The Racism Within Slaughterhouse Walls
Exposing the treatment of minorities inside and outside of ‘meat-packing.’
The concept of veganism, and subsequently animal rights, has long been viewed as a “white space” or “white people activities.” This stereotype tends to prevent people of color from joining the animal rights movement and raising awareness against animal cruelty. As a white woman, I can’t speak to this issue from a first-person view, but I have witnessed many negative comment sections where vegans of color are looked down on for participating in “white people problems.” Black vegan and animal rights activist Christopher Sebastian wrote an excellent article on this subject; click here to read it.
Race plays a part in every aspect of our society, whether people choose to believe it or not. The issues of racism and prejudice are ever present within the animal agriculture industry but are often overlooked. Nonhuman animals tend to be at the center of the discussion surrounding the atrocities of animal exploitation, but the humans within these industries are facing injustices of their own.
As of 2018, there were 498,848 slaughterhouse workers in the United States, over 65% of whom were BIPOC and 37.5% who were immigrants.
Working in a slaughterhouse is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Workers are prone to serious physical injuries, illnesses, and diseases that can cost them their lives. On top of the serious physical health concerns, slaughterhouse workers are more likely to suffer from PTSD, substance abuse, depression, and even schizophrenia. Slaughterhouse workers are three times more likely to suffer an injury at work than all other American workers.
Slaughterhouse workers work more than 40 hours per week, with hours starting between 3 and 4 a.m. Documented workers, on average, make $18.61/hr, whereas undocumented workers are paid less and under the table. Even for white, documented workers, their take-home pay is below a livable wage.
Undocumented workers fear for their lives and jobs when reporting an illness or injury. Many choose to work through the pain as the wrath of their employers is far worse than the repercussions of medical neglect. Slaughterhouse supervisors receive citations and potentially harmful inspections when injuries are reported. Instead of creating a safer work environment, they threaten their workers with deportation and layoffs to keep them from complaining. Workers are also threatened if they were to come out about sexual misconduct in the workplace. To read more about the sexual harassment and mistreatment of women in slaughterhouses, read “The Horrors of Women in the Animal Agriculture Industry.”
Many slaughterhouse workers are also ex-convicts who have been forced into this dangerous and unhealthy line of work. One in three black boys born today is expected to be incarcerated at some point in their lives. With black men and other people of color disproportionately targeted by the police and unfairly incarcerated, the animal agriculture industry benefits off of the backs of BIPOC that have been mistreated throughout history. Thus perpetuating the cycle of poverty, crime, and violence within marginalized communities.
Chicago (where I’m from) has been called the “Slaughterhouse of the World.” This title refers to the 1965 opening of the Union Stock Yards, a slaughterhouse I have visited many times to bear witness. This slaughterhouse killed upwards of tens of millions of nonhuman animals every year and was even seen as a tourist attraction upon its opening. Currently, there are over a dozen slaughterhouses in Chicago; nearly all of them are against federal regulations and pose a threat to those living and working near the sites.
Slaughterhouses are disproportionately located in Black, Indigenous, Latino, immigrant, and low-income communities. They dispose of wastewater containing feces, blood, and harsh cleaning chemicals in three ways: piping it directly into waterways, spraying it on land, or sending it to a nearby town or county sewage treatment plant. Those who live near slaughterhouses regularly suffer from respiratory diseases, cardiovascular issues, and severe cases of pneumonia.
With the environmental damage caused by slaughterhouses, children who live near them are unable to experience happy and healthy childhoods. Many families who live near a slaughterhouse on the South Side of Chicago have admitted to seeing wastewater collecting in puddles just outside their front door. When children are unable to gather and play together outside, their physical health deteriorates, and they are unable to form close bonds with other children in the neighborhood, which can result in a future of anti-social behavior and violence.
For far too long, the mistreatment of minorities within the walls of a slaughterhouse has been overlooked. The true goal of veganism should be the reduction of suffering for all animals, human and nonhuman. To learn more about the adverse effects of slaughterhouses, stay up to date with Slaughter Free Network. I have worked with this international grassroots organization that aims to end slaughterhouses and ‘meat-packing’ facilities since 2019.