Group Sends Educational Materials That Extend Nondiscrimination to All Races, Genders, and Species
For Immediate Release:
August 4, 2011
Contact:
Kristin Richards 202-483-7382
Salt Lake City, Utah -- As the Canyons School District completes its second "sensitivity training" for students, staff, and parents in response to incidents of racial discrimination among its students, PETA has sent a letter, along with a TeachKind educational pack, to Superintendent Dr. David S. Doty urging the district to also educate children on the importance of having compassion for all sentient beings, including those of other species. In the letter, PETA explains that TeachKind could help students realize that animals feel pain, joy, and fear—just as humans do—yet every day, these intelligent and sensitive beings are experimented upon, bludgeoned, dissected, caged, poisoned, and slaughtered simply because they are different from us.
"Historically, those in power have used race, religion, or other arbitrary dividers as justification for oppressing those who are 'different'—and today, that pattern continues every time a nonhuman animal is beaten, imprisoned, or killed," says PETA Director of Communications Colleen O'Brien. "By learning to make simple changes in their everyday lives, such as eating a healthy vegan diet, students can make the world a drastically better place for animals everywhere—and that's a lesson of compassion that everyone can benefit from."
The TeachKind educational pack includes a teacher's guide, lesson plans, and worksheets that are designed to help middle and high school students develop a strong understanding and appreciation of historical and contemporary social justice movements. Through this program, students will learn how their everyday choices affect others in society and be encouraged to take on issues with passionate civic engagement.
For more information, please visit PETA.org or TeachKind.org.
PETA's letter to Dr. David S. Doty, superintendent of Canyons School District, follows.
August 4, 2011
Dear Dr. Doty:
I'm writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our thousands of members and supporters across Utah. We commend your school district's efforts to combat racial discrimination among the student body. May we respectfully suggest that you consider going one step further by educating children about the importance of having compassion for all sentient beings, regardless of race, gender, or species—all meaningless discriminators that are used to justify disrespect and supremacist thinking?
Your students are learning that throughout history, humans have been persecuted and denied their rights because they were thought to be inferior based on arbitrary characteristics that set them apart from the dominant group. Today, smart, sentient, and social animals are persecuted, maimed, imprisoned, poisoned, and killed simply because they are different from us in unimportant ways. Scientific proof and common sense have shown us that each one of them is an individual with the ability to think, feel pain, and experience joy, love, and fear.
We would be pleased to provide materials that will assist the Canyons School District in encouraging students to combat oppression by thinking about the fact that animals' lives are as important to them as ours are to us and that it's easy to make compassionate choices. For instance, each student can save more than 100 animals every year from the horrors of factory farms, slaughterhouses, and fishing nets simply by adopting a healthy vegan diet. Students can also spare rabbits, guinea pigs, cats, and other animals from having chemicals dripped into their eyes by purchasing cosmetics and personal-care products that are tested in more modern ways, and they can prevent foxes, dogs, and snakes from being skinned alive by rejecting fur and leather in favor of natural fibers and synthetics.
I am sending a TeachKind pack for your review. PETA would also be happy to provide each student with a complimentary cruelty-free shopping guide and a vegetarian/vegan starter kit full of recipes for delicious meals. Thank you for your consideration.
Very truly yours,
Ingrid E. Newkirk, President