Remembering Coretta Scott King, the Nonviolent Vegan

admin — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:33:37 +0000

On this day, the annual holiday honoring the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr., I also honor Coretta Scott King, who extended her life’s work of promoting nonviolence to include becoming a vegan during the later part of her life. She was inspired by the veganism of her son, Dexter, who was introduced to veganism by human rights activist and humorist Dick Gregory (who was also my inspiration).

In his memoir, Callus on My Soul, Dick Gregory wrote:

“I had been a participant in all of the ‘major’ and most of the ‘minor’ civil rights demonstrations of the early sixties. Under the leadership of Dr. King, I became totally committed to nonviolence, and I was convinced that nonviolence meant opposition to killing in any form. I felt the commandment ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’ applied to human beings not only in their dealings with each other—war, lynching, assassination, murder and the like—but in their practice of killing animals for food and sport. Animals and humans suffer and die alike. Violence causes the same pain, the same spilling of blood, the same stench of death, the same arrogant, cruel and brutal taking of life.”

So, on this day that we honor the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., consider extending his call for peace to your plate.

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Remembering Coretta Scott King, the Nonviolent Vegan