Stewart Mitchell (vegan) - Love For All Sentient Beings, Part 1 of 2

“My name is Stewart Mitchell. I'm an activist and an author. I'm also a poet and an organizer with “V.O.I.C.E4Change.” I'm from Brooklyn, New York, born and raised. And I got into activism a little over four years ago because I went vegan in 2011 and I realized then that it wasn't enough for me to just be vegan, that I had to also advocate for animals as well, because there's still a lot of people that don't understand what happens to animals before they become food, before they become a fabric.”

“‘Kayla the Vegan’ is basically a story of a young girl that moved from Brooklyn to Atlanta, with her family. And she enrolls in a new school. And during the lunch break, the kids are talking about what they're going to eat for lunch. And Kayla expresses that she doesn't eat meat or animals. Once she's asked by the other students what's her favorite meal, she tells them that she's vegan and the kids are kind of taken aback by it. They don't understand what that means or what it entails. So she explains to them she loves animals. She doesn't want to harm them. She doesn't want to eat them.”

Mr. Mitchell’s other book Liberation Summer is based on his personal experience. The story describes the awakening of a young man named Jayden Young at the time he had been working at a restaurant during his college days. At first, he noticed that many chicken’s meats were delivered to the restaurant, so he became curious about where they came from. After some research, Jayden found out that the chickens came from a factory farm and lived a horrible life there. They were forcibly bred in dreadful conditions then slaughtered for humans to eat. Once awaken by this shocking truth Jayden realized that he wanted no part of this cruelty to animals. Furthermore, he began engaging in animal rights activism to help others learn the truth.

“I want people to understand that you have the power to make a change in your community. That once you see that there is something wrong, whether it's health, economics, or whatever it is, you have the power to change that.”