As a passionate animal activist and Mercy For Animals volunteer, I was thrilled when my good friend invited me to table at Black VegFest.
Black VegFest is a Brooklyn-based vegan festival centered on uplifting and speaking on nonhuman-animal and Black liberation struggles to breathe more intersectionality into the vegan movement. Vegan activist and speaker Omowale Adewale started it in August 2018. The event boasts numerous vendors (like Mercy For Animals!) as well as speakers and activities. This year it took place on August 17 in Lincoln Terrace Park (not too far from where I was staying).
When I arrived, things still needed setting up, so I hopped on that pronto. After a few issues with a tent, we were up and ready to table. While delicious plant-based food is often the highlight at events like this, many attendees approached our booth eager to learn about animal activism. Throughout the event, people gave us their emails, took pamphlets and stickers, and—most importantly (in my opinion)—had conversations with us.
I personally grew up eating a great deal of plant-based foods and was supported by my mom when I went vegan. I don’t have your typical vegan origin story—watching Dominion or Earthlings, seeing a vegan debate, or going from anti-vegan. For me it was a bout of introspection after working at a meat shop during the summer of 2020. I made a mental switch after thinking about it and haven’t looked back. Since then I’ve gotten my brother, my partner, and multiple friends to go vegan and even my parents to eat more plant-based (my mom actually used to be vegan before she had me and my siblings).
However, I didn’t grow up seeing a lot of vegans or people who looked like me. But being at Black VegFest, seeing like-minded people, and being surrounded by many friends who can look past the surface things was great. Black VegFest gives Black people that space to explore and be introduced to veganism from people that they are, quite honestly, more likely to trust and listen to.
I didn’t think that I was gonna leave with the experience that I’d had, but it was a great one. I will definitely return to Black VegFest.
