A Message From Ingrid Newkirk

April 4 marks the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. As we reflect on the violent killing of a man who stood for peace and equality, it’s a good time to ask ourselves what we are doing — because there’s so much we can do - to help humanity reach those goals.

We may not be able to stop all the violence in the world, but each of us has the power to end the violence and suffering we’re responsible for every time we sit down to eat, simply by choosing humane vegetarian foods instead of meat, dairy, and eggs. The animals who are killed for our food never have the freedom to do anything natural or enjoyable. They spend their frightened often pain-wracked lives crammed into tiny and filthy cages or pens before being violently killed (many have their throats slit and are scalded or dismembered while still conscious) in slaughterhouses.

After all these years, it is high time we opened our hearts and spoke up to oppose violence in all its forms. We can all make a start by showing others how easy it is to wipe violence off our plates.

-Ingrid E. Newkirk, President, PETA