try to my hardest to align my values of non-violence, kindness and compassion with my actions. As Gandhi once said “peace begins on your plate”. I acknowledge it’s not anyone’s fault directly that we grow up believing these things, as we all passively learned them when we are young, through school, family and society. However, it is our responsibility to unlearn speciesism if we want to live in a world where we are kinder and more just with all the other creatures that live here with us.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
During my animal rights activism journey, it has been hard to quantify and qualify what has been effective and what has made a difference for the animals. It’s tough when you put so much energy and time into a cause and not know if it’s going to matter or be worth your efforts. However, I have kept going because I feel that not doing anything is definitely not going to yield any results for the animals. I also believe that even if one person makes the connection because of me, I will have started a butterfly effect of changes that will cascade into other people’s lives who will make more compassionate choices instead of ones that hurt animals. I was at an animal rights conference once and when the speaker said “raise your hand if you don’t think you’re doing enough for the animals”, mostly everyone in the room raised their hand, myself included. At that moment, I realized I wasn’t alone in feeling like I wasn’t doing enough and that my efforts may be futile. We can be so ugly to each other, let alone animals, that it seems like such an uphill battle to contend with. Nonetheless, I don’t see myself not speaking up for animals anytime soon. I feel that it is our moral imperative to speak up and do what we can, however we can, if we want to see more good in the world. I see my activism as the rent I pay for being on this earth.
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