FEATURE: Gabby Brielle

Lately, I've been remembering old questions from my childhood: why we eat some animals and not others, if the food we eat makes us sick, and if the animals care or feel pain when they're killed. As I got older, I was intrigued by things vegetarians and vegans would say, saw the intense "behind the scenes" videos of fast food places. I did more research on nutrition and the treatment of the meat, animal rights, etc. I felt like by around year 2024, I would be vegan. Then, in 2014, my dad died after a 2 year fight against cancer. Around the time he was diagnosed, I was learning more, and I realized that there is a difference between vegans and non-vegans in diagnostic statistics for common diseases. I started internalizing my thoughts and spiritual beliefs, realizing how connected we are to Earth's nature, the universe, and one another. 

Plenty of the meat and dairy that is produced goes bad or is thrown away while people are starving, not to mention the resources that are used that contributes to environmental problems that are easy for some people to ignore now, but will have detrimental consequences in the future caused by our decisions.

I realized a better way for ME to live, and I took the opportunity to enroll in a free vegan workshop. It normalized the idea, gave me more vegan friends, shed more light on the the harm to both animals and the planet that the meat/dairy industry causes, and then took me to an animal sanctuary where I met actual rescue animals from farms. 

I'm a spiritual person, and I got the messages I needed from the Holy one I pray to and connect with, and I know that I don't need something that craves relationship, just like me, to be bred, tortured, and killed before its time, to THEN be altered and modified (with all of its terrorized, sad energy still in place) in order for me to live happily, healthily, and enjoy meals.  It only took that day for my diet to shift from limited meat and non-dairy milk to no meat and no dairy. I'm loving it!

What I give to the world and to my God will be given back to me one way or another. I did my research, made my observations, and had my personal experiences. This is for me, and I encourage everyone to ignore the myths and stigmas and honestly explore the option to see if it's best for them as well. Believing that something like this shouldn't even be an option for you is evidence that you have been well-conditioned into thinking one way, probably to make someone else money, who also wants to make someone else money, and so on...and that someone else is not you. 

Veganism isn't just for the privileged white folk, and diabetes and high blood pressure are not just hereditary destinies for black families. Don't believe the hype. Knowledge is power and purpose is key! 

Social media pages:

Instagram: Instagram.com/iamgabbybrielle

Twitter: Twitter.com/iamgabbybrielle

Facebook: Facebook.com/iamgabbybrielle

Tumblr: iamgabbybrielle.tumblr.com

FEATURE: Janyce Denise Glasper (Afro Vegan Chick)

For almost four years, AfroVeganChick, a 2012 New Year's Resolution project gone sweetly right, has focused on a plant based lifestyle which features recipes, product reviews, and eating-out vegan travels. Natural hair journey is a major factor as well. I have shared my natural hair progress, important lessons discovered along the way, and natural hair inspiration pics/fashions from various sources such as Essence Magazine, natural hair pinterest accounts, and more. 

Vegan, cruelty free black owned beauty products and my own personal recipes for my hair, face, and body are also featured on the site and are very important. It's imperative that black people know the ingredients in their food and beauty supplies. They have to know why it's in there.

Supporting black business owners- especially natural sisters holding the greatest source of fruitful expertise-- can really shape our culture which is the fabric of our existence. If their businesses grow and flourish, so do we. 

AfroVeganChick includes highlighting black artists too. As a visual person, having received my BFA in drawing and working on my master's in painting, I realized that I must bridge my vegan pursuits with my art and my artist ardor. It's a tough battle because this isn't necessarily a vegan issue, but more so a focus on blackness and how other artists are centering blackness in their work. I discuss my studio practice and the work of others, unleashing to readers a creative awareness outside of the kitchen. Black artists exist and they're making beautiful work that must be seen and experienced. I write about veganism and art. Both fill my heart and give me reason every day to type,photograph, and document. 

I selected pieces that reflect the joy of cooking and the thrall of making art and seeing it in live performance and visual. 

Links to Janyce's Work

http://www.afroveganchick.com/2015/08/the-emancipation-of-ms-lovely-is.html
http://www.afroveganchick.com/2015/07/delicious-hot-carrot-dogs.html
http://www.afroveganchick.com/2015/07/the-blm-project.html
http://www.afroveganchick.com/2015/12/pensive-intimacy-fills-impermeable-void.html

FEATURE: Dia Hancock

I became vegetarian the second semester of my freshman year in college. It was initially for weight loss, health, and wellness. I did more reading and research and determined that I was also vegetarian for the animals. Deciding to change over from being vegetarian to a fully vegan lifestyle was something that I wanted to do for a few years before I actually committed to it. All I could think was: I can’t live without cheese.  It took a moment for me to come to the conclusion that there are other living beings that don’t live healthy normal happy lives because I can’t live without cheese.  Babies are being torn away from their mothers because I can’t live without cheese.  Over the last five years I’ve definitely learned to live without it and I’m happier and healthier because of it.

My journey in veganism has been an amazing experience. I’ve learned a lot about myself and the world around me. Knowing that I’m not contributing to the suffering of other animals and the steady destruction of our environment gives me a bit of peace. When people ask if being vegan is hard, I always say no. It just takes a bit of thoughtfulness, patience, and compassion.

I’ve made it my personal mission to plant the seeds of veganism among friends and family. I don’t preach but I encourage. I’m always happy to share my breakfast, lunch, dinner, and miscellaneous snacks with whoever will eat them. I like to let them know that cruelty-free food can taste good too. Since, in my opinion, veganism is a lifestyle and not just a diet I also like to let people know they can look good while they eat good and still be cruelty-free.

links

Instagram: @werealcool

Twitter: @neptunevegas

Facebook: www.facebook.com/KaleVonCelery

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/diahancock

Submit Abstracts for Sistah Vegan Volume 2

Did you know that Dr. Amie Breeze Harper is working on Sistah Vegan Volume 2? Sistah Vegan is a groundbreaking anthology published in 2010 by Lantern Books. The anthology is composed of Black women identified vegans who reflect on food, identity, health, and society. 

Dr. Harper is looking for submissions for Sistah Vegan Volume 2, tentatively titled The Praxis of Justice in an Era of Black Lives Matter. She writes:

"For this volume, we envision deeply critical engagements by Black identified vegans who are doing social justice, food justice, environmental justice, etc. from an intersectional framework. The volume will centralize the significance of living during the era of Black Lives Matter. How are you, as a Black identified vegan, engaged in the continuum of dismantling systemic racism (and other 'isms') that affect Black people throughout the world?"

For this volume, Dr. Harper is seeking: Black identified vegans (of all gender backgrounds) who employ intersectional frameworks for justice (i.e. anti-racism, anti-ableism, anti-speciesism, LGBTQ rights, Black Liberation); someone who does not frame veganism or Black Liberation within the often mainstream and confining narrative that is always always cissexist, heteronormative, fat shaming, ableist, and classist to name a few. 

Dr. Harper is accepting: (1) Critical essays, poems, or narratives of no more than 6000 words; (2) Artwork/design ideas for the cover.

Extended deadline for abstracts: September 1, 2016

Deadline for final submissions: February 15, 2017

Email questions and abstracts to: Dr. A. Breeze Harper - sistahvegan@gmail.com

FEATURE: Amanda Carney

Carnivore No More

Just six months ago you might have seen me chowing down on a chicken sandwich - my favorite meal at the time. I’m originally from Nebraska. My father is a hunter, my mother likes her steak rare, and my diet growing up was mostly meat and potatoes. Looking back on it now, I was living inside of a meat popsicle, which can be considered the polar opposite to the so called “vegan bubble” that many herbivores find themselves living in today. It’s easy to become what you’re surrounded by. For me, I was and still am surrounded by carnivores, but something has changed in me. Something that’s hard for people in my meat popsicle to understand. I am coming out to the world as a vegan. So how did I get here? What was the turning point, the light bulb, the point of awakening? 

Unlike most life lessons and revelations, I can remember the exact moment when I decided to turn my back on animal byproducts. In the Winter of 2015 I was taking my usual path to work. I got off the D train at West 4th Street in Manhattan and proceeded up the crowded exit ramp. Something caught my attention. Posted on the wall right next to the ad for Gap jeans was a photo of a piglet and a puppy. The caption read “Why choose to love one and kill the other?” This was my light bulb. This is when I made the simple connection between farm animals and companion animals. The guilt began to set in and I wanted to know why I didn’t make the connection sooner. Have I somehow been living in a cult? A meat popsicle cult? Is this what it feels like to wake up from a coma or climb out from under a rock? I needed to know more. 

The first book I read on animal agriculture was Melanie Joy’s, Why we love dogs, eat pigs and wear cows. These are the most basic and fundamental questions that most people living in America don’t know the answers to. It was an obvious choice to start my journey here. I didn’t know why I was obsessed with dogs and cats, but essentially paid someone to murder pigs, cows, and chickens on my behalf. I wanted to meet the animals that I had disregarded for so long. I wanted to introduce myself to the victims, so I packed my bags and headed to Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York. 

Social Media

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forest_skool/
Medium: https://medium.com/@amandalynn402
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.carney.35

FEATURE: Londale Theus Jr.

My name is Londale Theus Jr., and I am a 6'6'' former Division 1 College Basketball Player that has been a vegetarian since birth, and a vegan for the past 9 years. My parents raised my sister and I under a spiritual philosophy that focused on causing the least amount of suffering as possible to all forms of life, and that is why we have never eaten meat, poultry, fish or eggs and continue to live that lifestyle. 

The purpose of being vegetarian always made sense to me and I never had any desire or curiosity to try eating meat. Making a conscious decision to choose compassion to animals every time I eat feels great and not only does that affect me in a positive way spiritually and emotionally, but I physically feel great also. I've never lacked when it comes to nutrition and I have been an athlete my entire life, competing with and against the best athletes in the world, many of whom are in the NBA today. I've always been one of the standouts when it came to strength and conditioning. The food that my family prepares is so rich in protein and other necessary nutrients that I am able to build muscle and push my body athletically as well as stand toe to toe with the best of them. 

Our family transitioned to becoming vegan as my mom and sister began doing more research while writing their first vegetarian soul food cookbook. It made sense not only from a health standpoint, but from a compassionate standpoint as we realized the suffering that factory farms inflict on cows in order to produce dairy products. I love being vegan, and I never feel like I'm missing out. As an actor and comedian now, I'm always on set, or rehearsal, or auditioning, always on the go, so I always have Tupperware of home cooked vegan food with me.

EVERYONE comments on how they wish they did the same thing and how they wish they could eat like me. Obviously making a commitment to live a compassionate, healthy, and vibrant lifestyle is something many people want, but don't always know how to go about doing it. I think my mom and sister's cook The Vegan System is definitely something that has helped people already (including my actor friends) and will continue to help. We as a family use these recipes every single day and I am grateful that I can eat such delicious food that makes me feel great physically. The best part is that no other forms of life had to suffer for my well-being. 

 SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

 Personal (acting) Website: www.TallDarkAndFunny.com

Instagram: @LondaleJr

Twitter: @LondaleJr

Facebook: Londale Theus Jr. 

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SPECIAL OFFER FOR BLACK VEGANS ROCK READERS

The Theus family is offering BVR readers a $5.00 discount for their downloadable book The Vegan System. All you have to do is enter the coupon code bvr2016. It is active now and may be used anytime. Go towww.veggiesoulfood.com to download your copy today! 

FEATURE: Philogynoir

My journey to veganism started in 2009 when I decided to research healthier alternatives to  chemical relaxers. It wasn't until 7 years later that I was able to finally commit to the vegan lifestyle, but the process started with my introduction into the natural hair community. Once my eyes were opened to the pervasiveness of white supremacist socializations - the meaning behind having good hair, obsessing over curly hair, and the idea that natural hair is inherently “unprofessional” - there was a shift in me that to this day, has never been the same. 

Going natural lead to me becoming a pescetarian with a mainly vegetarian diet. After a while, I naturally progressed into a social pescetarian with a 60% vegan diet. Fast forward to 2015, I began eating meat again. During this time, I was well into my pregnancy and almost fainting from not consuming enough food. Now, I am not trying to insinuate that it is impossible to complete a pregnancy as a vegan, I was just unsuccessful because I didn’t have the resources to eat correctly. 

Once I delivered my daughter, I went back and forth between being a vegan and eating certain meats like chicken and turkey. It wasn’t until I read Sistah Vegan: Black Female Vegans Speak on Food, Identity, Health, and Society that I was able to commit to a vegan lifestyle. That book, along with all of A. Breeze Harper’s work, really solidified my reasoning for wanting to decolonize my mind and body through abstaining from animal-based products. One line that really stuck with me was a passage where one of the author’s - it may have been Harper herself - said as a person who was anti-oppression, she realized her diet did not match her mindset. That line rocked my world.

I am the creator of an online (and soon to be offline; wait on it) space called Philogynoir. Philogynoir is the antithesis of misogynoir or anti-black misogyny. Utilizing Youtube, I created a web series that discusses the intersection between race and sex told specifically from a black feminist perspective. My show is meant to empower, uplift, and mobilize ALL black women - not just those of us who are thin, conventionally attractive, able-bodied, cis, straight, and college-educated. Though I realize I am unaware of many systems of oppression that I personally benefit from, I consider myself anti-oppression overall. So with knowing this, how could I continue to participate in speciesism when I had the resources to do otherwise?

So far, the decision to become vegan has been one, if not the best things I could’ve done for myself, the environment, and other living beings. I have more energy, my skin is clear, melanin popping, and I have peace of mind knowing my beliefs align with my diet. It’s lit.

Where can you find me online?

Youtube: Philogynoir

Twitter: @philogynoir

Instagram: @philogynoir

Tumblr: @philogynoir

Facebook: @philogynoir

Snapchat: @philogynoir
 

Jenné Claiborne aka Sweet Potato Soul

In 2011 I became vegan, and it has been one of the best decisions of my life. I was compelled to give up animal products while working at a vegan restaurant in New York City––Peacefood Cafe––and becoming aware of the cruel and unethical ways animals are treated. 

I grew up with an understanding of what a vegan is because my dad was raised vegan, as a Hebrew Israelite. Growing up I had a handful of family members who were vegan, but I couldn’t relate to their religious motivation for abstaining from animal products. It wasn’t until I moved to NYC and met other young vegans that I started understanding vegansim as a lifestyle outside of religious contexts, and it made so much sense to me once I understood the plight of animals. 

After becoming vegan I quickly started to feel so much better: physically, mentally, and spiritually. I always loved to cook, but experimenting with vegan cooking ignited a definite passion within me. I promptly quit my hustle as an actress, and started a vegan personal chef service so that I could share this lifestyle with more people. 

These days I share my vegan lifestyle with fans of my blog, Sweet Potato Soul, and on my Youtube channel. Veganism is more than food. It has influenced the way I look at the world and made me a much more compassionate person and consumer. 

Social Media

Website: sweetpotatosoul.com

Instagram: sweetpotatosoul

YouTube: sweetpotatosoul